posted
I have heard that the first three months of abx is the hardest. Have you found that to be true?
I'm 2.5 months into treatment, and hoping that some relief is around the corner. I'm sure you know the feeling of everyday is difficult. What ever happened to those 'easy breezy' days?
I'm starting to feel myself come back.. very very slowly. But once I start to feel somewhat okay, BAM comes a herx. Ugh...
-------------------- 26 months of treatment. And counting....... Posts: 298 | From Northeast Kansas | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
Hi Visual.
How's those visual filmstrips doin?
For me the first three months was ROUGH. Probably wasn't till around six months to start gaining and KEEPING some ground.
Hang in there, ok?
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yes, absolutely. The first 3 months are the worst and are a great time to start the anti yeast diet www.wholeapproach.com, and learn about detox.
Drink lots of filtered water. There are neurotoxins created when you kill Lyme and you must flush them out. This can be especially overwhelming in the beginning when there is so much Lyme to kill.
It gets better. Writing in a journal helps keep track of progress.
My LLMD told me long road ahead, be prepared for bumps in the road. Very true but I'm continuing to make progress and have many really good days now.
hatsnscarfs
Posts: 956 | From MA | Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged |
Visual stuff seems to get worse and better depending on how bad the herx is. Floaters seem to be very minimal one day, only to come back full force the next. The afterimages as well. Today is a good day, but it could be due to the fact that I got to sleep in till 9:00 AM this morning. Everything seems to be related to how much and the quality of sleep I get the night before.
What I have noticed, is that my sense of my surroudings has improved. I actually can feel what day it is most of the time. Right at the beginning of treatment, I had a real hard time remembering what day it was. You know how sometimes a day just 'feels' like a friday, etc? Two months ago, I couldn't get those feeling no matter what. So I'm doing better in that respect.
I'm just hoping for some good days.
Thanks for the reinfocement ya'll. Sometimes I just need some more encouragement that tomorrow will be a better day. It's aweful hard not to get weary through this cronic sickness.
-------------------- 26 months of treatment. And counting....... Posts: 298 | From Northeast Kansas | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
My first 3 months were definitely among the hardest, in terms of unremitting symptoms.
I've had several other very hard periods, too (not to be discouraging)-- but overall the trend is that I am getting better --slowly and often with grueling periods, but I can tell that the trend is upward...and I do have genuinely good, even excellent days!
Yes, it IS hard not to get weary with this -- I try to take it one day at a time (to use a cliche) and manage the best I can. The bad periods do pass --
-------------------- "Looks like freedom but it feels like death.. It's something in between, I guess"
Leonard Cohen, from the song "Closing Time" Posts: 822 | From California | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged |
tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
Visual,
Very good question and one I know many of us in our first three months appreciate.
Today is my two month anniversary of being treated. My first six weeks were a nightmare, so they swapped me over to something for bart and oddly, I've had a few hours in three different days where I thought I was actually feeling "ok".
But like with you, bam, zapp, pow....the fun was over. I don't know if it's constant herxing or just plain feeling darn awful, but I am extremely optomistic with just those few hours in recent days.
One thing someone said above that is great advice is detox detox detox and yeast free diet. I started the diet right out the gate but the detox, my body had a horrid time keeping up with.
So although I don't have any advice, I'm here to say that I'm in the same boat with you and I too keep a steady eye on the future and better days.
I like your three months theory since that means I only have to put up with the most horrid for another month, but I also know that no two people are alike and everyones treatment is different. Soooooooo..........
Good luck!!!!
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
I have had good hours like you describe. I've even had good days... But not excellent ones. Those sound so foreign.
The time line that my LLMD told me, (after I asked the question of you all)... was.. typically for an otherwise healthy individual who does not have issues with the abx is..
1) First three months very difficult. You must push through this.
2) 3 - 6 months you will start to have 'good days'. These are glimses of the future. This is the time that you will be up and down, but you have the good days to encourage you.
3) 6 - 9 months you will start to rapidly improve. Your good days will start to outweigh the bad ones. This is where you 'turn the corner'.
4) 9 - 12 months you will have zero symtoms. We will treat 3 months beyond lyme symptoms.
5) 12 - 15 months you are free from Lyme issues.
Ahhhh atleast we got the clock started. Now he has said that not everyone is the same, but this is typical for those who are healthy and can maintain the abx. This is based off of 300 Lyme cases he has treated.
-------------------- 26 months of treatment. And counting....... Posts: 298 | From Northeast Kansas | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
Visual,
Since I'm the one that has only been through two months of treatment so far, I honestly can't respond to what your doctor told you.
I suppose it would be a nice world if everyone responded in this manner, but if it were even that simple, we wouldn't have as many people on these boards still hanging around looking for more answers.
I do feel me need to stay optomistic and believe we will be one of the lucky ones to escape this dark hole, but to do that, I think we need to educate ourselves and learn as much as we can. These boards appear to be a great source of information.
I haven't had any of the full days being good yet, but hey, perhaps as your doctor says, a few hours will turn into a day and a day into more and pretty soon, we can stop dwelling on this 24/7.
Please keep the advice coming. If others are like me with the brain fog, I forget so much that I read, but hearing it over and over... sometimes it actually can penetrate.
Good luck to us all!!!!!
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Like everything it is so individual. I had a few symptoms (neuropathy and nerve realted) that were so much worse in the first few months but other symptoms (arthritis) that went away in the first month.
I followed that timeline although in month 7 had a backslide and things that were gone came back. That sucked as I thought I was just about well.
I believe that detox and really trying to eat clean and keep yeast in check helps. Yeast can give symptoms that can be confused with Lyme.
Good luck, hang in there! At 1 year on most days I feel 90% better.
-------------------- Lucy Posts: 342 | From Hawaii | Registered: Nov 2005
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic