Aa
lyme disease
why should prednisone not be taken if i have lyme disease?
Ditto everything above in addition, while in Texas where they don't believe in Lyme , I was given steroids and wound up in the hospital on a ventilator. Most wont react that severely but when I hear steroids, I get freaked out.
I ditto everything Jackie says. Seroids suppress the immune system. Steroids are good for asthma, multiple sclerosis, degenerative conditions, and other conditions where there is excessive inflammation due to an overactive or malfunctioning immune system.
But if the inflammation is due to an infection, prednisone will backfire. Imagine that your army is holding back an invader, and then you call half of them back. The invader easily overruns the remaining force.
I am yet another example. I was misdiagnosed and given prednisone and a few days later I ended up in the ER with much worse symptoms. Then I was given more prednisone. That started an accelerated decline in my illness with a long list of new and worsening symptoms.
Doctors need to know that Lyme patients get worse on steroids. A patient is unlikely to have an autoimmune disorder if they get worse on steroids.
But if the inflammation is due to an infection, prednisone will backfire. Imagine that your army is holding back an invader, and then you call half of them back. The invader easily overruns the remaining force.
I am yet another example. I was misdiagnosed and given prednisone and a few days later I ended up in the ER with much worse symptoms. Then I was given more prednisone. That started an accelerated decline in my illness with a long list of new and worsening symptoms.
Doctors need to know that Lyme patients get worse on steroids. A patient is unlikely to have an autoimmune disorder if they get worse on steroids.
Welcome --
Lyme is a bacterial infection, and bacteria are killed by your immune system.
Prednisone is a steroid medication that works by *suppressing* the immune system, which is just the opposite of what is needed to fight Lyme.
There are quite a few docs who believe that if you still have Lyme symptoms after a few weeks of antibiotic treatment, then it's the immune system over-reacting to an infection that is no longer there, but Lyme specialists understand that antibiotic treatment for Lyme needs to be for an extended period of time, measured in months, not weeks.
Why? Because all bacteria are killed most easily when their cell wall is weak, as it is when the bacteria are reproducing. Unlike the more usual bacterial infections, Lyme has an unusually long reproductive cycle, meaning the times that antibiotics are most effect are not as often. This is also true of some other bacteria, such as the ones that cause tuberculosis, for which standard antibiotic treatment is 18 months.
But back to your question: prednisone and steroids are contraindicated in Lyme as well as in what nonLyme specialists (incorrectly) call 'post-Lyme syndrome', which is very likely an uncured Lyme infection.
Lyme is a bacterial infection, and bacteria are killed by your immune system.
Prednisone is a steroid medication that works by *suppressing* the immune system, which is just the opposite of what is needed to fight Lyme.
There are quite a few docs who believe that if you still have Lyme symptoms after a few weeks of antibiotic treatment, then it's the immune system over-reacting to an infection that is no longer there, but Lyme specialists understand that antibiotic treatment for Lyme needs to be for an extended period of time, measured in months, not weeks.
Why? Because all bacteria are killed most easily when their cell wall is weak, as it is when the bacteria are reproducing. Unlike the more usual bacterial infections, Lyme has an unusually long reproductive cycle, meaning the times that antibiotics are most effect are not as often. This is also true of some other bacteria, such as the ones that cause tuberculosis, for which standard antibiotic treatment is 18 months.
But back to your question: prednisone and steroids are contraindicated in Lyme as well as in what nonLyme specialists (incorrectly) call 'post-Lyme syndrome', which is very likely an uncured Lyme infection.
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