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Lyme Disease
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Posted 7/1/2018 9:58 AM (GMT -5)
I have a question and would appreciate any insight on this. My son (17 y.o.) has just been diagnosed with late lyme. His symptoms had been joint pain about two or three times per year and lasting five or six days. The doctor prescribed Amoxicillin.

Coincidentally, my son doesn't know about the diagnosis yet because he shipped off for U.S. Army basic training a few days ago, right after the doctor took blood to run the test. The Army will allow my son one phone call home, which I should get tonight. When I get that call, I will tell my son about the diagnosis and prescription and tell him to go tell the Army doctor and get the prescription filled.

My puzzle is this: All new Army recruits receive a large Bicillin IM shot in the buttock in the first few days of basic training. (I guess the Army wants to eradicate any germs the recruits might have. The shot is called the "peanut butter shot" in the Army.) So, my son has undoubtedly received this shot by now. I now that Bicillin IM is used to treat lyme. The question is this: What effect with this shot have on my son's lyme? I talked to his home doctor about it and she wasn't sure. She said to go ahead with the Amoxicillin regimen, which sounds like good advice. But I'm looking for any wisdom on this issue in this forum.

Thank you.
Posted 7/1/2018 11:09 AM (GMT -5)
Hi there, I personally haven't had any experience with bicillin but I have read some patient accounts. I think it can engender a strong herxheimer response in some patients. Given that your son only experiences about two/three bouts of symptoms per year it may be that his lyme isn't too entrenched and his system is keeping it under control, so while he might feel worse he might not feel dramatically worse with treatments/bicillin. Would def be interesting to hear if he noticed anything after the shot, but hopefully it won't be too bad.

It's hard to say what will be best strategy, but given that basic training can be intense he may want to consider starting treatments after that in case the treatments are very fatiguing due to potential herxing? just a thought, but there is a chance your son will tolerate the drug regimen with few issues, always hard to predict!
Posted 7/1/2018 11:15 AM (GMT -5)
Thanks. I guess the chance that this one big bicillin IM shot will eradicate his lyme entirely is low, right?
Posted 7/1/2018 11:29 AM (GMT -5)
Yeah, unfortunately if the infection hasn't been treated early on it will take a larger effort to get to remission. What's good is your son is obviously quite high-functioning, and I think in those cases it can still require significant treatment but he is starting from a stronger baseline therefore may be able to better tolerate therapies.

My suggestion, and I merely say this because I've seen this pattern before... and I don't mean to unduly worry you either but I feel I should mention it... patients can be high-functioning but a future stressor can cause the infections to break out into more significant symptoms. So my view is it's a good idea to try and treat the infection as thoroughly as possible (could even look into herbal protocols as well) so that you can head-off any future issues.

Most army docs and mainstream medical professionals will discount this view of thinking, which is why I suggest looking into researching herbal protocols which are pretty easy to self-administer. Of course, that only goes if that strategy makes sense to your son and he wants to pursue those therapies!

Post Edited (sebreg) : 7/1/2018 10:32:02 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 7/1/2018 11:33 AM (GMT -5)
Thank you very much indeed for the tips.

Yes, I feel very lucky that my son hasn't been devastated by lyme. I think he's had it for four years.
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