I have battling lyme for 3 years and was able to get into remission a couple of times in the last few months. I was very pleased and decided to have a few celebration drinks last Saturday
During my treatment, I went alchohol free, extensive abx and plenty of detoxing.
For the second time, in the last 3 months I think I am out of remission. SOme of the same symptoms are coming back. Joint pain, muscle ache and general inflamation in my body. I do respond somewhat to anti inflamatories.
Did I trigger all this inflammation with only one incident of drinking alcohol? Or is the inflammation totally unrelated?
Has anybody have any relapse caused by drinking alcohol.
I have learned my lesson again in terms of limiting alcohol. Just not sure of my next steps
I have a LLMD appt next week? What can I do for some relief to reduce inflammation ?
Can I get back to remisssion stage with exercise and detoxing, Or do I need abx again
Posted by sapphire101 (Member # 6638) on :
I think this is what happened to me. I'm not even much of a drinker but had a margarita at dinner one night. A couple nights later I had another one.
I really hate to think that is what has caused this relapse but since you brought it up I think it could be.
The thought had already crossed my mind but I guess there's really no way of knowing for sure. I had been off abx since Sept. and doing pretty good. I've been sick now for about a month.
Sapphire
Posted by Lauralyme (Member # 15021) on :
I don't have any answers.....but I think I am now scared to ever have a drink again.
You can take tumeric for inflammation in the meantime while waiting for your LLMD appt next week. Put a tsp in a glass of water or fill empty capsules.
Did you do heavy metal chelation?
Posted by METALLlC BLUE (Member # 6628) on :
Alcohol in a single drink generally won't send someone flying out of remission, but if you lay it on with multiple drinks, then yes -- it can certainly ruin years of hard work.
Remissions are usually fragile for patients who got into remission using antibiotics. They generally can fall apart any time however. This is why other methods must be employed to keep fighting the infection beyond just antibiotics.
A fragile remission is no life at all -- not for me personally.
Posted by knobs (Member # 21928) on :
Tony. I would not go back on ABX. Like you said, lots of exercise and detox!!
Posted by Brussels (Member # 13480) on :
I would go to herbs for sure!
I was totally intolerant of alcohol during lyme. When I reached remission a couple of times, I also got a relapse because of stress.
Any stress can cause a relapse during that fragile phase that are the first few months of remission.
It could be emotional stress, excess physical stress, ANOTHER unrelated disease (like another infection), and why not, alcohol, in my opinion. If one eats bad again (junk food and few fresh foods), I think one can also get a relapse.
My daughter relapsed once after being stressed too. It was deep winter, she didn't sleep well for a couple of nights due to many activities, and the day she got her birthday party, that she was waiting for a long time, she played soooo much, and that evening, bang. Lyme came back from nothing! She had been many months in remission.
I'm now on my 8th month of remission again. I drink alcohol here and then (only wine and beer though), eat junk food sometimes, am not taking too strict diet (but avoid bad things)... So far, no relapse and feeling strong.
My daughter is also on remission, but now winter is getting strong. So let's see how it goes. I think for us, winter itself is a stress already, and anything I add on top could make things worse?
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
I am in remission and can indulge in a couple drinks (no more) once in a while. As was said by Metallic, a fragile remission might be different.
I used abx in the beginning and the did save my life, I surely would have died as fast as my health was plummeting. I got off them to go on to natural cures. When I stopped the abx for the natural stuff, my health tanked again.
I got better with a natural cure and even after the Lyme was "gone", I continued to treat toxicities, etc. and it was 10 months later that I considered myself to be in remission.
I STILL work on toxins because I think everyone in our world is toxic in this day and age. I still exercise, eat right, and get enough sleep.
I find at this point I don't really enjoy a drink because it brings back that out of it feeling that I had because of illness. I no longer associate that feeling as being good. But, I have been able to have a glass or two of wine with a steak, for example. I can also indulge in a cocktail at a cocktail party.
Posted by Sick Tick (Member # 23003) on :
I have been able to have a drink or two at the most rarely....I make sure it is with food, and then drink lots of water to dilute it! Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
It's possible that the alcohol also dredged up a flare of yeast... so stay on a good diet for awhile and see if the inflammation goes down.
Hope things are better soon!
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
My now famous lyme doctor says winter is a stress on the body. For that reason, he won't let anyone stop treatment in winter or if winter is coming on.
So, for example, I was finished with treatment about the end of November, but I had to stay on meds until spring. Otherwise, he expects the patient could relapse.
So, if you stop treatment right before winter, the winter itself could make you relapse. If you add alcohol to the picture, that might be enough to put you over the top.
I got well using the Burrascano protocol--basically antibiotics. It has been 4 1/2 years since I completed my treatment, and I am still symptom-free, enjoying my life--the same life I had before lyme disease.
In that 4 1/2 years, I have endured terrible stress for a 2 year period, steroid injections into my spine, and I take a small glass of wine from time to time. Still, I have not relapsed.
I don't do anything to maintain my cure or remission. I live like I did before lyme disease.
But, I do not smoke. I imagine smoking could cause a person to relapse all on its own.
Posted by StephenC (Member # 15171) on :
> has anybody have any relapse caused by drinking alcohol.
YES! Very badly Posted by Brussels (Member # 13480) on :
For what I see here, then, one could say that any of the following things could cause a relapse because they are stress for the body:
- emotional stress (very often cited as cause for relapse)
- winter (that is a stress for the body and immune system even of healthy people
- bad eating habits
- alcohol (bad drinking habit!!)
- strong physical stress (physical fatigue) (quite a few marathon runners and heavy core sportists suffer from lyme!)
- little sleep for days or weeks (or too much fun in the night!!)
- toxicity of any kind: alcohol is one, heavy metals are other, biotoxins another
- other infections or diseases can trigger lyme again (I remember here the posts on mononucleosis for example)
- vaccines (many people in LN talking about how they plummeted after a vaccination and never came back to what they were before it).
I'm just trying to make a picture out of it...
It seems that any stress can trigger lyme.
I feel it's a bit like our immune system can do the job to keep lyme under control UNTIL stress builds up and the last drop is just what makes our immune system lose again to infection.
I don't feel that the drop is necessarily the only REASON for the relapse, but that it is basically the last drop.
In other words, maybe it is winter and you're not eating that healthy, and possibly caught some stronger cold or flu that made aditional stress, then you decided to go out and took a few glasses of wine and didn't sleep well for a couple of days... then surprisingly, relapse...
The times I relapsed due to emotional stress were not only emotional stress. Because of stress, I didn't eat well, I didn't sleep well for days on, I probably took some alcohol to feel better etc...
Posted by swedish lyme sufferer (Member # 14579) on :
Maybe I am mad - But - I find that small amounts of alcohol makes me herx. Now I do not promote - in any way - to try this o"regimen", but the few times I have taken a glass of wine I - think - I herx (sweating, twitching etc.) and I get better. I am sorry to be so frank about this and I do not want to upset anyone or tell anyone to drink alcohol. But basically, before I was diagnosed I think red wine at noght was keeping me healthy enough to work full time etc. The only explanation is that the blood gets thinner woth alcohol and it makes your sleep very deep so the immunesystem could work? But again - I would not "treat" lyme with alcohol, this is NOT what I mean.-
Posted by ping (Member # 6974) on :
swedish lyme sufferer - I agree. I'm of northern European descent and a glass of red wine at dinner or later is standard at my house. I think much depends on the quantity that one drinks. Although I gave up alcohol during my first couple of years of treatment, when I re-incorporated it into my nightly meal, I didn't seem to have a problem with it.
tony - You said you did a lot of detoxing. Please keep in mind that many times, when one does extensive detox, this allows more freedom for the bacteria to multiply. If your immune system is strong enough, it will react and you will certainly herx. Can't say that this is exactly what's happening to you, but is a possibility.
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