Hubby was late diagnosed and his first antibiotic at therapeutic doses was IV Rocephin.
He did eventually taken some Doxycycline -- for 1 or 2 months I think.
It just seems to me that Doxy seems to hit so many of the tickborne diseases I was just curious as to whether those that started with that drug had higher success rates or got well quicker.
---------------------------------------------- 1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses?
2) Rash -- Yes or no?
3) How long sick before starting treatment?
4) How long have you been in treatmnet?
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well? -----------------------------------------------
hubby 1- first antibiotic - IV Rocephin
2- rash - No - Didn't know he was bitten by a tick
3- sick almost 3 years before treatment
4- in treatment about 3 1/2 years
5 - recovery -- I have no idea -- more severe symptoms, but they come and go and aren't constant like in the beginning -- I guess maybe 25%
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
Hmmm.
First antibiotic was doxy.
No rash.
I have no idea how long I was sick, but suspect about 5 years before diagnosis.
I've been in treatment for over one year now.
Some days 60-70% better, overall at least 50%.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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Cobweb
Unregistered
posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses? oral ceftin
2) Rash -- Yes or no? yesseveral-that would be at least 3-I still get rashes-but not like the original EMs
3) How long sick before starting treatment? debatable-3 months to possibly 30 years
4) How long have you been in treatmnet? with an LLMD-since March 06-you do the math-I don't have enough fingers and toes or maybe I do ?
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well? good days-which are getting more frequent-80% bad days I slide back to 10%-but they only happen about once a week, maybe less.Would like to qualify the good days-good mood, productive on a limited basis, still have cognitive problems-memory,etc. but it's mostly the good mood, optomistic days I look forward to. a bad day means I hurt all over, I have a cement head-no discernible signs of intelligence, and overwhelming stay in bed fatigue.
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posted
I started right of the bat with triple meds. Doxy, Biaxin and Plaquenil.
Never had the rash and had been sick for too many years to count. Currently in 3rd year of treatment. Mostly sticking to same regimen, but switching to tetracycline in the winter months.
-------------------- "Few of us can do great things, but all of us can do small things with great love". Mother Theresa
map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
Day 10-Doxy after the onset of the flu-like symptoms from hell. Except I was a 42 yr old woman telling everyone THIS IS NOT the flu, I never experienced anything like it in my life. Doctor said "I think it's early lyme disease. Don't worry early lyme is easy to get rid of." That was July '99.
Five yrs later I realized I had being having mild sx like knee pain, un-work related corporal tunnel syndrome for a year before the flu-sickness knocked me to my a&*!
I was frightened from the very beginning. I knew it was something evil and powerful. Early addition to doxy was amoxicillian, ampicillian, z-pak. I was getting worse and worse. Didn't know the word "herx".
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses?
Doxy, Biaxin, Mepron
2) Rash -- Yes or no?
No, but multiple tick bites 1972-1976
3) How long sick before starting treatment?
Had Lyme for over 30 years. Previously had 3 flare ups of symptoms so bad I couldn't work, but only lasted a few months at a time, did not know it was Lyme. Other than that, healthy with some symptoms. Sick this time due to stress for four years.
4) How long have you been in treatmnet?
10 months.
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well?
I feel 85% of normal on a good day, 50% of normal during a herx (every 21-24 days for one week).
Recently I started Bart treatment and felt bad for about 6 weeks, but now my herx feels easier than that initial 6 weeks of bart treatment!
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
1- first antibiotic - Doxy. OW.
2- rash - Yes. Small EM under breast. Marveled at it but ignored.
3- sick approx. two years before treatment. Did not recognize symptoms as lyme; nor did drs.
4- in treatment about 2-1/2 years; now on Minocycline only (maintenance)
5 - recovery -- Brain function: Probably about 50% of normal. Memory, processing speed do seem to be "stuck;" recent neuropsych testing not too pretty.
Physical: About 75% better!! On MOST days can stay awake all day (sometimes need Provigil), don't have daily crushing headaches which used to be constant, rarely get lost anymore, can function and WORK!!! (albeit a less mentally challenging kind of work than previously).
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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5dana8
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7935
posted
Hi Bea
Yikes~ this is a very long story, I will try to be concise...not one of my stronge points
First treatment and abx~
IV Rochephin back in 94 ~.... my first time IV'ed, followed by 9 years of orals. I was only able to be on the roch for 3- 4weeks before it tanked my liver. I was switched to another IV abx but I can't remember which one. Only herxed bad while on IV.
Sick prior to~.... I was sick 7 years pior to my first IV in 94. Yes, I did have a rash but for the first 2 weeks but thought it was a spider bite.
Progress ~....was able to get into 80% remmission for 9 years on just the doxy
....My last relaspe or re-infection was 3/4 years ago. Very bad neuro problems was my worst symptom, fatigue and some heart problems. IV in 2003, my first med was Primaxin Followed 2 weeks & coupled with clindamycin for aprox 6 weeks. Then started zith & clinda combo & then babs meds.
herxing ~....Didn't herx bad till the third week when they added the clinda. Then all heck broke loose. From that point on herxed non-stop pretty much the entire 3/4 years in treament on IV & orals. Untill I started to pulse the last year.
No rash to speak of this time.
But in my 6 months IV & 2-3 yeasr of orals I did have "dermal herx's" where I broke out~ sometimes in full body hives ( that looked like bull's eye rash's) . But usually just bull's eye rash's on my elbow's & knees.
Been in treatment a grand total of 12 years on abx. Now my GI system is totally trashed. I can keep down food but my bax dasy are over I am afraid to say.
Progress~
From the last 3-4 yeasr treatment I would say one a good day 50% improvement at best. 100% improvement in no heart problems left. Lingering neuro & fatigue & foot pain, which I firmly believe to be bart related. My LLMD was to retreat me for bart but was run out of dodge & then my stomach gave out :-( On a bad day maybe 20%. It still proves to be a rollar coaster.
I have been doing rife for the last 1 & 1/2. I was the BIGGEST skeptic but bought one on faith. It is keeping me stable & first time in 12 years I am able to go without any abx without tanking.
Hope this helps Bea & You & Steve are still my my prayers
Healing hugs Dana
-------------------- 5dana8 Posts: 4432 | From some where over the rainbow | Registered: Sep 2005
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First & only: 400 mgs doxy Have been taking it for 10 mos
Rash: no - more like strange, general changes on skin overall
How long sick: 1 1/2 years before dx
How much better? Varies from 75 - 85 % better physically Mentally - harder to quantify - I dunno - maybe 40 - 50?
onthemend
Posts: 314 | From east coast | Registered: Oct 2007
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Tracy9
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7521
posted
First ABX: Doxy, 300 mg BID for six weeks Rash: Yes How long sick: Had rash for about 2 weeks, flu like symptoms for a day or two, neck and back pains for a week
In Treatment: 3 years and two months
My LLMD and I believe I had undiagnosed Lyme for about 27 years when I was reinfected. Up until then, I can point to many things when I was about 17-27; then was not too bad until reinfected
How much better: i am worse now than I have ever been, just about. Recently diagnosed with Babs and just starting treatment for that.
13 years Lyme & Co.; Small Fiber Neuropathy; Myasthenia Gravis, Adrenal Insufficiency. On chemo for 2 1/2 years as experimental treatment for MG. Posts: 4480 | From Northeastern Connecticut | Registered: Jun 2005
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LisaS
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10581
posted
---------------------------------------------- 1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses? Doxy
2) Rash -- I didn't have the typical rash but had huge hives on my thighs for 6 months
3) How long sick before starting treatment? 15 years
4) How long have you been in treatmnet? 1 year
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? Still waiting for improvement. Maybe 20% improved, maybe
posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses?
Ketek for 9 months before changing to Omnicef, then adding Tindamax, then adding Zith, and finally Bicillin injections. 7 Months of Mepron in there, too.
2) Rash -- Yes or no?
No EM rash but odd rashes prior to knowing I had Lyme.
3) How long sick before starting treatment?
5 years of progressing symtpoms and many specialists before finding out I had Lyme and Babs.
4) How long have you been in treatmnet?
21 months.
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well?
I am currently 90-95% better about 95% of the time.
-------------------- Lucy Posts: 342 | From Hawaii | Registered: Nov 2005
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daise
Unregistered
posted
1.) Doxy, 300 mg once a day for five weeks.
But had to wait 7 months to begin Rocephen, the second antibiotic.
2.) Yes--huge. Nine years later I suddenly got signs and symptoms.
3.) 2 1/2 years
4.) 14 months since I began Rocephen/biaxin, going to LA Bicillin, etc.
5.) 70% improved, except when in herx: am still in the midst of treatment. Haven't been treated for coinfections (if I have them.)
posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses? Levaquin (to hit Bart)
2) Rash -- Yes or no? No.
3) How long sick before starting treatment? 8 years
4) How long have you been in treatmnet? On ABX 9.5 months, stopped, relapsed after 4 months, treatment again now for 9 months. Homeopathy and herbs about 5 months before ABX
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well? about 60% most days. Few 75% daysPosts: 276 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2006
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CD57
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11749
posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses?
Doxy -- 300 BID for 3 months. Quit because I was skeptical of my Lyme dx.
2) Rash -- Yes or no? yes -- on back of thigh. Ignored it, didn't treat (no symptoms) and it went away in 6 weeks.
3) How long sick before starting treatment? Bitten 10 years ago, but only symptomatic/sick for 6 months before dx.
4) How long have you been in treatmnet? Continuous treatment -- 9 months.
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well? Hmmm. I started from a pretty good place, tanked immediately upon starting abx. Now on bart treatment and tanked hard the first 6 weeks. So hard to say, but I'd say 60% improved. I saw a real upswing in how I felt at 8 months.
Posts: 3528 | From US | Registered: Apr 2007
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luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
minocycline 1-No Rash 2-Unsure-Had migraines and no shortterm memory but didn't seek medical attention. Treated in 1995 for lyme for 6 mths. Resolved. 3-2 yrs in treatment 4-Feeling 100% well but still have issues dr is treating. No symptoms.
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses?
DOXYCYCLINE AND BIAXIN PULSED! for 20 months 3 days on one; 2 days off; then start other one for 3 days; 2 days off then back to 1st one.
2) Rash -- no
3) How long sick before starting treatment?
34 years misdiagnosed by 40=50 mds/specialists!
4) How long have you been in treatmnet?
20 months onf abx; 6 months on supplements; off all of them for now dealing with everything else they found wrong with me! food allergies: gluten...wheat//rye; casein...cow's milk, cheeses, egg whites//garlic
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well?
abx ... i could feel chetes being killed;
supplements made me much worse including TERRIBLE FATIGUE; MUCH WORSE ON FATIGUE NOW THEN BEFORE ALL TREATMENTS!
honestly; i do NOT feel as if i have gained any ground these last 3 yrs., 2 months! I'M WORSE!
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lymednva
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9098
posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses?
Ketek, Omnicef, Plaquenil, for 10 months. Definite improvement.
Then moved to Levaquin, Omnicef, and Plaq. Yikes!
Switched from Omnicef to Doxy and LLMD asked me why I hadn't been on it. DUH, he did the prescribing!
Herxed for two and a half weeks, but that was while ago. Maybe I'm turning the corner?
2) Rash -- Yes or no?
Not sure about when I was bitten.
However have had at least two small rashes, one during first pregnancy, in 1975. It was dx'd as ringworm, which I thought was odd at the time.
Another in 2001, as my health was plummeting. Duck saw it, rx'd some ointment that made it worse!
He never thought of Lyme, although I did at the time, then forgot about it.
3) How long sick before starting treatment?
40+ years!
4) How long have you been in treatment?
18 months
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well?
I wouldn't know well if it hit me in the face. I've been low energy all my adult life, just kept getting lower.
Overall, I am better since beginning treatment.
I am positive for Babs WA-1, don't know how I got that in OK, but who knows?
I know that needs to be treated completely for me to get better.
My dysautonomia is improving, according to latest testing by my LLMD, so that's a good thing!
Others who know me well have noticed an improvement.
-------------------- Lymednva Posts: 2407 | From over the river and through the woods | Registered: Apr 2006
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AZURE WISH
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 804
posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses?
Doxy - breifly (like maybe a few days I could not keep it down)
Then I had 2 weeks of biaxin. Then I had to wait for another positve test before that ID iot dr would give me abx....
In a matter of weeks I went from working and living to disabled - unable to work or go to school pain fatigue became just to bad.
(Obviously in the beggining I did not have a llmd)
2) Rash -- No
Many tick bites prior to begging of symptoms sept 1987.
3) How long sick before starting treatment?
13 years of symptoms
4) How long have you been in treatmnet?
7 years total.
5) Progress -- How much have you improved?
I am worse. Before I was diagnosed I could work a full time job or go to school full time and live.
Now I am disabled cant work or go to school and my list of can'ts is long.
Please realize that I have had complications that required me to go off abx briefly more than once. I get VERY sick VERY quickly.
Also I have babs and am treating that now I also think that babs has been a big reason I have never fully recovered. (I have started to make progress, sometimes real progress then loose it either due to complication or what I feel was the babs coming out to play as the lyme was starting to be beat down)
Sorry my post ran so long but it is difficult to explain the past 7 years of ups and down with any less words.
groovy2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6304
posted
Hi All
Doxi 200mg first 2 months then upped to 600mb aday Much better-
Yep -had a Big Bulls eye on my leg-
18 yrs been for sick- no clue what was wrong-
Now 3 yrs of lyme treatment and 2 yrs of babs treatment combined --95% better except I have a head ache at the moment--Jay--
Posts: 2999 | From Austin tx USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Probably a little early for me to be answering this post, but oh, well...
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses? Doxy 200mg bid (for a few weeks), and then added Ceftin 500mg 6 weeks ago.
2) Rash -- Yes or no? I don't remember being bit, or seeing a bullseye rash, and don't have a rash from taking the abx.
3) How long sick before starting treatment? I came down with a terrible flu in 1978, but was around ticks growing up. My guess is 1970, when I saw dozens of ticks every day for a month. So, 29+ years infected. I definitely have had a remitting/relapsing illness that has gotten worse with each relapse.
4) How long have you been in treatmnet? About 6 months. There was a lot of fact finding before getting a diagnosis. I was completely negative until finally taking the CD57 test, which came in at 50.
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well? Too soon to tell, since I've been herxing every day since adding the ceftin. Lately, the afternoons and evenings have gotten better (almost symptomless).
Posts: 552 | From New Mexico, USA | Registered: May 2007
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TheCrimeOfLyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4019
posted
---------------------------------------------- 1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses?
Amoxicillin 4000 mg per day
2) Rash -- Yes, a very odd rash at my underwear line, more like a boil though. It resurfaces to this day and when it does- I BEST be on abx
3) How long sick before starting treatment? 9 months
4) How long have you been in treatmnet? off and on, 4 years
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? on my good days, I never know I had lyme. on my bad days, I am only about 50 percent better. Total though, I have ALOT of good days.
-------------------- You want your life back? Take it. Posts: 3169 | From Greensburg, Pennsylvania | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
From reading these stories about the only pattern I see is that the IDSA is dead wrong. L.D. is not easy to treat or easy to diagnose!!!
Treatment obviously needs to be individualized due to multiple infections and underlying health issues -- especially for those who are late diagnosed.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
Wow...all this Doxy and I'm wondering if I missed the boat.
1 First Antibiotic: Amoxicillin 3000 a day (spread out three times 1000 each time)
2 Rash: No
3 How long was I sick before treatment? atleast 5 years, but 5 is the point the chest pains started which went out of control from there.
4. How long have I been in treatment? Coming up on one year.
5. Progress? Definitley better than when I was first diagnosed. Maybe 70 at my best days and 20 at my worst although still have days my body won't move, but those days are less and less.
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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Pocono Lyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5939
posted
sick since June 2002, diagnosed by the owner of the local feed store March 2004, self medicated for 4-5 months with Amoxicillin, plain penicillin, then got my hands on doxy and then Mino.
Saw LLMD March 2005 (aware of my self medicating) Started me on Amoxicillin 2500mg three times/day plus Zithromax and Plaquenil.
A rash may have been dismissed as a bruise? I recall being bitten though. Treated until May 2007 when treatment was stopped.
I'm at about 40-50%. An occasional 80% in there, but not often.
-------------------- 2 Corinthians 12:9-11
9 But he said to me, �My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.� Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ�s power may rest on me. Posts: 1445 | From Poconos, PA | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses?
Two weeks of Doxy then switched to Minocin for six months. Then a bunch of others after that. I was considering IVs but am now considering IM claforan.
2) Rash -- Yes or no?
Yes. Was hospitalized for 3 weeks in 3 different hospitals in neuro intensive care. Symptoms were blamed on sarcoidosis.
I felt the rash and insect bite on my leg were the reason for my illness. I had just come back from a camping trip.
3) How long sick before starting treatment?
Five years between the 2001 tick bite and treatment. I may have been infected in 1969 at age 11 during a trip to the Ozarks. I came home with the flu and developed a hand rash that looked like ACA.
The docs said it was eczema but it never got better with hydrocortisone. That was like throwing gasoline on a fire. Once I started on Abx for chronic ear infections from age 12-15 this rash went away.
4) How long have you been in treatmnet?
May 1, 2006.
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well?
TMJ 75% better. Sinus junk 80% better. GERD 100% gone! Asthma 100% gone! Chest pain or costochondritis 100% gone. Annoying neuro symptoms like brain fog keep hanging on.
Just started heparin 3 weeks ago. LOVE LOVE LOVE it except for the bruises. I'm now on Malarone + Zithromax for Babs. I think the sarcoid was really Bart as I do respond to Rifampin + Minocycline.Posts: 192 | From Dwight, IL USA | Registered: Mar 2007
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lymeladyinNY
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10235
posted
First antibiotic - amoxicillin, because I was pregnant.
Rash - yes. Huge bull's-eye on pregnant belly. It was raised, itchy, and painful.
Started treatment two days after rash appeared, four days after bite.
Have been in treatment since, almost five years, but was denied treatment for several months after that initial bottle of amoxicillin.
Progress is hard to determine. I don't fall down all the time like I did at first and rarely need my wheelchair anymore, BUT - I feel just about as awful as I ever have.
The symptoms have changed a lot since the beginning, but they've all been terrible.
-------------------- I want to be free Posts: 1170 | From Endicott, NY | Registered: Sep 2006
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Andie333
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7370
posted
Hi, Bea!
First abx: for Lyme-- very high dose oral ceftin for Bart -- very high dose rifampin for cyst -- very high dose tindimax Still on all three abx. though at reduced doses.
Yes, I had a bullseye rash in 1996 but realize I was sick iwth other rashes since 1991. Also got reinfected several times.
In treatment since June 2005
Now at about 90% improvement. Occasionally some glitchy moments, but I never spend a day in bed and have only taken 2 sick days in 11 months of fulltime work.
How's your husband doing, Bea?
Posts: 2549 | From never never land | Registered: May 2005
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posted
1) 1st abx: I self-medicated with clindamycin(150mg 2-4x/day) I found in a drawer. Later found out I was allergic to doxy.
2) no rash
3) sick 25 years before I found out it was Lyme.
4) successful clindamycin treatment lasted 6 months, then it stopped working.
5) progress was dramatic at first -- fibro pain went to zero in one week. Chemical sensitivity, fatigue and ankle swelling diminished. Added in Ultra mangosteen to stop eye symptoms. But chemical sensitivity is profound. I'd say I'm currently not treating successfully - gotta find out what that will be, as I am allergic to most all abx. Checking out the Buhner herbs.
[ 20. January 2008, 05:44 AM: Message edited by: Robin123 ]
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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posted
1st abx: Zithromax, now Biaxin. no rash probably have had it 8-9 years, not properly dx treatment only the last 5 months Little better, but still can not predict when I am going to get slammed.
-------------------- When you reach your "wits-end" remember this: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27 Posts: 397 | From Loudoun County Virginia | Registered: Mar 2007
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trueblue
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7348
posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses? Iv Rocephin 2 gms/day
2) Rash -- Yes or no? Yes but a few years prior to being diagnosed and twice during tx.
3) How long sick before starting treatment? 10-12 years?
4) How long have you been in treatmnet? On and off, more off than on, for 14 years.
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well?
Difficult to answer this, now. Initially, I was treated with Rochephin then Nizoral at low dose to stop the fungal issues and stayed on it throughout. Then Zithromax and Suprax, then Zithromax and Bicillin La. This totalled approx... 18 months. I was at 85-90% normal.
Then I was in a car accident and have not regained that yet.
I'll also qualify this, though already long, with having stopped treating for better than 5 years in the middle.
Nowadays... I don't remember normal but think I maybe about 30%. (I could be over-estimating.)
-------------------- more light, more love more truth and more innovation Posts: 3783 | From somewhere other than here | Registered: May 2005
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lymeHerx001
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6215
posted
Zith didnt do too much Doxt did nothing first
Biaxin is where I got my name. After day 3 I felt as though someone broke all my knees. I turned pale...etc....
Posts: 2905 | From New England | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses? Ceftin 400 mg bid
2) Rash -- Yes or no? Yes, but didnt know at the time it was a lyme rash
3) How long sick before starting treatment? 3 on the dot?
4) How long have you been in treatmnet? 6 months
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well?
Well My heart and digestive problems have cleared and I havent had a panic attack since starting treatment (i was in the hospital bc of them once a month at least prior to treatment. The fatigue and malaise feeling is much worse however than its ever been and my neurological symptoms are also much worse, which to me are the worst symptoms out of everything so it pretty much sucks-cant wait til this clears up, as my LLMD said it would be the last to.
Posts: 370 | From NJ | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses? Ceftin 400 mg bid
2) Rash -- Yes or no? Yes, but didnt know at the time it was a lyme rash
3) How long sick before starting treatment? 3 on the dot?
4) How long have you been in treatmnet? 6 months
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well?
Well My heart and digestive problems have cleared and I havent had a panic attack since starting treatment (i was in the hospital bc of them once a month at least prior to treatment. The fatigue and malaise feeling is much worse however than its ever been and my neurological symptoms are also much worse, which to me are the worst symptoms out of everything so it pretty much sucks-cant wait til this clears up, as my LLMD said it would be the last to.
Posts: 370 | From NJ | Registered: Dec 2007
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses? Doxy by a duck. Then found an LLMD and was taken off it and put on Amoxicillin as well as Azithromycin (but couldn't stay on the Azith long because my stomach didn't like it whatsoever.
2) Rash -- Yes or no? NOPE.
3) How long sick before starting treatment? I was very ill for almost a year before finding out. Though I really think I was bit 10 years ago as I had symptoms along time ago but they were few and far between and I never thought anything of them. Then 2007, they all just exploded and came out all at the same time.
4) How long have you been in treatment? Around 7 months.
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well? Nearly 75% I'd say, though somedays are still bad for me (especially when herxing off Andrographis -- I started taking herbs by looking into Stephen Buhner's book).
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
Doxy starting day 10 of known illness. 2x100, not enough.
Week later z-pack thrown in. 7-10 days later amox & doxy combo. Then an ampicillian was thrown in. All in the first 8 weeks of known illness.
It didn't matter at that point "the straw had already broken the camels back". I didn't realize, my PCP didn't realize that I had early signs of lyme & company months before the flu-like illness from hell hit me.
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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CherylSue
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13077
posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses?
Amoxicillin - 500 mg 4xdaily - haad to pulse because of bad herxes
Then, Doxycycline 200 BID for over a month now
2) Rash -- Yes or no?
No
3) How long sick before starting treatment?
Over 7 years, but had two remissions of 3 years and another one for 11 mos
4) How long have you been in treatmnet?
3 1/2 months
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well?
I would say 70% on a good day. Sometimes I can walk a mile, accompany my husband grocery shopping. I can drive 20 miles round trip, watch feature length movies, and read books. Last summer, I couldn't do anything near that.
I still feel like crap with flulike malaise, fatigue, and intermittent burning skin, disordered sleep.
CherylSue
Posts: 1954 | From Illinois | Registered: Aug 2007
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posted
1) What was the first antibiotic you took for tickborne illnesses? Biaxin.
2) Rash -- Yes or no? No.
3) How long sick before starting treatment? More than 7 years. Doctors and my family did not believe that I was sick. They thought it was 'all in my head'. My parents wouldn't take me to a LLMD until July.
4) How long have you been in treatmnet? 7 months so far.
5) Progress -- How much have you improved? 50% well? 100% well? 15%
-------------------- "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."
-------------------- You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have. Posts: 807 | From South Dakota | Registered: Jul 2005
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adamm
Unregistered
posted
Rash-petechial Have made no improvement so far
kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
Speaking for my daughter:
1) First abx: zith 2) Rash: No 3) How long sick before treatment: 2-4 years. we question symptoms that started showing before migraines started. 4) In treatment: Starting the third year.
6 mo. zithro 6 mo. zith/Rifampin added vitamin D...big jump on bart, discovered babesia. 5 mo. zith/mepron--very, very, very hard. currently minocycline, 4 months, biggest improvement. I believe she is operating at about 75%...taking college classes, including a fitness class, working at own pace.
Mom:
8 months zith rash: no ill before treatment: since 1990, with the exception of three major illness in the 90s, have been highly functioning.
Treating now, because symptoms are starting to include seizures. Improving. But, old symptoms from those old illnesses are cropping up.
Added one of my daughter's Rifampin yesterday, and wanted to curl up in a ball. Guess I'll tell the doc about that.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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