My friend's husband is very sick with lyme disease. He is seeing a doctor in New York who was recommended by Dr. Jone's office.
He is neuroglically affected. He walks with a cane or He has to holds his wife hand or he veers off he also has slurred speech etc.
The doctor put him on Biaxin XL 500mg twice a day and Plaguenil 200mg twice a day. He is thinking of puting him on Iv cause there doesnt seem to be any improvement.
They would like to try to avoid the iv since the insurance is probably not going to cover it.
Does anyone have any suggestion of what meds may work better or maybe adding another one to the mix.
Thanks Suz
Posts: 121 | From Brooklyn, New York USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Areneli
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6740
posted
The insurance will probably pay but for a limited time. Take what you can take.
Oral treatment is slower and make take much longer to work. Oral Doxycycline is good, for example. But the dose has to be high and many people cannot tolerate it.
Posts: 1538 | From Planet Earth | Registered: Jan 2005
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I would also urge them to check out and treat any coinfections before pursuing IVs. My daughter had 3 months of IVs and improved some, but not a lot -- certainly not like we hoped she would. Since being off IVs, she's been treated for Babesia and improved quite a lot more. I've read a number of places since that it is difficult if not impossible to treat Lyme if you have untreated coinfections. It makes me sad to think we may have basically wasted 3 months of IVs because of untreated Babesia.
Posts: 164 | From USA | Registered: Jul 2005
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char
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8315
posted
I am sorry that you and your husband are going thru so much.
I have had quite a bit of nuerological involvement,but not to the same extent as your hubby.
The oral combinations have helped tremendously. The high doses can be very effective.
My kids have had IV which has helped, especially my daughter who can't tolerate high oral doses because of stomach problems.
My son and I have iron stomachs and have gotton a lot of abx in orally over last yr.
Sounds like oral treatment will be a help and you can keep pursuing IV for future.
Those of us who have paid out of pocket have figured out some ways to keep costs low as possible. You could do a search on this here.
Let me know if you can't find it and would like me to go into it. We paid much less than the quotes we got from dr. office and homehealth agencies.
The beginning of this journey can be awful hard--it DOES get better!
posted
You can usually continue to take orals while IV is added to make the combination of druge more potent. Your friend's doctor is the one to ask. I would have your friend read the Lyme disease treatment guidelines and write up a list of questions. There are many combinations for neurological Lyme disease. Make sure they know to check for co-infections.
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