Hi everyone,
this is the uptight aunt, whose niece was bit Aug. 1 week-end near Orillia, Ontario.

It has been a while. Just wanted to give a brief update - and it is pretty good news!

To recap: H got sick immediately (within days of strange bite, no bulleseye, but bruising?) Primary doc in Toronto dismissed it of course -- but it was pretty clear she was high risk.

We managed to put together 400 mg of DOXY daily before the 3 week mark after the bite. (400 is essential as per Dr. H - not 200 mg!) She flared immediately.

We got her quickly to Dr. P in Buffalo (can't treat with abx. in Ontario). I was worried that the doc would not be aggressive enough. She kept H on doxy and added a few other things, suspecting bartonella also. H continued to flare but see slow and steady improvements. Dr. P then added rifampin, but I think the dose was too high to start, and H had a bad crash.

We had the chance for a second opinion and I pushed for it -- so glad we did!! Doc. #2 said Dr. P had done a decent job in terms of starting treatment, but Doc. #2 quickly identified that the major issue had become babesia (day sweats were a big sign!). I don't think this was on the radar for Dr. P? So treatment for babesia was added in - and another major flare. That was in early Nov.

By end of year symptoms resolved and as of Jan. 18, H was no longer on abx and transitioned to herbs, which she will be on for some months. (of course, uptight aunt that I am, I would have preferred longer time on abx!) But so far, so good . . . but I am still watching and following H's progress like a hawk.

Long story short: I just wanted to share a pretty encouraging story. H got sick VERY QUICKLY and it was terrifying. But once we jumped on it, things started to improve. Again, doc #2 stressed that he thinks the relatively early dose of 400 doxy may have made the difference in relatively quick turnaround. I stress this because even medical people (ER docs) I know in NY claim that 200 mg of doxy is standard dose for relatively early infection. But people in the know think otherwise!

Thank you again to all of you for being so supportive about all this in the summer. It was perhaps the most stressful experience of my life (and I'm old enough to have seen a lot! but I have had lyme myself for almost 4 years and so I had some sense of what could happen to this amazing young woman if we did not get it under control fast)

in gratitude,
Trish

Thank you, Traveler!

And thanks for the reminder about herbs -- good for me to remember in terms of my own ongoing healing.

I am also setting H up with someone who uses a rife-type approach (energy based). I see this as another level of being proactive/"insurance."

Trish