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Posted 10/10/2014 8:21 AM (GMT -5)
I am currently seeing two different LLMDs.

I am fairly confident I caught the infection somewhat early, as I started Doxy 6 weeks after tick bite (yes, could have been earlier but symptoms did not appear until 4 weeks after bite). I was on Doxy 200mg daily for 3 weeks, 400mg daily for one week, and now I am currently on Biaxin (1000mg daily) plus Doxy (300mg daily) plus Samento and Banderol plus some vitamins and have been for 4 weeks. Two months of total abx treatment.

I have seen a lot of progress with the current protocol, but still have some lingering symptoms, just to a lesser extent, like muscle twitching and minor aches and headaches. I feel as though I am on the road to recovery and can see the light, which is nice.

With that said, one of my LLMDs wants to start herbals next week as I have made good and sufficient progress with abx, but the other one wants me to start pulsing 4 different antibiotics (I think they are biaxin, mino, tindimax and flagyl).

What should I do??? Any recommendations ? I thought that pulsing abx was for patients with chronic lyme?

I personally think it might be best to throw in some Tindimax to supplement the Doxy and Biaxin and take continuously, not pulsing.

Post Edited (Fronton) : 10/10/2014 7:27:28 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/10/2014 10:43 AM (GMT -5)
My personal and only personal opinion is if someone is stable, not necessarily 100% well but I would argue 75% or better - to switch to the herbal route. I have seen more success with those that don't stay on abx longer then necessary. I had twitches and things come up for about 4-6 months after I ended antibiotics and in general I just needed more magnesium this week, more calcium another etc. etc. until I started winding down and using less and less each month.

Some definitely do need longer courses of antibiotics but you can always go back on them.
Posted 10/10/2014 12:44 PM (GMT -5)
bump
Posted 10/10/2014 3:40 PM (GMT -5)
I think it is entirely upto you and your choice.  It is really hard for any of us to know what to do with these infections.

I think if I were you though... I would do the minocycline + clarithromycin + tinidazole.  But that is just me and the way I would go based on my experiences and knowledge.  Also you don't need to use tinidazole AND flagyl together.  So I would just go for the tinidazole.  Maybe your Doc has different plan to alternate between the two?    This could help you clear the infection completely and never have a relapse.  (Some on here will argue it is impossible to get every last germ, truth is we don't know and it is hard to get every last germ, but this will give you a good chance).  Also one thing you should be aware, you should do your own personal research on the effects of flagyl or tinidazole if you choose to use these medications as they are among the harsher medications used in Lyme treatment.  I used tinidazole for 3 months and it worked really well.  But at the same time there is a part of me that wonders if it caused any long term damage?  Oh and if you were to use just one of either flagyl or tinidazole, I would suggest tinidazole as it has proven to be more effective of the two. 

The minocycline is 2.85 times more lipid soluble than the doxycycline so this will help get the medication into the nerve and brain better. 

I think herbal protocols take longer.  And there is more trust involved in them, I know I have this bias thinking abx would work better than herbals, but then I took herbals and they worked better than abx against bartonella lol!  Banderol and samento are the only Lyme herbs that are actually studied.


But for me the best medication for my Lyme symptoms was the tinidazole... and it got me gains in getting well very fast too, faster than any other medication I used. 

Maybe consider the mino + clarithromycin + tinidazole, and then switch to the herbal protocol?  I know in my experience with Lyme, sometimes you have to keep alternating treatments and trying different protocols. 

 

Post Edited (LymePickle) : 10/10/2014 3:11:09 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 10/10/2014 4:50 PM (GMT -5)
You know that I would have to disagree with you on your statement about herbals taking longer, Lyme Pickle! LOL!

I was in treatment with abx for 12 months and only got worse, but with 12 months of herbal only treatment for Lyme, I had no symptoms at all for 3 years until I got reinfected.

I think it's a lot more up to the person and what their body will tolerate.
Posted 10/10/2014 4:54 PM (GMT -5)
Thanks for the info guys. I think I like the combo pickle suggested. I will ask my LLMD about the pulsing increments and with what drugs together. I'm just terrified of relapse.

Traveler, were you reinfected from another tick bite or did you relapse from the original?
Posted 10/10/2014 4:58 PM (GMT -5)
As I said, it has a lot more to do with personal choice or what the body can handle - I'm glad you have made your choice!

There's no way to know for sure, but going by the way I had no symptoms, had a tick attach and the bite site stay very red, inflamed and sooo incredibly itchy for almost 3 weeks, I would say I was reinfected. I have made good progress so far with going back to the same treatment that I used last time though. :-)
Posted 10/10/2014 5:24 PM (GMT -5)
Traveler - I think it depends on the persons experiences right?  Like we are all speaking from experiences and it makes us all unique.  

I know for sure using herbs against bartonella... Now based on what I know now, that is the way to go for bartonella treatment!  I would have done this earlier actually!  But for me I used banderol and samento and it didn't exactly clear the infection completely for Lyme.  I read of some people that had to take the herbals for a year or so.  They had no symptoms for a long time, stopped and the infection came back. I share Frontons fear of having a relapse.  Personally I only want to just treat this once. 

I think Fronton... My opinion minocycline + clarithromycin + tinidazole is an excellent antibiotic combination for Lyme.  That might be among the best treatments known.  It also gives you a chance to clear these infections for good.  All 3 of these medications get into the brain. 

 

Posted 10/10/2014 5:38 PM (GMT -5)
We absolutely agree that it depends on many things including experiences!!

I don't know enough about the abx side of treatments, so I always rely on others like you who have used them and figured out which ones worked the best for them!!

One of the reasons I went straight to herbals after only one trial of abx though, was because of the high rate of relapses that I had read about for those using abx back then (2007) - but no one spoke about using herbals only for treating back then either!! So it was a complete unknown, a virtual toss of the coin to try herbals and to figure out what to use!

The most important part of healing, IMO, is to not give up and find what works best for you!!
Posted 10/11/2014 9:00 PM (GMT -5)
So an update on which meds I will be pulsing.
I will be on omnicef, biaxim and septra ds on MWF and tindamax on Thursday and Friday. . .
I do this for two weeks, skip a week then continue and repeat.
I really hope this wipes them out. Seems like I will be flanking them from all directions.
Posted 10/11/2014 10:01 PM (GMT -5)
Hi Fronton. What are your dosages? I am curious... So you take the biaxin, omnicef, septra DS only on M W F?

It's interesting because it seems like a lot of LLMDs are using various pulsing methods. I think this is more effective as germs turn "off". Sort of speak if they are continually hammered daily with constant abx, the ones that turn off can't be killed until they resume their metabolism again. That can only happens if the abx are discontinued temporarily. Abx are generally most effective when the germs are reproducing.
Posted 10/12/2014 6:56 AM (GMT -5)
It will be omnicef 300mg 2x per day, biaxin 500mg 2x per day, septra ds 1.5 tabs 2x per day and tindamax 500mg 2x per day.

Yes, the omnicef, biaxin and septra ds will be only MWF and the tindamax will be THursday and Friday.

Post Edited (Fronton) : 10/12/2014 9:24:00 AM (GMT-6)

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