posted
I was wondering what people go through as they are about to recover - I'm not there yet but just curious.
Do most people feel 100% healthy at termination of abx treatment?
Do some feel some lingering symptoms, and then it tapers off after discontinuing abx?
Personally, if I begin approaching 8 or 9 months on abx with still a few residual symptoms, I will probably end abx and ramp up herbals (already doing some herbals now, 3 mo into abx treatment). I really don't want to be taking abx forever.
Any recovery experiences would be appreciated.
Posts: 29 | From NY | Registered: Sep 2007
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
Dear Blossom,
I am not there yet, but still heading towards remission.
I have been on antibiotics for over one year now.
I have addressed Lyme, Babesia (twice), bartonella and now CMV, EBV, etc.
It never fails to amaze me how well I can feel on some days and still how unwell on others.
I am going to keep going until I am symptom free for two to three months and
Then go on my LLMD's Remission Challenge of antibiotics for 2 whole months.
If I can go these last 3-4 months symptom free, then bye-bye antibiotics.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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Been a while since I've visited this forum as I've been well now for approximately 4 years since my abx treatment of two years ended. Thought I'd pop in and see how others were doing and I ran into your post and felt compelled to answer as best I could, knowing that I might very well be corrected by others so the bottom line here is that I'm sharing my own experience here, others will be different.
As I recall, the longer one has been sick with Lyme, the longer it takes to recover but I think there is more to it than that such as what your health condition in general is, how much damage has been done, how much of that is irreversible, what strain of Lyme you have as well as the co-infections. How's your liver prior to treatment? Any candida issues? The list goes on and deeper from here but for the sake of argument, let's leave it at that.
The general rule of thumb is that treatment should continue until the patient gets at least two months back to back symptom free. I went longer for what I felt was my own extra insurance because I never want to go back to the days of wishing I was dead instead.
Ok, to answer your questions from my experience....roughly every six months I peeked out on the abx I was on and would have to swap it out while keeping the Tinidazole (1,000mg twice a day) going for the full two years. When I switched the Biaxin, Ceftin, Biaxin XL and then finally the Ketek, all 500 mg twice a day, I would go through a whole new herx session and each herx was always a little bit different but the deep aching always remained. Sometimes I'd have serious heart palpitations, sometimes I'd go downright stupid, who knew what would happen next but I'd just roll with the punches because everything I researched said this was a normal process. Every herx got easier and easier but for me other than the first few months of non-stop herxing when we added the Tinidazole where my brain was trying to leave my skull without coming through the ears or any other available orifice in my head, the only other really tough time was the Lyme rage. During that time I wanted to seriously mutilate my husband for turning the pages of his newspaper way too loudly....the nerve of him! He's lucky he's still alive, believe me!
Questions 2 - I felt about 95% fully recovered at the end of my abx therapy treatment. I still suffer minor nerve damage but in general I'm fully functional (except for being a blonde mentalpause victim).
Question 3 - The lingering symptoms after treatment can be hormonal related,candida, toxin related or possibly something completely different. Stay with the low carb diet, do what you can to detoxify yourself, exercise if you can, do all you reasonably can to boost your immunity system, sleep well and put yourself as #1....relax. Monitor your symptoms. Yes, it could be residual from Lyme but only time and your body will tell you if you listen.
I'm hoping my experience answers your questions somewhat and hope that others pitch in here as well.
Posts: 302 | From Kamloops, B.C., Canada | Registered: Dec 2002
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