Thousands of verified Experts are ready to answer your specific questions 24/7.
Satisfaction is guaranteed and you pay your Expert only if you are satisfied.
Just type your detailed question and click "Get an Answer."
In minutes you'll get a response from an Expert. You can always ask follow-up questions.
Happy with your answer? Just click "Accept" to pay your Expert.
Can you answer my question re" Lyme treatment: Just submitted?
suzy-
I have read through your submitted question- and don't think I will be able to help you.
I strongly agree with the IDSA and CDC guidelines on Lyme treatment.
I have reviewed all the available clinical data on trials for Lyme, as this is a fairly common infection referred to infectious diseases doctors as myself.
There really is not ANY good scientific rationale for protocols such as you describe.
There is really no good data that says that longer courses of antibiotics will helps, and no scientific support for a "chronic' Lyme infection.
Yes, some patients have ongoing symptoms, but there is no data that this is from ongoing live borellia organisms or that antibiotics will impact the natural history.
I would recommend seeing another infectious disease doctor, or other specialists including neurology or rheumatolgy, but I am afraid antibiotics are unlikely to help you.
In fact the available trial data suggests many people who go for some of these unproven protocols end up with significant side effects, catheter infections or other complications...
People understandably search and grasp for all kinds of things when they are not getting better. But there is NO reason to think antibiotics will help you.
As such I cannot advise or recommend what you are looking into in Mexico...
Always ask if you need clarification/more information.
If I have answered your question, please click the ACCEPT button so I can get credit for my work.
POSITIVE feedback & a BONUS are warmly appreciated. Please note that answers are for information only, do not take the place of an assessment by your doctor,and does not establish a patient-physician relationship.
I know what the data in the US says - and I am NOT considering L/T IV abx treatment:
I am considering the MX Nat'l Health approved prototcol of a 2-3 week course of 5 commonly avail (in US too) cocktail of IV abx with daily liver/kidney monitoring at major MX medical center i. e. Mexico City - which they seem to have good track record with.
I can email you their protocol in a few mins...
It's that or nothing...and I am sicker and sicker with REAL verified (in the ER - multiple visits) with mulrtiple opportunistic infections do to L/T illness and relative immunodeficience cased by it.: My 24 hr cortisol levels where off the charts: I am tapped out physically: NEED to go back to work and can't: I get sick if i exert myself even a little.
I am familiar with all the valid clinical trials in Lyme disease, not just those in the US.
Some things are done in third world countries that do NOT have scientific support exactly because they have less regulation. Think about that , and the reason why your iv protocol is only available there....
There is NO scientific support for what you are looking for .
I can repeat that over and over, but I doubt you will be convinced or listen to evidenced based data.
Good luck.
Caveat Emptor.
This is the standard MX Lyme/Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever prototcol: Opinion(?):
This is the standard Lyme prototcol in Mexico under their National Health System: Daily IV appx. 2 weeks w. liver/kidney monitoring (From Lyme Health Board Forum)::The medications are in Spanish: ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS W. INDICATIONS: Trixona 1 amptinidazole systemicBrand names: Tindamax, FasigynDrug class(es): amebicidesTinidazole systemic is used in the treatment of:
Klamoxyl 1 amp IS: CLEOCINclindamycin systemicBrand names: Cleocin, Cleocin Pediatric, Cleocin HCl, Cleocin PhosphateDrug class(es): lincomycin derivativesClindamycin systemic is used in the treatment of:
Lisonin 1 amp lincomycinLincomycin is reported as an ingredient of Lisonin in Mexico.lincomycin systemicBrand names: Lincocin, Bactramycin, Lincorex, L-MycinDrug class(es): lincomycin derivativesLincomycin systemic is used in the treatment of:
Binotal 2 amp ampicillin
ampicillin systemicBrand names: Omnipen, Principen, Totacillin-N, Omnipen-NDrug class(es): aminopenicillinsAmpicillin systemic is used in the treatment of:
ampicillin/probenecid systemicDrug class(es): aminopenicillins ampicillin/sulbactam systemicBrand names: UnasynDrug class(es): beta-lactamase inhibitorsAmpicillin/sulbactam systemic is used in the treatment of:
Dicloxacilina 1 amp lincomycin systemicBrand names: Lincocin, Bactramycin, Lincorex, L-MycinDrug class(es): lincomycin derivativesLincomycin systemic is used in the treatment of:
dicloxacillin systemicBrand names: Dynapen, DycillDrug class(es): penicillinase resistant penicillinsDicloxacillin systemic is used in the treatment of:
That is a ridiculous and irrational treatment regimen.
Tinadazole has no activity against the active form of Borrelia.
You have 2 drugs ( lincomycin and clindamycin ) that are virtually identical and two others (ampicillin and dicloxacillin) that are also very similar.
NO legitimate physician would EVER agree to this nonsense, and no infectious diseases doctor with any understanding of microbiology or pharmacology would say this is a valid approach. EVER!!!
Again I repeat there is NO data to suggest that symptoms would be attrtibuted to ongoing active infection or that antibiotics would help. And absolutely no reason to think this concoction would be useful at all...
What you are asking is truly non-scientific and quite potentially dangerous.
Again I say Caveat Emptor...
OK then: I just live my life out from age 50 on with repeated with repeated opportunistic infections, while I can't do my work any more - and try to scrape by on SSDI until I die?
: I am OUT of options(?) Should I wait until the CDC has enough "data" over years and years?...
I'll be a "dead" piece of "data" by then, and I do not want to be a dead piece of data for the CDC's data banks for years until they figure this out: Any other options?
What would YOU do if it were you? Or your sister/mother/daughter?
I have no intention of arguing with you further.
There have been studies and they show NO benefit from antibiotics in a manner you suggest- this is not an issue where we don't have answers or data yet- We have answers and they show this does NOT help.
That does not mean there is nothing to offer, just that prolonged courses of antibiotics are not the answer... And they are dangerous when given in the ways used by quacks like you are looking at...
And that is exactly what I would tell any member of my family.
Now I have no intention of answering any further unless you are prepared to "accept "
my answer. I told you from my first post above what my opinion was. This is not just my opinion, it is that of pretty well ALL legitimate scientists on this issue.
I have already spent a long time answering you. You may not like the answers.. but that does not change the reality.
I will not be responding further unless you are prepared to "accept" my answer.
Doctor
17 years as a physician, Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases
2-3 weeks is "prolonged"?: I'm not talking about the quacks in the US aka "Lyme Literate MDs" who belong to ILADS who do stupid shit like keeping people in IV abx for up to 2yrs - but only on Rocephin - so the goobers have a chance to REALLY build up their resistance!
That does not mean there is nothing to offer, (OK - WHAT then?)
...just that prolonged courses of antibiotics are not the answer...(I agree (see above).
( I am talking 2-3 weeks with close liver/kidney monitoring - hopefully here, and not in MX if possible: Depending if my MD who has a spotless record for 20++ yrs - and who is the MD the other MDs send thier wives to (Ob/Gyn) is willing to stick his neck out - otherwise I have to go get treated where they WILL treat - which - if they won't do at Stanford/UCSF - they won't do at mayo of vanderbilt (IDSA Guidelines)
What other option?...Mexico or nothing?)
And they are dangerous when given in the ways used by quacks like you are looking at...And that is exactly what I would tell any member of my family.
(So is Chemo/Radiation for cancer: But it's still done. My 1st cousin is a 2x survivor)
- So: You posit that the entire Mexican Nacional Health Svc are all "quacks"!?
The ILADS guys are quacks (I agree) - which is why I went with the IDSA protocol - but it didn't work for me: It works for most people, but NOT all, and that IS a known fact....
What else can an IDSA MD do? They don't seem to have an answer, and they don't seem to expect to anytime soon - unless you something I haven't heard yet at the Bay Area major med centers like Stanford and UCSF...
?
Once again.. I will repeat that what you are looking to do has no scientific support, and every reason to think it is unhelpful and potentially dangerous.
That is probably the most irrational antibiotic combination I could think of . Period.
As for if all physicians in Mexico are "quacks"- all I can judge is that this particular "protocol" is irrational and not of any value. I highly doubt that "all ' Mexican physicians would agree with it- What I can tell you is any ones that are infectious diseases experts will know better than go this route.
As for what else you can do- I have suggested you see a rheumatologist. Some people do get an inflammatory arthritis after Lyme- This is NOT related to active/ live organisms and antibiotics do not help, but anti-inflammatories do, if this is what you have.
I have nothing further to add at this point. I think I have made my opinion very clear.
You can take it for what it's worth, or you can search out other approaches.
The natural history is such that these things tend to run their course... ( at which time you will undoubtedly attribute a benefit to whatever else you are trying... )
I do sincerely XXXXX XXXXX good luck.
I went to a UC Davis affiliated Rheumatologist for a year - one who also cliamed to be intersted in the research of the causes of sudden onset joint inflammation, and who had worked in both Nevada City (a known "hot spot for Lyme) as well as in Oregon (another known CDC documented hot spot... His recommendations were: - Provigil for "depression and fatigue": I refused: Not "depressed": SICK! (BTW: He confided in the fact that he himself used it and "found it quite helpful" - although I did notice thet he did not seem to recall me from one monthly visit to the next -- even though our visits routinely ran to about 1/2 hr+ - with him talking the whole time in a VERY animated and grandiose way - which is not surprising since the effects of Provigil are very similar to those of Cocaine, but much more sustained in duration. - Xyrem for sleep: Which I refused - especially after I viewed the video about the "side effects" inc; "coma-like sleep" (I have a minor child at home: What if there is an emergency?) and "defecation while asleep" in appx 20% of the test cases. I later found out that Xyrem is in fact the "rave drug" GHB, and the penny-stock "orphan drug" company Jazz Pharma was convicted in several states for paying MDs $1000 per mo. per patent enrolled in 8 wk trial study. It it also highly addictive, and there was a web forum I discovered for the company drug reps who had themselve become addicted to the drug... - Ultram ER - for "pain": Sure I have joint pain - in the joint in which the Lyme has settled: My lower back (Used to be my right shoulder for appx 6 mos: Changed overnight one night to lower back - and is still there.). MD neglected to tell me that Ultram is in fact an opiate analog that does not impair alertness, and which is not a controlled substance - but IS highly addictive (A fact very much played down in PDR, but well documented amongst patients on health board forums on Yahoo, etc.). I am currently slowly titering off THAT one - since it no longer offers any pain relief, but does cause withdrawal symptoms if I forget to take it: Cost in USA: appx $300 for 30 (Brand only avail.): Cost via legitamate Canadian pharmacy via mail order WITH valid prescription:$81 per 30, (generic - not avail in US). - Numerous indvidual vitamin supplements (sold in his office at over-retail price at any large chain pharmacy) plus things like gamma globulin shots in-office (Charged to Medicare), and iron shots which - since I could not come in for weekly IVs (180mi R/T drive) - he instructed me to inject myself using the "offset" method - and which has left me with several now permanent bruise-like discolorations where I "missed" and hit a vein, and B12 self-injections (OK: could be placebo - but maaaaybe they might help a bit for a half-day.): Also recommended magnesium IM, bit I was starting to feel like a pincushion - and could feel no benefit from magnesium IM...In spite of all of his ministrations, I ended up in ER about 9mos in with sudden and Bactrim-resistant kidney infection: My hemogloben at the ER visit was 4. ER MD debated whether to transfuse, but in deference to my one good MD: My childhood friend and current OB/Gyn - also the ER MDs wife's Ob/Gyn - instead I was FINALLY given iron via IV which promptly restored hemogloben to almost normal levels: My copay: $800 for ER visit...Last straw was when Rheumatologist suddenly got a "flash of inspiration"and decided that perhaps increasing bloodflow to brain might be helpful by using nitroglycerine patches off-label (And also despite the fact that I had an elevated resting pulse of over 90 due to the then as-the undiagnosed severe anemia - which he never checked for...) I relutacntly applied one patch on as instructed, and was overcome with racing heart and severe headache...Ob/Gyn finally intervened after ER doc diagnosed severe anemia during work-up for kidney infection (Because it was on a holiday weekend.): Ob/Gyn subsequently did uterine ablation (Hot-water method) which although it did not completely stop my 2 week per month menstrual bleeding - did bring it down to a manageable 3-5 days of light bleeding - which also helped to totally resolve my anemia and this clear the "brain fog" - as well as almost all of the other cognitve issues: So: Now I "just" have residual constant pain in right hip joint as well as immuno-deficiency issues - i.e. kid gets slight cold: I end up in bed for 2 weeks with severe cold, and then go on to develop abx resistant bacterial infection of ear, throat (strep), bladder, kidney, etc. over and over, in an appx 9-12 week neverending cycle.I am NOT an idiot or a crank: I did not have any serious health issues at all until my fateful trip to NY/NJ in 2004 and first tick bite - which my then HMO Kaiser Permanente said required no treatment 2 weeks later when I went in and showed it to them, and which worsened after second tick bite in Northern CA in 1/06, when I was at a month-long workshop/retreat at a remote location (Esalen Institute) in Big Sur with no medical help nearby for 30 days after initial bite - and after which many of us in the retreat who were bitten suffered flu-like symptoms which lasted 2+ weeks...No what? I have gone to the UC Davis affiliated "IDSA" MD Rheumatologist (Medicare approved) for a year who threw darts at the wall and used me as a human guinea pig as well as an ongoing source of monthly income for a full year - and who left me with a nasty and expensive Ultram addiction which I am now left to deal with on my own - and another entire year on SSDI, which has drained my personal savings, as well as a chunk of my 16 yr olds college fund - and I still have outstanding debts to hospitals for copays for ER visits and Uterine Ablation day surgery. Was also recently dropped by my $0 per mo Medicare assignee Secure Horizons, and was forced to accept HMO version of AARP Plan 56 at $81 per month with much higher copays and less hospital coverage...Thank you all very much to Dubya; IDSA; CDC; NIH; Jazz Pharma; the makers of Ultam ER (Ortho Pharmaceuticals), and the Plum Island offshore military research facility near Lyme, Connecticut for your remarkable research work in creating a genetically engineered version of Borrelia which is virtually incurable as a potentially lethal drug warfare agent, and which was infortunately blown into the general population from your facility in the hurricane of the late 1970s.BTW: Another such reseach facility is smack in the middle of Berkeley CA, and 4 of my close friends from high school - all Berkeley CA natives who were born in 1950-1960, and who grew up and lived near this well-known facility on the UC Berkeley campus during the early 1950s to present have all died in the last year unexpectedly of "natural causes", including sudden brain hemorrhage, emphysema, metastatic skin cancer, liver cancer, and another male friend was found to be inexplicable completely aspermatic in his 30s, and now suffers from osteoporosis at aged 50. All of the deceased have been outlived by their own parents. Thank YOU University of CA, Berkeley Military and Genetic Engineering Research Lab, and the Lawrence Berkeley Lab Cyclotron...
THIS ANSWER IS LOCKED!You can view this answer by clicking here to Register or Login and paying $3. If you've already paid for this answer, simply Login.