What condition is your immune system?

How long have you had LD?

What meds are you on?

You see the the first question I asked you is impossible for you to answer...how do you know what condition your immune system is in.

Everyone is different.

So, even if you were bit at the exact same time as someone else by the exact same tick (which BTW, is an impossibility), got the exact diagnosis, and started treatment the exact time with the exact same meds, you STILL will have a different response than the other person.

It's your own immune system that comes into play!!! And, no one can tell you that.

If you've had this for quite awhile, remember what my LLMD tells his patients,

"It's the turtle that wins the race against LD, not the hare."

You went untreated for several years and all that time your bacteria load was multiplying over and over. For some, they can be infected for years while their immune systems are doing good work and keeping their symptoms at bay and then, all of the sudden, WAM, the symptoms come on like a ton of bricks.

Why, well, the immune system has started to give up fighting and now need help.

You've had this awhile and it will take some time now to get better.

My suggestion is to read those links of Tincup's, Links for new LymeNet members you've been given. There is a storehouse of information there for you to begin to learn and arm yourself against this most complicated disease.

Read through other posts also, not just the ones you are posting...if it were that simple, then we surely would not need this bulletin board, right?

Rosemary

WHAT a name you got there

I had Lyme approx one year before being dx and treated; and it's been two years of treatment for me.

I'm finally starting to feel better; hence, it was true for me. That's the best I can tell you.

A little more info would help, but you're not required to answer questions.

What antibiotic have you taken for 5 months?
...what dose per day?

Have you been checked for co-infections?
...like Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Bartonella

Have you been taking acidophilus to replace the good bacteria in your system?

In what city is your dr located?

Feeling worse each day-
1) If your dose of antibiotic (abx) is not strong enough, then Lyme could be getting worse.

2) If you have co-infections, they could be the problem.

3) If abx is strong enough, then you could be having a herxheimer reaction (herx for short)
When the bacteria are killed by the abx, they give off a toxin that the body reacts to. Makes symptoms worse & sometimes new symptoms develop.
But it's a good sign because it shows the meds are working.
As treatment continues, patient improves.

4) Could be a systemic yeast infection. The abx kill the good bacteria along with the bad. If the good bacteria is not replenished adequately (acidophilus), then a systemic yeast infection (candida) usually develops. Symptoms are similar to Lyme symptoms.

If you haven't already, check "Links for new LymeNet members". Lots of great info!! http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/009342.html

Thanks for explaining your screen name.
Very interesting!!
I'm impressed that you were a cross-country runner. My 14 yr old grandson (9th grade)
runs on the varsity cross-country team at his school. I'm going to the track meet tomorrow.

Sorry for the run-on sentence as it were. But, what I am trying to say, I guess, is, I can't believe that!!!

For, if I were to, then to look forward for the next 30 years or better on abx...well, I may as well end it all now, for I am 53 and probably have had this for the better part of my life, looking backward.

Other opinions on this?

Rosemary

I have been taking acidophilus for the past 2 years because I have been on lots of different antibiotics for that long because I was misdiagnosed.

I have Lyme and babesia.I am just steadily getting worse.

[This message has been edited by trecetetodromonmetabia (edited 03 November 2004).]

That's one tough track coach you've got there.
Has your dr written a letter to the coach explaining your illnesses, treatment, & results of treatment (like a herx reaction)?

Who is your Lyme dr?
(initial only - we don't give names of drs here unless they have given permission.)