Doxy

[pema111]

Hey all.....

I've been on Doxy for almost a month now...before that, it was amoxicilian for 3 months... does anyone know how LONG it takes for Doxy to work..I heard 2 months...I've already had 3 flares and 1 Herxs   HELP!!!!

[JackieCalifornia]

Antibiotics.  My doc was a dyed-in-the-wool LLMD.  He treated me for babesia first, with two antibiotics, and then treated for Lyme.  I don't have my notes in front of me ... so I can't remember which meds were for which.  It's been a couple of years ago.  Atovaquone and cefdinir both ring a bell ... I think those were for babesia, which is related to malaria.  Then got treated for Lyme.  (Had a hard drive failure recently and lost some computer records ... so still in the dark on some things.)  Also, treatment practice changes over time as more things are discovered, so I don't know what the state of the art is anymore.

My LLMD wasn't that interested in vitamins and supplements, so I did some reading on various Lyme websites and created my own menu of vitamins and supplements.  Then when I was done with Lyme treatment, I found a new doc to be my regular go-to person, but she respects Lyme and the mess that it is.  She put me on a list of vits/supps that I still take now.  Also somewhere in there my thyroid crashed, so I'm now on thyroid supps too, and THAT makes a HUGE difference. I have read that Lyme can trigger thyroid problems, and it may have in me, tho it also runs in my family, so who knows.

Everyone seems different in their symptoms and treatments for Lyme and its friends, so it's been trial and error.  Some things work, some not so much.  One thing really important for me were magnesium (Mg) supplements, because Lyme apparently uses up Mg in the body.  I take a kind that is a blend of Mg citrate, aspartate, and orotate and it helps a lot both physically (helps the muscles send messages to each other and so reduces twitches and pains) as well as brain-wise and mood-wise.

The more I have read, the more interested I would be in Rife and herbal treatments if I had to go through another battle with Lyme.  There is no magic bullet, sadly, but life did get a LOT better with treatment.

[ree427]

If you wouldn't mind sharing, how did you cure your Lyme? What antibiotics did you take?
What supplements did you take? It's so great to hear that this disease can be cured.

[pema111]

          thanks Jackie.hope you stay free of lyme

[JackieCalifornia]

Yes, I have been pronounced cured, but one always wonders if it's just that the infection has been so beaten down that it is a functional cure ... but one could say the same about any disease, perhaps.

My doc, a Lyme specialist, didn't use doxy on me, but I don't know why.  Lyme is on the frontiers of medicine, so there is no one way or treatment, and Lyme is an especially tricky infection in any event.  Also some people react differently to different meds.

Thanks for the leads on the herbs.  I'd also suggest Stephen Buhner's books on herbal treatment of Lyme.

[pema111]

    
      thanks ree

      I'm on 200mgs a day..everything is sooo confusing..the MD's you talk to, the more different answers you get.  I'm also doing cranialsacral therapy which helps.  ALSO, i just remembered for all of you, I saw on YouTube a gentleman that does ACT (Advanced Cell Training) which sounds interesting..he deals with the emotional part of illness..saying that issues are in our tissues :-)  I don't know exactly what he does, I do know he does muscle testing on you emotional issues...check it out..just go to Advanced Cell Training..there's 5 videos.  :-)

[pema111]

  thanks for  getting back to me....
I have no co-infections, (so the test concluded) and I just went on YouTube where a woman who had lyme for 8 years cured herself by using FRESH teasel root soaked in alchohol (she's also an herbalist)  Her website is Ladybarbara.net in case you're interested and I just ordered Mathew Wood's book The Book of Herbal Wisdom that tells you how to make the tincture.  God gives us everything we need to heal ourselves, why not try this.  Are you free of lyme now?

[ree427]

I don't know where my doc gets her information. Is she correct ? Who knows. I have heard of others on Doxy. I looked under Burrascano's Treatment Guidelines (you can google it) and he has Doxy listed as an antibiotic choice, but suggest doses up to 600 mg daily are needed as it is only effective at high blood levels. I don't know what dose you are on. These guidelines where printed in 2008, so things could have changed. It's just something to be aware of.

[JackieCalifornia]

My LLMD treated me with two antibiotics at the same time, neither of them being doxycycline.  Why no doxy, I don't know, but there are different approaches.

Were you tested for co-infections, meaning other diseases the same ticks often carry?

Also, consider that Lyme bacteria have a very slow reproductive cycle and it is when dividing that the bacteria are most susceptible to being killed.  That's why Lyme needs a longer treatment time than regular bacterial infections.  As I recall, I was treated for 3-4 months at least just for Lyme, not including the co-infection I had.

[pema111]

   thanks ree427..appreciate your comment (I think) LOL

[ree427]

My doctor advised me that Doxy is not effective once you had Lyme a long time. She said it's only effective for the acute stage of the illness. I was on Doxy earlier on in the illness and I herxed quite a bit, but overall it wasn't effective for me. Maybe others here can offer their opinions...