Lyme treatment

[dgspencer]

I have recently had a positive lab test for the Bb bacteria. I have had symptoms for years. Like most with Lyme, I have been to lots of doctors and finally found a DO that is into alternative treatments that has finally diagnosed my condition. He does not recommend antibiotics.

My doctor is treating me with homeopathic medicine. It is called Borrelia/Babesia (DesBio Series Therapy). Has anyone had any experience with this type of treatment?

[JackieCalifornia]

Keep us posted!  It's always helpful to hear how various approaches to treatment work out.  We look forward to hearing more --

[bleeglaser]

I'm on the Borrelia/Babesia Remedy and it makes a world of difference in my symptoms.  My low back pain and my carpal tunnel disappear as long as I'm on it.  I can't wait to start a series from DesBio and kill these buggers.  The remedy only helps relieve the symptoms, it doesn't kill the Lyme.  But the series is suppose to trigger the immune system to create antibodies to kill the lyme.  My ND has me on other things to kill the lyme, get through the bio film, and build my natural immune system.

[Ricobord]

I forgot to mention that I have also taken the Bartonella series you mention.  My doc warned me that may patients describe an intensification of symptoms at vial 6.  Hah.  Vial 1 felt like a sleeping pill to me.  90 minutes after I took it I couldn't stay awake and crashed for 3 hours.  I was smart enough to take the rest of them at bedtime.  On every vial, I slept about 9+ hours and felt a bit groggy the next morning.  At least I was getting enough sleep those days!

I am not sure if I improved with them or not. I did have slow improvement over the month I took the series, but I don't know if that was because of the series, or because of the other meds and herbals I was on at the same time.  My tingling almost disappeared during that month, but then recently came back when I went off A-Bart and Bar-1 for just a few days.

[Ricobord]

It's becoming more and more clear that years of antibiotics alone just don't take care of these entrenched tick borne illnesses.  Even some of the die hard antibiotics-only LLMDs are coming around and realizing the natural and herbal treatments are valuable.  If I could do this with naturals alone, I would.

I'm glad to hear how the professional speakers at the recent Lyme rally were pro-natural. I would have liked to have heard them.

I wish mainstream medicine was more respectful of natural medicines. I also wish insurance recognized them as actual medicines and covered at least some of the cost.  I just got a bottle of A-Bart and it cost over 100 bucks!  Argh!  It's clearly cheaper than the $1300 bottle of Micobutin I just picked up, but my insurance paid for that.  With no insurance coverage, A-Bart would clearly be the more financially viable option.

[blamom]

Oral doxy and IV were both fails for me, went completely herbal and after several years of suffering, finally reached remission.  I have been to ALL of the Lyme rallys in DC. Last year, all of the professional speakers were Pro natural.

[cave76]

dgspencer----Good luck with your treatment with a homeopathic protocol. As I said I  had no luck with them at all but maybe you will.

The others who responded with  somewhat favorable opinions were actually talking about treating with herbals not homeopathics. There's a big difference.

[dgspencer]

Thank you for your comment regarding homeopathics. I am giving them a try for 2 months to see what happens.

[Ricobord]

I have heard of some who experience full health recovery with antibiotics. My doc has many such patients, especially those who have NOT been sick for many years and who don't have coinfections. It's difficult to use the word "cure" because it's too hard to know if someone is cured and they are plenty of patients who relapse as you know well from experience.

You only know if you're cured if you live long without a relapse of symptoms, so it's very difficult to claim a cure.  It seems kind of like cancer in this regard.  

I have multiple strikes against me: years-long infection, heavy neuro symptoms, insufficient treatment in the beginning, 2 coinfections, steroids, and a flu vaccine during neuro symptoms.  All of these things are reported to make a patient more difficult to get well.  I'm 2+ years into treatment and still working on it.  I have read of others who took 3-4 years to get well, so I'm still optimistic that can be me.

I like to use the words "get well" rather than remission or cure. I doubt I will ever be truly cured, but I can live a full life if I can feel close to normal, take care of my health, and be quick to treat any return of symptoms.

That being said, I do not agree with the people who say Lyme is never or hardly ever cured. That's just not consistent with the multitude of people out there who have been cured of Lyme.

I do not want to scare new people coming to this site looking for info.

Many patients, especially those infected a year or less appear to be cured with antibiotic treatment and many go a long time with no subsequent problems. This is why I think getting accurate testing and better education about the early signs of disease are so critically important.

But I can't recall anyone who has experienced full health, long term recovery with just herbals. I'm just not convinced it's possible.  While I use lots of herbals and they are an important part of my treatment, I see them as supporting and helping my treatment, not as the sole method of treatment.  

I do not condemn those who choose the herbals only route. I just think patients need to be honest with themselves about what their outcome can be with the different treatment options. Someone with a mild case of Lyme might do just fine with just herbals to keep it in check.  I personally believe I would have died without antibiotics because I was so severely ill.

[cave76]

" I've only ever heard of remission with herbals."

Do you mean herbals AND antibiotics?

[Ricobord]

The consensus that seems to be evolving among people knowledgeable about treating Lyme is that a combination works best.

I know someone whose child was seeing a doctor who didn't believe in antibiotics and the poor kid suffered in misery for years with 4 tick borne infections, losing much of the teenage years to a variety of alternative treatments that only helped a little.  Finally, they took an integrative approach with an LLMD who did antibiotics and a ND who did the rest.  

I thought it was sad that the fear of harm the antibiotics would do to her resulted in excessive suffering and long term entrenched infections.  I'm quite confident the harm the infections did was much worse than any harm antibiotics would have done. And the delay surely resulted in longer treatment and less likelihood of full recovery.

I've only ever heard of remission with herbals. If you want a chance of recovery, I encourage you, from my own experience, to go the integrated route.

[mojogal]

I did abx for 18 months and switched to herbs last month. I have not heard of the herbs you mentioned but wish you luck.

[Elleon_arual]

Hello!

I have not heard of those herbs but I am also treating with herbs (along with the antibiotic) and have noticed the most improvement when on the herbs.

However,  I DO think antibiotics are needed at some point to get this thing under control.

[cave76]

I was treated with homeopathics a while back. They did nothing for me.

I prefer antibiotics (got good results with them)  but if you prefer homeopathics I wish you all the luck in the world.