The words "Chronic Lyme" will never come out of my mouth again.

Hi stutterbug,
would you define your post Lyme Syndrome as Chronic? Also do you believe you only have/had a Borrellia infection? I believe post Lyme Syndrome is a condition, however the problem I see with this diagnosis, as well as Chronic Lyme disease as a diagnosis is grouping all Vector Borne diseases into one condition. I believe this is why so many people become chronically ill from Vector Borne diseases. Because the testing is so bad, and the utter lack of knowledge of the medical community, and public. The question I would ask myself before giving myself a DX of a "post" infection is.... What Vector Borne diseases do I have, did I have proper treatment to eliminate all/any of them, and is the damage irreversible? The terminology of Lyme disease is use loosely to explain an infection caused most commonly by a tick. However the medical community, and public should learn to define the illness as a Vector Borne illness and test for all infections. Someone could have Ehrlichiosis, and not be infected with Borrellia yet this still be defined as Lyme disease, or post Lyme Syndrome.

Best wishes

This is a wise statement. I find it hard to agree with years of antibiotics to fight an infection that probably isn't even there anymore. The damage is done... but don't give up on yourself. Focus on improving your overall health. Diet, exercise, and rest are so important. I've also found success with Astragalus for energy... and L-Theanine for relaxing the mind. Good luck.

I agree that just taking open ended ABX will not cure all our pain and eventually we will be "normal" again. I also don't believe just three weeks of ABX will eliminate all Vector Borne diseases, especially when someone is undiagnosed for many months, or years. Is there an amount of irreversible damage caused, I'm sure there is. I believe after the infection is eliminated you still need to detox, and rebuild your immune system. In My case I remember the tick bite, I removed the imbeded tick from my buttox. Within 48 hrs. I started having the flu like symptom, and meningitis type symptoms. Within a couple of days I had a negitive blood test and my former GP refused to give me ABX because I did not test positive. When I was finally able to see a LLMD after months of waiting; I know after four weeks of ABX I was just scratching the surface of my TBI. I continued my ABX treatment for another six month until I started to see some improvement. At this point I started detoxing, and started to try and rebuild my immune system. I continued having GI symptoms until I started taking suppluments to battle a possible parasite infection. I was very skeptial of natural medicine, and the possibility of my GI symptoms being related to parasites. I was amazed when my GI symptoms started to improve. I now feel my health is "nearly" back to normal. Do I feel Chronic Lyme disease exsits? Sure if it is not treated early enough, or properly. Do I feel Post Lyme Syndrome exists? Sure there is damage that may be irreversible.

My question now is...how will they treat Post Lyme Syndrome? Detox, support the immune system? Unfortunatly with this illness there is always more questions than answers.

Best wishes

BIG BUMP !!!