Hi, My 12-year-old son currently has three bullseye rashes on his legs. I took him to his pediatrician on Monday and she gave us 2 weeks of doxycycline and said he'd be fine. Having suffered from neurological Lyme myself, I took him for a second opinion. A pediatric infectious disease specialist we saw today gave us two more weeks of doxycycline, so we have four weeks total.
Can anyone share their experience in treating a child? I'm curious to know if he is taking antibiotics for a long enough time. He doesn't have any symptoms yet, just the rashes. She also took some blood tests for baseline data but said she doesn't expect them to be positive yet.
Thanks, Jennie
Posted by hopingandpraying (Member # 9256) on :
PM sent for PA, MD & CT.
The bull's-eye rash is definitive for Lyme.
Stay away from Infectious Disease Doctors (IDSA). They believe one dose of antibiotics is enough and don't believe in chronic Lyme. Patients end up getting sicker.
Here is a link for you to read about "Two Standards of Care":
Your son needs to be evaluated and treated a.s.a.p.by a Lyme-literate doctor (LLMD). Non LLMDs have no clue about this horrible disease or its complex treatment!
A LLMD is one who has treated Lyme disease and the co-infections which come with it for many years and has gotten patients well. A good one will follow Dr. B's Guidelines, the "gold standard" for Lyme treatment.
The guidelines state the following treatment for a child:
"EARLY LOCALIZED - Single erythema migrans with no constitutional symptoms: Children: oral therapy for 6+ weeks."
Unfortunately, LLMDs are far and few between, so your son needs to go where they are. At least half of all Lyme patients travel out-of-state to get proper care.
Also, most LLMDs do not take insurance due to the politics surrounding this disease. Read poster TF's explanation about this:
Read the books written by the top LLMD, Dr. H titled, "Why Can't I Get Better?" and his new one, "How Can I Get Better?". They are an excellent source of information.
Also "Cure Unknown" by Pamela Weintraub. Check your local library or buy it used on Amazon.
Btw - please break up your posts into 2-3 sentence paragraphs, as there are people on Lymenet who cannot read large blocks of text due to neurological problems from Lyme.
To do this click the pencil/paper icon, make your changes, then click "Edit Post". Thanks.
Posted by Brussels (Member # 13480) on :
Bullseye rash is definitively Borrelia but NOT everyone develops lyme disease after EM rash.
If you check this book on epidemics, the author speaks about EM rash presentation without lyme symptoms in the majority of 'patients' in France (page 120).
A study analyzed 132 people with Borrelia antigens for 3 years. Mean age 54 years. Most of them had REGULAR tick bites (77% of them).
EM occurred in 60% of the patients and was the ONLY SIGN OF LYME DISEASE in 40%!
Page 115 speaks of another study in Bulgaria, this time, they studied 467 at-risk individuals (as Bulgaria is very endemic for Borrelia / lyme).
The author says: EM was the ONLY DISEASE SYMPTOM in MOST PATIENTS!
Page 113 says that clinical diagnosis of Erythema migrans was known in Europe since the beginning of the 20th century.
but that more serious LD only developed at the last decade(s) of the 20th century.
So really, EM rash means CONTACT WITH BORRELIA species, but it does NOT mean NECESSARILY lyme disease, according to this book.
This book is only an epidemiological book, reporting on findings in the literature from different countries.
Many lyme doctors recognize EM rash DURING lyme treatment. Some patients never have got that previous to abx, for example, but develop EM type of rashes on their bodies after they take antibiotics or antimicrobials.
Some see it as a POSITIVE outcome of treatment (like the critters trying to find the last places to attach and reproduce).
Attacking an EM rash without lyme symptoms with antibiotics could be an idea, but I would rather go to Buhner's suggestions, to give the child astragalus and other herbs to ENHANCE his immune system, not to damage it with antibiotics.
It's ultimately his immune system (and his microbiome is great part of it) that will fight this lyme infection, plus later infections, not drugs.
that is what I would do to my own child, as many lyme doctors today are not convinced that targeting pathogens with pharmaceuticals is the best plan of attack against lyme.