Some people with Lyme who just don't respond to antibiotics often have Babesia as a coinfection. It can be "silent," with no symptoms appearing. You can also test negative on all standard tests, as I did.
Most doctors have never heard of Babesia, so for a clinical diagnosis, you'd need to see a LLMD, a Lyme Literate Doctor who knows Lyme well. Or, if your doc is sympathetic, maybe s/he will give you a trial of a Babesia med to see if you respond. You can also try popular herbals to see if you respond. I didn't respond to the first three (Crypto Plus, Enula, and Artemisinin), but then I did respond to one called Mora by Nutramedix. In my case, my shortness of breath and air hunger got worse.
Now that I am on Malarone and a 2nd drug called Alinia, I am having more Babesia symptoms than ever. I have excessive sweating like clockwork about 1.5 hours after I take it. My breathing, after being worse for weeks, is now much better. Sme say that if you have untreated Babesia, it is unlikely you'll recover from Lyme. Once the Babesia is gone, the Lyme usually clears up.
It is not uncommon for the standard tests to come back negative. The reason is that the tests do not look in your blood to find Lyme bacteria, but look to find antibodies that your immune system produces to kill the bacteria. It's like looking for a burglar's footprints outside your window, if you can't see the burglar who ran away.
The problem with the tests is that after a while, your immune system stops making antibodies, because it assumes that the bacteria are all dead -- but Lyme bacteria have the ability to hide in your body where the immune system can't see them. (Also Lyme has the ability to suppress your immune system, stopping it from making antibodies.)
As a result, it is not uncommon, especially after a few weeks/months of infection, for there to be no immune response from your body, and therefore the tests come up negative -- but it is a false negative: you can still be infected but have no evidence on those particular tests.
A Lyme specialist knows this, and uses different tests that look for Lyme DNA instead of antibodies from your immune system. Docs who are not Lyme specialists think the existing tests are just fine, and tell you that you aren't sick, even tho you feel sick. (Non-Lyme specialists often tell people who have been treated for just a few weeks that they still feel lousy because their immune system is overreacting to a now-dead infection, but Lyme specialists understand the situation differently and view continued symptoms as a continuing infection.)
That's why finding a doc who understand Lyme in a more progressive fashion is important. Docs who think that way are often members of ILADS, the organization mentioned above. Good luck! Keep us posted.
I am the same!!! Summer is ok,but autumn and winter is stress...the same symptoms like yours! Was bitten by ticks 3 years ago...and just this year found out that I can have Lyme.At least you are lucky u have been diagnosed...my all tests came back negative! Thanks to this site I am getting a lot of helpful info. Many thanks to everyone!
To answer your question, no, I don't think you can cure Lyme on your own. I agree with Jackie.
If symptoms come back, you are not cured. You need a LLMD to help sort it out.
Good luck!
Welcome to MedHelp --
Some people use herbal remedies against Lyme, but the problem is that herbs are not always effective and also that without a doc involved, you may have infections that often come from the Lyme ticks that need completely different treatment from Lyme.
It really does take a doctor, imo, but finding the right doc is difficult too, because many docs do not understand Lyme or how to diagnose or treat it, at least in my experience and that of others here.
I would encourage you to find a Lyme specialist for diagnosis and treatment. If you do not have Lyme, a Lyme doc can tell you that; if you do have Lyme, a nonLyme doc may not be able to detect it because they tend to use outmoded tests, according to the more progressive docs working in this field.
If you send an email to
contact [at] ILADS [dot] org
and tell them what area you live in and how far you can travel, they can send you names of MDs who are specialists in Lyme. That's what I would do, and hope you will consider that approach.
With best wishes to you --