Re: How do you know it is gone?

July 3, 2001

Lyra,

Do you think that by asking enough times you will eventually get the answer

you would like to hear ie that 4 weeks of abx is enough to cure Lyme?

Nelly

> Lets say after 4 weeks treatment the blood tests are negative for

> Lyme and the symptoms go away (Bell's Plasy in my case). How can I

> be sure that I am free from infection? Should I stay on antibiotics

> for an extra month?

>

> Lyra

>

July 5, 2001

In a message dated 7/5/2001 9:50:39 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

willowmagick@... writes:

> We can all

> tell you there is NO quick cure for lyme.

>

> Kris

>

Kris is so right... Scientists can't figure out how to rid the body

completely of the Spirochete bacteria with Lyme or Syphliss so there can be

NO cure until they figure out how to do this. Allthough there are some cases

where people can obtain a permanent REMISSION but no cure as of yet. If

anyone tells you they can CURE I'd run the other way and fast.

July 5, 2001

Hi Lyra,

It sounds to me, from reading your posts that you're

anxious to be rid of lyme. We all are. But the sad

truth is that there is NO cure for lyme. Yes it would

be great if only 4 weeks of abx cured us & we could

all live happy, healthy lives. But in most cases,

that's not reality. My understanding & experience is

that 6 wks of abx is the standard for treating lyme

(in the beginning). If you find a qualified & 'good'

LLMD, they can treat you far better than the

'standard' MD, unless your doctor is educated in

treating lyme & it's related illnesses. Blood tests

can flip-flop...you can have a neg result, than a pos,

and so forth. The only way you can be sure that

you're in 'remission' is to know & listen to your own

body. Lyme disease is NOT like a cold or the flu, it

doesn't just disappear after treating the symptoms for

a few weeks. For most of us, it's a life long

struggle to fight the pain & continue living. Yes,

some of us are 'better off' than others, but we all

have or have had the same or similiar symptoms and/or

struggles with this disease. We all have our 'good'

days and our bad. My advice to you is to learn as

much as you can about lyme. Talk to the people on

this list, learn from their experiences. We can all

tell you there is NO quick cure for lyme.

Kris

--- lms@... wrote:

>

> Lets say after 4 weeks treatment the blood tests are

> negative for

> Lyme and the symptoms go away (Bell's Plasy in my

> case). How can I

> be sure that I am free from infection? Should I

> stay on antibiotics

> for an extra month?

>

> Lyra

>

__________________________________________________

July 5, 2001

Kris,

I understand that there is no quick cure. My only concern was when

should I try to have children? Most people are saying you are free

once the symptoms stop which is fine with me. But others are saying

it is still there and can be passed to the fetus even after the

syptoms stop. Should I never have children because I don't know if

it is gone or not?

Lyra

> >

> > Lets say after 4 weeks treatment the blood tests are

> > negative for

> > Lyme and the symptoms go away (Bell's Plasy in my

> > case). How can I

> > be sure that I am free from infection? Should I

> > stay on antibiotics

> > for an extra month?

> >

> > Lyra

> >

>

> __________________________________________________

>

July 5, 2001

Hi Lyra,

You are never free! Once you've been infected with

lyme, YOU ALWAYS HAVE LYME!!! I don't know how to get

you to understand this. You will have lyme disease

the rest of your life...or until they find a cure. If

& when your symptoms cease & you go into

remission...that's great...BUT...YOU STILL HAVE LYME

DISEASE! It doesn't go away. It will always be

there. Whether you have active lyme or not--you will

still have lyme disease. I don't mean to come off in

a bad way, but you've got to realize that this disease

just doesn't leave you. It's always there...

As for having children, I would be very cautious about

getting pregnant. Children are a wonderful gift--I

have a boy & a girl, thankfully I had them years

before I got sick. Honestly, I could not bring a

child into this world knowing that there was even the

slightest chance that that child would be born with

any medical problems. I've heard stories of women

with lymes not being able to carry a baby to term, or

the baby being born with serious birth defects. Lyme

is in your blood, your cells, every part of your body.

It's very scarey to think that your feeding your

unborn child a devasting & debilitating disease--after

all, your blood is your child's blood--they get their

nutrients from you! I suggest you find out all you

can about YOUR disease FIRST!

Like I said, children are a wonderful gift--BUT,

bringing a child into this world knowing that you have

an illness that has NO CURE, knowing that this disease

could very well harm your baby, leaving it crippled

for life, or living in an autistic world of it's

own--just knowing your giving this new life very

little hope for the future is plainly, to me--child

abuse. Yes, many people do want to have children, but

don't be selfish about it. You may want kids, but do

THEY want to be born already ill or deformed in some

manner? Think about it.

Kris

--- lms@... wrote:

>

> Kris,

>

> I understand that there is no quick cure. My only

> concern was when

> should I try to have children? Most people are

> saying you are free

> once the symptoms stop which is fine with me. But

> others are saying

> it is still there and can be passed to the fetus

> even after the

> syptoms stop. Should I never have children because

> I don't know if

> it is gone or not?

__________________________________________________

July 5, 2001

My daughter sees a pediatric LLMD in New Haven, CT. Although he

doesn't treat adults, I do know that he will treat or consult during

pregnancy. He is very knowledgable of congenital lyme and treats

many children born with lyme. If you are very concerned, you might

want to try and get in touch with him for more information. I have

heard of mothers who had lyme giving birth to healthy lyme-free

children. I'm not sure at what stage of treatment they were or what

they were taking during the pregnancy. Dr. J in New Haven could give

you more information I'm sure.

> > >

> > > Lets say after 4 weeks treatment the blood tests are

> > > negative for

> > > Lyme and the symptoms go away (Bell's Plasy in my

> > > case). How can I

> > > be sure that I am free from infection? Should I

> > > stay on antibiotics

> > > for an extra month?

> > >

> > > Lyra

> > >

> >

> > __________________________________________________

> >

July 5, 2001

ummm....how exactly do you know that it never goes away? I am a

neuroscientist and I would see to see your scientific proof that the

bacteria never goes away.

Lyra

> >

> > Kris,

> >

> > I understand that there is no quick cure. My only

> > concern was when

> > should I try to have children? Most people are

> > saying you are free

> > once the symptoms stop which is fine with me. But

> > others are saying

> > it is still there and can be passed to the fetus

> > even after the

> > syptoms stop. Should I never have children because

> > I don't know if

> > it is gone or not?

>

> __________________________________________________

>

July 5, 2001

In a message dated 07/05/2001 11:50:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

lms@... writes:

<< Most people are saying you are free

once the symptoms stop which is fine with me. But others are saying

it is still there and can be passed to the fetus even after the

syptoms stop. Should I never have children because I don't know if

it is gone or not? >>

Look, you need to go research this on your own and make your own decision.

We have given you links to research- have you done it? Or do you instead use

that time to endlessly pelt this newsgroup with the same questions, over &

over?

I certainly hope you don't expect total strangers to major life decisions FOR

you via e-mail...

-Jules

Fall down seven times; stand up eight.

- Japanese proverb

July 6, 2001

In a message dated 7/6/01 1:30:28 AM Central Daylight Time,

lms@... writes:

<< ummm....how exactly do you know that it never goes away? I am a

neuroscientist and I would see to see your scientific proof that the

bacteria never goes away. >>

There is no scientific proof that it goes away...on the other hand, " absence

of proof is not proof of absence " clearly comes into play in the situation of

Lyme Disease when the tests are not that adequate.

I believe that for some people, adequate antibiotic use when the infection is

caught quickly does, indeed, kill the infection. The problem is, a great

many of the people (including myself), were not correctly diagnosed and the

infection ran uninhibited throughout the body for years before it was

correctly diagnosed and treated. At that point, the infection has crossed

over the CNS and implanted itself into the deep tissues of the body, which

are much harder to treat with antibiotics.

I had a prostate infection once. The doctor gave me an antibiotic that was

very strong. He said it was needed because the prostate is much like a

muscle and the infection would be deep in the tissues. It took 6 weeks of

some strong oral abx to kill it.

Syphillis is another infection that is considered a cousin of Lyme Disease.

There are many cases of people who have even been in a coma from syphillis

and that took extensive IV therapy before they recovered. One infectious

disease physician here in Houston that I went to came to his care after she

fell into a coma and no one could figure out what was wrong with her. By the

time she got to him, he tested her for syphillis and she had a raging case.

It took over 6 months of IV therapy in the hospital before she even came out

of the coma !!

He had no problem believing that Lyme Disease acted in the same fashion when

it went undiagnosed for years. He just eventually told me that I needed to

see a LLMD that treated LD on a daily basis and I took his advice and did

just that.

I will say in my personal experience that six months of IV therapy returned

my brain to me. After four months off of it due to gallbladder surgery and

liver complications, there was a noticeable decrease in my brain function.

So it is pretty clear in my particular case that even six months of IV

therapy failed to kill the infection completely.