I was wondering what would make a Lyme patient need IV antibiotics vs oral.
I know that the very severe cases might start with it off the bat, but I've been treated for a year with oral antibiotics and I still feel pretty much the same and I'm having seizures and a lot of neurological symptoms.
I would like to try IV antibiotics, if my LLMD feels I need it, but I'm not sure how to bring it up.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
-------------------- "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be wonderful."
tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
Also with a lot of doctors still trying to fly under the radar, they only treat with orals.
I did 20 months of orals and I was getting better but then wham, got hit hard, so my "under the radar" LLMD referred me to Dr. R who isn't under that radar in the same way.
He felt that after 20 months of orals and still fighting, it was time for IV.
Insurance wants nothing to do with it, so it's out of pocket and I feel like crap from it, but if it works, it will be very worth it.
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
gemofnj
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 15551
posted
I believe according to Dr. Burrasacano's guidelines under iv antibiotic treatment is only used in certain chronic conditions:
"By definition, this category consists of patients with active infection, of a more prolonged duration, who are more likely have higher spirochete loads, weaker defense mechanisms, possibly more virulent or resistant strains, and probably are significantly co-infected.
Neurotoxins may also be significant in these patients. Search for and treat for all of these, and search for concurrent infections including viruses, chlamydias, and mycoplasmas.
Be sure to do an endocrine workup if indicated. These patients require a full evaluation for all of these problems, and each abnormality must be addressed.
This group will most likely need parenteral therapy, especially high dose, pulsed therapy, and antibiotic combinations, including metronidazole.
Antibiotic therapy will need to continue for many months, and the antibiotics may have to be changed periodically to break plateaus in recovery.
Be vigilant for treatment related problems such as antibiotic-associated colitis, yeast overgrowth, intravenous catheter complications, and abnormalities in blood counts and chemistries."
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!
![[group hug]](graemlins/grouphug.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic