Hey HealingWell! I've been a 'silent lurker' on this forum for the past few months, but as I'm in need of some advice, I decided it was time to actually post some questions/concerns I have. I've kind of hit a plateau/fork-in-the-road in terms of Lyme&co treatment :/

FWIW I'm a 22 year old male, currently on a medical leave from University to pursue Lyme treatment.

To make a very, very long story shorter, I was diagnosed this past October ('17) with CDC+ Lyme. I initially presented with pretty mild symptoms: a couple weeks of strange hives, swollen glands, and a 24-hour low-grade fever. However, about a week into starting that good 'ol 21 days of Doxy, all my symptoms emerged and my world got rocked. These symptoms, that I'm still struggling with, are mainly: bladder problems (frequency, pressure in my bladder, problems voiding the bladder. Yes, I've tested neg. for UTIs), fluttery muscle twitches, twitching in my eyelids, loss of libido, inflamed veins and spider veins, lots of inflammation in my hands and feet, and swollen nodules around joints in my fingers and hips.

After my initial 21 days of Doxy, I bounced around with a couple of different ID (I know ) doctors. The first ID Dr. confirmed my Lyme diagnosis and extended my Doxy script another 5 weeks. The second ID Dr., who was surprisingly Lyme literate, tested me for confections (I came back positive for mycoplasma and bartonella), and began me on a combo of Zithromax/Suprax/Rifampin. This combo. hit me HARD, and I experienced a really intense neurological herx (tons of twitching, head buzzing, panic attacks) that lasted about three weeks. After staying on this combo for about a month, I felt that I was having trouble tolerating both the drugs and the doctor: although this ID doctor was Lyme literate, he was ridiculously hard to reach, and would take weeks to return panicked phone calls from me about my symptoms.

Looking for a more compassionate Lyme-doctor, I finally found my current doctor. He is extremely Lyme-literate, but also quite holistic (trained in herbal medicine and acupuncture as well). Although he normally treats Lyme patients with combo antibiotics, he stopped my antibiotic treatment; he was intrigued by the fact that the vast, vast majority of my symptoms emerged after beginning antibiotic treatment, and was concerned about the possibility of me having developed a Candida infection, indicated by both the prevalence of my urinary symptoms, and a nasty white coating on my tongue.

For the past five weeks, I have been following this last doctor's protocol for me: I'm taking 200mg/daily of Diflucan -- to combat Candida -- and 4.5 mg nightly of LDN, to strengthen my immune system while I'm off antibiotics. He also has me taking a hefty load of supplements, including probiotics, garlic, and olive leaf extract. I have my next appointment on April 19th, about a month from now.

During my next appt., I'll need to decide -- along with my Dr. -- the next chapter in my treatment. I feel so conflicted!; I DEFINITELY still have symptoms, and only treated in total for a little over three months, so the logical Lymie in me says to resume antibiotic treatment with a hopefully strengthened immune system. However, despite over a month of Diflucan and a pretty-strict Candida diet, my tongue is still coated, and if my Candida is contributing more centrally to my urinary symptoms, and will be exacerbated my resuming antibiotic treatment, then that's the last thing I want!

I'm feeling INCREDIBLY frustrated with where to take my treatment. I've taken the past semester off but am 'supposed' to get back into school in the fall, and delaying treatment does not sound like a smart idea...neither does resuming antibiotics, with an apparent Candida infection that could be the possible cause of my urinary issues! I'd be very grateful for any advice, food for thought, etc, from anyone on here about how to handle this hurdle. I really admire this forum and how helpful its been for me and so many others, thank you all so much.

PS I know another option in this whole dilemma would be continue treating Candida while beginning an herbal Lyme protocol, but my parents, who have been extremely generously supporting the costs of my Lyme journey, are overly skeptical of complex or expensive herbal protocols, and are pretty non-alternative health wise. It would take some convincing if that was the route I chose to pursue.

Post Edited (Eitan K.) : 3/18/2018 8:11:04 PM (GMT-6)

astroman -- Thanks! Not the best club I've been in but I'll try to enjoy my stay haha.

Were you taking Diflucan along with abx, or before/after/on a break from abx? Do ya think 5 weeks of daily Diflucan with no improvement on that tongue coating is reason to suspect anti fungal resistance? *I hope not* If my yeast overgrowth were to be caused by a non-Candida yeast, would that indicate needing a different antifungal med?

I've been taking probiotics, along with s. boulardii, morning and night. Only take Diflucan in the morning. Should I switch *all* the probiotics to bedtime then?

Dude was reading my mind (again). Since Saccharomyces Boulardii is so easy to spell, I can never remember it.ha ha..

I know (SB) didn't agree with me, I wont touch the stuff ever again, whats in us /works/ doesn't work is all different though.

I took Dif both with ABX and on my ABX break. The last time I started actually herxing on it at about the one month mark, it took a full two months for the white tongue to go away. When in doubt, I like the candida blood test, my insurance covers it since its from Quest (did it three times).

Since Dif just goes after yeast, I suppose bacterial probiotics are not affected, I still took them oppose times.

**No cover charge or membership fee for this club**

Thank you both so much for the info..def going to put my s. boulardii bottle back in the drawer for a bit and stop taking it..i've been taking it daily pretty much the entire time i've been treating lyme (~5 months), and I'm shuddering thinking about the fact it could have been contributing to my yeast overgrowth in the first place. ugh!

So I guess I need to treat this yeast a bit more before resuming antibiotics. Starting antibiotics again with a white tongue and GI issues kind of seems like it could be a step backward. This whole thing is such a balancing act.

When I see my doctor next month, I'm going to ask for blood and urine tests to identify any fungus/yeast/bacteria. I'm wondering if I should re-test for Lyme and Bartonella, too, just to see where my bands are since starting treatment -- not that the bands even mean that much. I want to check my CD57 and C6 peptide, too. Based on the results of those tests, I'll know how to more specifically target whatever yeast I'm dealing with, and then hopefully resume antibiotic or herbal treatment for Lyme and co. after that.

Trying to get this all done by the fall is like trying to cram a marathon into a sprint. I'm not expecting to be done with treatment by the fall, but am really hoping to be far enough into treatment that I'm able to resume taking a couple classes, working part-time, etc. My urinary symptoms are the main thing that keeps me from being able to do those things. For so many Lymies, its the pain or fatigue thats the primary debilitating symptom, but for me it all goes back to...pee. Lol.

I know Lyme, Bartonella, and Yeast are all notorious for colonizing in the bladder/urinary tract and causing symptoms like mine (more than most people realize), but any guesses as to which of the three is the *main* culprit in my bladder discomfort??

Hi D and R - welcome!


Sorry you have a stubborn Candida infection.

Are you on a Candida diet?

There's a great thread in the "New to Lyme?..Start Here!" thread on yeast/fungal issues, including some non-pharma options to help clear the Candida.

Also wanted to mention that my LLMD prescribes the Saccharomyces Boullardi along with probiotics to be taken daily.

If your symptoms get worse with treatment, it probably means you have a detox problem, with maybe some genetic polymorphism such as MTHFR.

also -- our names are both Daisies-related! What's yours referencing? Mine's a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3c77HR5L52Y