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Update on Lyme Situation

I have not posted in several months, because I was at a stand still.  This has been the hardest time in my life.  When I got sick 2 years ago, I was like so many of you, no one knew how to help.  I was already dealing with anxiety disorder, brought on my so called pain specialist.  I was seeing my GP for this problem and chronic back pain, after four back surgeries.  When I showed my GP the bite, neither of us had a clue it was a tick bite.  However, I now think that as a doctor, he should have given me antibiotics.  He made the comment it was inflamed.  Never again, will I not speak up and insist to be treated. I continued to see him for a year, complaining with one problem after another.  I was finally diagnosed with RMSF, after I asked to be tested for lyme.  He, and three other doctors that I've seen since being diagnosed,  did not have a clue how to treat lyme. My GP did give me doxy, but thought I should be well after a month or two. After searching for a year, I finally found a doctor to treat lyme a couple of weeks ago.  It was such a change from the last doctors.  Dr. A uses bio energetic testing. Have any of you been treated using this? He told me I have lyme, RMSF, EBV, CMV and am dehydrated.  They began treatment that day with laser therapy. I was given several different things to start using.  I was told that most people feel flu like systems from the laser therapy.  It was true for me. By the time I traveled 2 hours home, I had to go to bed.  Also, I was told the treatment I started could make me feel a lot like I did at the beginning of my illness.  It should did.  I have had a rough 2 weeks, but I am tolerating the treatment better the last couple of days.  I just pray that in the end, it will be my answer.  I have asked this question before, but would like to know if there's anyone now that can help me understand why this is happening.  Everyday, I experience the same thing.  It's in the afternoon, and my head starts feeling so strange.  I feel pressure around my ears and I get so uneasy.  If I lay down, I feel better.  It can last from an hour to three or four hours.   Also, about three months ago, both my legs started burning.  At first, I thought it was related to my back issues.  Then it changed to skin sensitivity.  I can't
stand for my clothes to touch my skin.  My GP gave me some cream bc he thought it was shingles.  This has not improved.  I think it is related to the lyme.  I did tell Dr. A about it, but he didn't give me a answer.   Have any of you had this, and can tell me if my treatment for lyme should help?
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1763947 tn?1334055319
It sounds like you may be experiencing herxheimer reactions. Herx for short.
That is something very common, when treating with something that is working, killing the bugs, then you can have a worsening of the symptoms. You can google it.

I wish you luck.
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Avatar universal
CORRECTION:  I read some more about naturopathic doctors, and there is much to read.

I suspect I had previously read about an MD who was now practicing naturopathy, but it appears to me now that naturopaths are NOT MDs and are not licensed as physicians.

If this matters to you, please READ MORE ABOUT it before being treated by a naturopath.

Others please feel free to jump in here.
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Avatar universal
You ask, "Did you have the skin sensitivity or head issues that I asked about when you had lyme and the coinfection?"

It's hard to say exactly what my specific symptoms were, because it was so jumbled.  My whole body was ill, and I couldn't tell what was Lyme and what was caused by the other infection I had (babesiosis).  Everyone is different in what (co)infections we have, and the symptoms vary as well.

A wise MD knows that and takes it into account.    
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Avatar universal
(It looks like our messages crossed in transmission.)

     You ask, "Did you have the skin sensitivity or head issues that I asked about when you had lyme and the coinfection?"  Symptoms can easily vary from one person to another, because the 'Lyme' ticks often carry one or more other infections, and that mix of infections and their symptoms can be hard for a doc to diagnose, esp. a doc who is not entirely up to date or focussed on Lyme and the co-infections.  Docs are used to having a fairly fixed list of symptoms, but Lyme doesn't play that way.    

     You say, "I believe Dr. A is what I have heard referred to as a LLND.  I am unable to take a lot of antibiotics bc I have had candida really bad for over a year."  

An LLND is an MD who has a specialty in Lyme disease and the other infections the Lyme ticks often carry.  It is not, to my knowledge, a degree or title, but instead a convenient way to tag MDs who take a particular point of view:  a "Lyme-literate naturopathic doctor."

My own Lyme doc was not a naturopath, and I am not up to date on the detailed differences between treatment between LLMDs and LLNDs, but it is something to keep in mind.  Others here may have more information on that point.

I would think it may be possible to treat the systemic yeast infection either after or along with antibiotic treatment.  Did your doc discuss that approach?  Antibiotics are known to kill Lyme bacteria in a straightforward way, and that is the treatment I had.  Maybe others here can speak to that aspect.  


                
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Avatar universal
... and by 'reconsidering the approach', that could include finding another doc.

Not all docs are really Lyme-aware, and it is an area of medicine that is still developing.  On top of that, there is a split in the medical community, and in some states, the medical board holds firmly to the idea that Lyme should be treated only with a few weeks of doxycycline, and any remaining symptoms are your immune system over-reacting to the now-gone infection.

That's the older view of Lyme, but other research has gone beyond that simple approach to a different understanding of Lyme as a complex disease.  The trick is to find an MD who takes a more progressive view of Lyme and the other infections the Lyme ticks often carry.

I had Lyme disease and another infection from the ticks, called babesiosis.  There are at least a half dozen of these 'bonus' infections from the Lyme ticks, often called as a group 'co-infections'.  It takes an experienced and open-minded MD to consider these possibilities and also to know that a few weeks of doxycycline antibiotics (the supposedly 'usual' treatment) may not be enough for several reasons:  wrong meds for not long enough treatment time.

Your first doc may have been just not up-to-date on Lyme, and the second doc may not see the situation as another Lyme specialist may.  This area of medicine is still developing, and sometimes it takes a few tries to find an MD who understands your particular situation.  

The first thing I would do is find an MD experienced in diagnosis and treating Lyme and its co-infections.

Let us know how we can help, okay?  
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Avatar universal
Did you have the skin sensitivity or head issues that I asked about when you had lyme and the coinfection?    

I believe Dr. A is what I have heard referred to as a LLND.  I am unable to take a lot of antibiotics bc I have had candida really bad for over a year.                                                          
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Avatar universal
"I did tell Dr. A about it, but he didn't give me a answer."

I would ask again.  This approach to treatment is not something I have read about, so unfortunately have no information about it.

I just searched -- lyme disease laser treatment -- and did not find anything there either.  Maybe the doc was in a hurry, so ask again.  If you don't get answers that make sense to you, then perhaps reconsider the approach.  

Hope you feel better soon!  Keep us posted, okay?
Helpful - 0
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