Total waste of time. She said that i am feeling better because my bones are responding to the abx.

I have been on the IV for 7 days now and i actually gained 3lbs and even people are telling me i am looking better.

Well at least i got out two more weeks of the Rocephin IV. I tested positive with Bowen and she doesn't even know about them. She ordered a western blot with IGenx sp? that i have to do on Monday.

I have been on the IV already for a week and Fligyl as well. I wonder if that would affect the test. With Bowen I also showed up positive for Babesia.

She didn't know what that was. After i told her that is a co-infection from LYme she said that the medical board ruled out that there is a posibilties of co-infection.

At that point i just wanted to get the hell out. My PCP ordered IV for only two weeks but now i got two more. My veins are colapsing and they are coming to do a midline tonight.

I got poked four times today with no luck. Now that i am stressing my bones are starting to hurt more. Is stress bad for LYME?

I am soooo sorry you had such a negative experience. It's great that you have an alternative doctor to see. Hopefully THAT appt will result in only the best of news and treatment for you.

P.S. Forget eh stuff on teh internet, most Dr's won;t believe it unless it is a journal reprint (most of which you have to pay for)

On the stress. It has a VERY big effect on the lyme symptoms. Not sure why but the best idea that we could come up with is that the neurotransmitters are affected and thus the ability of stress to have an almost instantaneous effect on the symtoms. Interesting but not very enjoyable.

The books like the one I mentions are expensive but can make a believer out of many who are totally misinformed. The newer books also contain fairly good info on Lyme and while they stick to the standard line of 4 weeks IV, they are starting to acknwoledge, like the CDC that longer course treatmentis needed in some cases and "may" be bennificial.

Seems to me that if you have to buy expensive books to educate the dr, you're going to the wrong one.

You need to go to Seeking a Dr here on LymeNet & ask for info on Lyme Literate Med Drs (LLMDs). I've heard there aren't many in Florida, but that seems to be the case throughout the Southeast.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and just put in my one cent, please take or leave this as you choose...

At my most recent LLMD visit, an associate confided that my doc "depends on his patients to do a lot of research." That does not mean he is a lazybones, but that there is a lot of new research to keep up on, that's hard to read when you see patients every day for twelve hours at a stretch. So although it is inexcusable for an LLMD to discount your knowledge, don't be so sure it isn't appreciated, or that your LLMD won't respond if you present a good case for a particular treatment.

Also, I found that over the last four years, my desperation to find a cure and overall physical weakness made me unusually dependent on doctors, as if they were my parents or gurus. This inevitably led to some problematic experiences. Never believe that anyone is the only game in town, and never believe there is only one way to get your hands on certain abx. Some of the most effective abx for Lymies, such as ketek, doxycyline, and minocycline, for example, might be available for other conditions besides Lyme, or from sympathetic doctors who cannot, for various reasons, prescribe rocephin.

I write this as someone who has become resistant to rocephin (seven months straight), ceftin, doxycycline, and azithromycin, but who is seeing terrific results on some other abx.