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#1779 - 06/11/07 12:05 PM
Starting IVs soon
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Noelle
New Researcher
Registered: 06/11/07
Posts: 5
Loc: California
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Hello. My name is Noelle. I am 19 and have had Lyme we think since I was 5. I have been working with a naturalpath and a lyme disease specialist. I have been on oral antibiotics for about 8 months now. They want to start me on IVs soon. I would love to talk with other people who are going through the same thing or are a couple steps ahead of me. What can I expect? Did your brain fog clear up? etc..
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#1792 - 06/14/07 06:28 AM
Re: Starting IVs soon
[Re: Noelle]
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Willo
Spirochete Hunter
Registered: 11/10/06
Posts: 81
Loc: South Puget Sound, WA State
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Hey Noelle, welcome to the board! Sorry you have to be here, but glad to have you with us. I'm Willo, 26.. and have been sick for 9 years. I'm sorry that you have to go through all this, if you ever need to talk privately you can msg me here on site (click my name at the top of this post to send me a PM, private message) or email me (addy's in my signature at the bottom of the post). I've been through a lot, including some IV therapy.
How are you reacting to the oral meds? Any improvement? Are you on any other types of medications? Supplements? Vitamins? Detox protocols? Herbs?
You can make a member profile for yourself on this forum, and tell us about your journey with tick-borne illness(es). I imagine school was very hard for you.. were you showing symptoms since 5 years old? Do you have any co-infections?
I was on IV Rocephin (same thing as ceftriaxone) in 2003 for 5 weeks (long enough for two herxes) and had a bit more mental clarity and energy in the first month.. but I ended up in the hospital with the second herx, and the IV was yanked from my regimen by very NON Lyme Literate MDs. That left me worse off than I was before I started the IV. If I would have been allowed to continue, then I would have gotten through the herx..
Get ready for your herxes, is what I would advise. Get together a list of things to comfort you while you're going through the worst times in your cycle (herxes) and the bacteria's cycle (flares). You can try a bath with epsom salts or baking soda, if you exercise (or do physical therapy) don't push yourself, listen to your body. If it wants to sleep, let it. If it doesn't want to exercise, don't push it. There's also a great site: http://butyoudontlooksick.com/ which was made by a girl with lupus and helps people deal with chronic illnesses. When I'm really low energy but want to do something, I visit her crafts section, it gives little examples of what to do to keep your mind off how bad you're feeling. Same idea with watching a movie, listening to music, or reading a book.. take your mind off of what's happening in your body.
Try to prepare yourself for what is going to feel like you've woken up after being hit full on by a semi truck. Keep up on your pain meds if you have any (even tylenol or asprin) and keep hydrated! Your kidneys are one of the best toxin filters.
Do you keep a symptom chart? It would help your doctor track your progress and would help you map out your herxes and flares.. so you start to know when to expect them. Symptom charts have been invaluable in my treatment courses.
In my case, after being bit in 1998, I didn't really start to show significant improvement until last year -- when I finally had a local doctor to see who is lyme literate.. before then I was just looking all up and down the west coast for a doctor that could help. Some helped, some hurt.. but Dr R, my LLMD, is one of my angels. Together we've figured out a treatment plan that is tailoured for me and the diseases I have (not just Lyme, but the co-infections, too.. mine are babesia and bartonella) after lots of oral meds I started bicillin injections - finally I started to get a response. A good response. (you do the injections yourself at home if you want, or you can go into the doctor's office 3Xs a week to have a nurse inject it for you)
And my LLMD is trying to get IV approved again. I react so well to the bicillin injections instead of oral abx -- which is sorta between the strengths of oral pills and IV solution. It's a matter of finding the right antibiotic cocktail to set to your regimen, and you will need some supplements. Probiotics, probiotics, probiotics. Keep up on supplementing your friendly bacteria that the abx kill along with the bad bacteria. (i.e. acidolphelus is a probiotic)
If you're in a lot of pain, you might want to ask your doctor about supplementing some magnesium citrate into your regimen. I had no idea until I used it myself.. magnesium is a pain killer!
Take luving at any chance you can get it. Friends, family.. cuddle, let them take care of you, don't be hesitant to ask people to do things for you.
Take care of you, and come here (or to any of the Lyme boards) anytime you need to talk with others who understand. 
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