Question for those who have children with Lyme

What are the usual antibiotics/dosages for children with Lyme? My son is on an herbal protocol that covers Lyme and CPN (tested positive) but is supposed to start abx in 15 days (along with herbal protocol). The abx prescribed were doxy and amox w/probenicid. I am wondering if that is the best mix. Seems like amox & doxy may do the same thing.

My middle daughter (10) received a positive elispot result yesterday. Her CD57 is 30. Both of them have very mild symptoms. My youngest has the most symptoms and will be tested hopefully next week.

So I definitely want to do a period of abx along with the herbal protocol. Their current doctor is only lyme friendly and I plan to get them into a lyme literate doc as soon as I can. But I at least want to get treatment underway. They are open to all of my suggestions. Any treatment successes you can share I would SO appreciate.

The herbal protocol is 1 tsp (3x a day) of a tincture mix from woodland essence. It contains Jap Knot, Andrographis, Cordyceps, Baikal Skullcap, Red Sage, Kudzu. Also supplementing with Vit D/K2, Vit C, magnesium, probiotic, detox baths, green tea when I can. Green smoothie daily.

They all have to be tested for co-infections yet. I have only tested positive for Mycoplasma and viruses (of course!).

Here is a link to the guidelines Dr.Burrascano wrote: You will see dosages for children:

www.lymenet.org/BurrGuide200810.pdf

Has your son had his Vit. D levels checked? That should be done to make sure he is getting the appropriate amount of supplementation.

Re: doxy and Amox together - That is not a combo I have seen. Maybe ask a pharmacist if they can be taken together.

edited: the last two sentences on doxy and amox.

I am worried about the Doxy. They've both had amox before so I know that will be ok. Is there an equally good alternative that may be safer for kids than doxy? Possibly ceftin?

I am on azith and making great progress but have some weird ear stuff going on. I'm hoping it's not a side effect. Not sure if I want to try this one with the kids.

For me, Ceftin was not an easy one to take. My BM's were on the loose side when I was on it.

My old tinnitus that I've had for years is gone. It is replaced with a weird noise. I'm actually not sure if it is normal or not since I've had tinnitus for so long. It's almost like a deafening silence. Very strange. Also feel a little bit plugged like when you have a cold. I have biaxin here and was thinking of swapping it for the azith to see what happened. I've been doing so well on azith (hardly any numbness at night) that I hate to stop it.

I also want to clarify that I'm not 100% sure my son even has lyme. His elispot was negative and his cd57 is 190. His minerals like Magnesium, Maganese are all good. My daughter is the complete opposite. He does however have CPN so I'm going to do the antibiotics for it anyway. I am leaning towards the amoxy with probenecid only. He will be doing an herbal protocol with it.

I just found a note in my planner from 2010 that in June both my girls had bites on their feet from playing in the grass. A day later my middle daughter had a headache, sore throat and fever of 102. I did not make any notes of my youngest getting sick. However, 2 years ago she did have a nymph tick on her belly, so if she ends up testing positive it could be from that. I noticed the tick because she was scratching like crazy at it when I put her in the tub. She was 5 at the time. She never got a fever or anything after.

The doctor we are seeing here has only a few lyme patients so it makes me uneasy. But I want to get going with treatment. I've been searching but haven't seen many kid combos for abx.

I just made her an apt with a pediatric LLMD but couldn't get in until June. She only has minor issues and hopefully stays that way. I'm going to get her going on some herbs in the interim. Started Japanese Knotweed today. Will add in Cat's Claw when she's ready to help her NK cell count. She has some anxiety about sleeping and has had some episodes of sleep walking lately so I was thinking Ashwaghanda would be a good add as well. I will probably only focus on those over the next 3 months. And of course diet & detox. Hopefully I'm doing the right things for her.

Very helpful info! Thank you so much. I wish I could get her in sooner than the summer, but I am just thankful that she doesn't have more symptoms. She has aches and pains that come and go but haven't slowed her down. She also complains about her ears - liquid or them making noises too. One issue that I'm now realizing may be lyme-related is her anxiety about going to sleep at night and occasional sleepwalking.

She is such a great kid and has helped me so much when I have been sick. I feel horrible that she has to go through this too.

Running off to an orchestra concert but wanted to do a quick reply. Our kids are amazingly resilient and I do think they have their youth and hopefully strong immune systems working for them. If I had to wait until June for an appointment, I would definitely study up on Buhner or Cowden's protocols and start using them until the appointment but that's just me. We used some of the Nutrimedix herbs and Cat's Claw that first month along with the Doxy. If your child is on abx before the June appointment as I think you indicate, you will want to make sure there are no contraindications because using herbs and abx, as I'm sure you know, can really boost the effectiveness and/or herxing. Our LLMD said in their experience Cat's Claw causes too much herxing for their ped patients so advise against it, however we are using artemisinin with the babesia treatment so it just depends on what your LLMD requests. There are so many variations and protocols out there and many individual reactions.

Also, thought I'd mention the supplements he's on right now: multivitamin, vit D, vit C, milk thistle, Burbur and Pinella. His bloodwork for vitamins looked good. Detoxing with lemon water, epsom salt foot baths with essential oils, AK Gold, dry brushing and milk thistle. Recommended to take naproxen and/or benadryl for symptoms. Neither has worked. He also has an albuterol inhaler as of last week due to breathing issues. It is working thankfully!

Sorry more of your family is dealing with this - hats off to you - I don't know how parents with Lyme can handle helping their kids with Lyme - there is SO much to deal with.

Nice site, Yancync!! Thank you for putting it in your Signature line!

Thanks y'all. I appreciate the compliments. I worked on it during the blizzard last month but also have 3 PT jobs, 2 kids and the house to run while DH has a time consuming job so it's catch as catch can. I'm hoping I can get it on Google's search engine over time because when I started researching it was overwhelming and there are certain things you want to know as a parent that you don't realize at the time you start down this huge rabbit hole that is Lyme/tick infections. Just hope to make it easier for those on down the line.

yancync - excellent site!! thanks for sharing!!!

k07 - FYI doxycycline is known to decrease the effectiveness of amoxicillin when taken together. I find it very odd that the Dr prescribed them both - as girlie has said, I have never seen that combination....yes, the probenecid will help more of the amoxil get absorbed, but then the doxy will take it away - kind of pointless....

IMO if you have to go with it, i would choose augmentin over amoxil, but i still would look at other options...

zithromax is a great choice, i was on doxy and zithromax myself and had great results - i know you are worried about the tinnitus, but i would say that is fairly uncommon....ceftin is another option.

in the end, if they are on all of those herbs, is it even necessary to put them on two antibiotics initially? maybe start with one and see how they do, and then go for the second one later on. I was always about slowly introducing new medications one at a time.

my oldest was on doxy then switched to amoxil but something was not right - i did not have her take the probenecid, and i think her amoxil dose was too low, which is why she didn't completely beat it

my son was on doxy and my youngest was on just amoxil, and they did fine. they were all also on al complex, fish oil, coenzyme q, probiotics, and vitamin D. they all had so few symptoms, so i didn't feel they needed to be on two antibiotics.

i am so sorry you are in this dilemma, it is SO hard being sick with lyme and then having to worry about your kids as well !! xoxo

oh no your husband too?? my hubbie tested positive, but still hasn't agreed to treat, ugh.