I wonder... Are we becoming addicted to meds?

I played trial and error, after 6 weeks w/o a herx I would go off.

At the risk of sounding flip...."As long as it takes." We are all different. There's also the problem of becoming resistant to a certain antibiotic yet you're still not well. That means changing antibiotics and starting over. I have said for years and years "I feel better when I'm on antibiotics"....but not all antibiotics worked. Looking back I realize the antibiotics that did work were starting to do their job but the timeframe wasn't long enough....and after a few days off of them I was back where I started. Simela, have you seen the DVD "Under Our Skin"? The one man was in treatment 5 years.

madrivergirl30, I agree in that I don't think we can get addicted to antibiotics per se, but I'm wondering if the body knows it needs them to kill off the critters and makes you want to keep taking them????

Interesting question, Simela.

Wow dagger.  Do you feel you still have lyme or have been left with residuals?  What antibiotics really made a difference for you ?  Thanks. 

Hi Simela,

Very interesting question..  I don't know the answer but when I read the subject line it reminded me of an article that Dr. Jernigan wrote regarding antibiotics:

http://www.drjerniganblog.com/articles/infections/622

http://www.townsendletter.com/April2007/antibioticlyme0407.htm

So who knows?  I only know what worked for me and that was alternative medicine, no side effects, etc.

Denise

I can't say any one antibiotic worked better than another. I took amoxicillin by the handful, clarithromycin, azithromycin, ceftin, rocephen, plus others. I had heavy CNS involvement that would diminish after a few months on meds but would return with a vengeance within a week or two after I stopped. Most of the other crazy symptoms slowly went away or became milder over time.

I ended up taking amoxicillin for about 18 months straight and when I finally stopped, I didn't get any worse. I was not back to "normal" and never went back to the way I was. I still have brain fog, mild fibro symptoms, and other symptoms that may be permanent damage or maybe I still have an active infection. I've been on heavy duty antibiotics for a month or more at a time since I ended treatment and nothing changed (no herx, no improvement) so I believe what I have now is due to damage.

I tested positive for Lyme way back when and I still tested positive about 3 years ago through the local labs such as Quest. Even a doc at Yale agreed that I had Lyme, I was one of the few that tested positive in their lab. My regular old doctor in a basically non-Lyme state lists me as having chronic Lyme and whenever I get sick, he asks how it compares to my old Lyme symptoms. I rarely get minor illnesses like colds and the flu, I get fun ones like Valley Fever, endometriosis, and possibly Crohn's.

At my worst point, I could barely get out of bed, couldn't use my left hand, had intense pain and fatigue, tingling, numbness, trouble breathing, severe brain fog (actually forgot I had a daughter), plus most of the symptoms on the list. I would not be here today if I hadn't had a small child counting on me.

I wish I had an answer about what made me a lot better. I do know it took a lot more than one month on antibiotics. If a new treatment was developed that helped chronic Lyme, I would certainly consider it. Since I am now over 20 years older than I was when I got sick, I have no idea what I should feel like.

I completely understand the fear of stopping treatment. For years I went backwards every time I stopped. I only agreed to stop the final time if my doctor put it in writing that he'd restart treatment if symptoms returned. I kept all the old antibiotics whenever I switched, just in case. It took over a year before I was able to accept that the bottom wasn't going to fall out any minute. I still get nervous whenever I have to take antibiotics, I worry that the meds will annoy any remaining Lyme and I will get sick again. I uprooted my family and moved to the southwest to minimize our tick exposure. Only people that have been here can understand that fear.

I wish all of you the best of luck in your treatment!

Everyone is different and it depends on how long you have had lyme. I took abx for 26 months straight until I was well enough to stop. I supplimented my going off abx with lots of exercise and that kept me well for a long time.

A month of abx is not a long time, but if you caught it early it could be enough. Most dr's go based on your symptoms and I was told to continue on abx for 2 months after my symptoms went away. Towards the end, I would stop, start to not feel good after 3 weeks and would go back on them again until my symptoms went away and so on until I stopped and felt good and no symptoms returned.

Thanks for sharing Dagger, I'm sure what you said hit home for others as well as it did for me.

I've been off abx since June and that was my second round. The first time I made it from probably October till January and then did a tougher course and treated some co-infections as well. So the first round was just Ceftin/Doxy(allergic)/Ceftin. The second round I did Ceftin/Azithromiacin/Mepron for about 5-6 months then slowly weaned onto herbs instead. I know that some of my herbs are killing things because I herx when I take them. So that feels like a safety net for me. I do worry about being off everything, but I think it is a lot of panic over not wanting to be sick again vs. addiction.

I'm definitely not where I was 4 years ago, although I'm starting to catch little glimpses of it now and then. I started a detox plan at the beginning of September that has made a HUGE difference for me.