Chronic Lymes Disease
Lyme Disease that is treated in correctly early on can turn into Chronic Lymes Disease. This is also called Late stage Lyme. The longer the Lyme bacteria stay around and reproduce, the more serious the complications, including immune system breakdown, additional infections, hormonal imbalance, and more.... Under these circumstances defeating Chronic Lymes Disease is much much harder Treatment and is often more aggressive and hence more time-consuming and expensive. Quality of life decreases, making normal living not easy.
Mind you, not everyone agrees that's there IS such a thing as chronic Lyme. Doctors following the guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) treat Lyme with an antibiotic for a short period of time. If symptoms persist beyond 6 months, they say the person has Post-Lyme Syndrome, the result of an overactive immune system that hasn't returned to normal after the Lyme is gone and the person is considered "cured."
Here's exactly what the IDSA guidelines say
There is no convincing biologic evidence for the existence of symptomatic chronic B. burgdorferi infection among patients after receipt of recommended treatment regimens for Lyme disease Antibiotic therapy has not proven to be useful and is not recommended for patients with chronic (>6 months) subjective symptoms after recommended treatment regimens for Lyme disease.
Therapeutic modalities not recommended. Because of a lack of biologic plausibility, lack of efficacy, absence of supporting data, or the potential for harm to the patient, the following are not recommended for treatment of patients with any manifestation of Lyme disease first-generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, carbapenems, vancomycin, metronidazole, tinidazole, amantadine, ketolides, isoniazid, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, fluconazole, benzathine penicillin G, combinations of antimicrobials, pulsed-dosing (i.e., dosing onsome days but not others), long-term antibiotic therapy, anti-Bartonella therapies, hyperbaric oxygen, ozone, fever therapy, intravenous immunoglobulin, cholestyramine, intravenous hydrogen peroxide, specific nutritional supplements, and others.
Most Lyme Literate Medical Doctors (LLMD's) think that lyme can hang around for a very long time.. They tend to follow the guidelines of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society.
Individuals with chronic Lyme, including me, will tell you that our symptoms are not mental. Lyme disease burgdorferi (Bb) is a master at hiding out in the body to survive, going from adult spirochete to cell-wall deficient form to cyst and back. For those who also have one or more of the common Lyme co-infections (Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehrlichia), treatment gets trickier. In addition, along the way Lyme disease disrupts the immune system and body metabolism, allowing other normally dormant microorganisms like viruses, parasites, and fungi (yeasts and molds) to activate and also cause symptoms.
No two chronic Lyme patients have the same symptoms. Nor do they follow the same course of treatment. For those reasons, and the fact that I am not a medical doctor, this is not the area to discuss the specifics of chronic Lyme treatment.
Suffice it to say getting healthy from this infectious assault is often a roller coaster ride of improvement and relapse. Still not well understood, the complex of diseases continues to prove a problem for both patient and doctor.
Mind you, not everyone agrees that's there IS such a thing as chronic Lyme. Doctors following the guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) treat Lyme with an antibiotic for a short period of time. If symptoms persist beyond 6 months, they say the person has Post-Lyme Syndrome, the result of an overactive immune system that hasn't returned to normal after the Lyme is gone and the person is considered "cured."
Here's exactly what the IDSA guidelines say
There is no convincing biologic evidence for the existence of symptomatic chronic B. burgdorferi infection among patients after receipt of recommended treatment regimens for Lyme disease Antibiotic therapy has not proven to be useful and is not recommended for patients with chronic (>6 months) subjective symptoms after recommended treatment regimens for Lyme disease.
Therapeutic modalities not recommended. Because of a lack of biologic plausibility, lack of efficacy, absence of supporting data, or the potential for harm to the patient, the following are not recommended for treatment of patients with any manifestation of Lyme disease first-generation cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones, carbapenems, vancomycin, metronidazole, tinidazole, amantadine, ketolides, isoniazid, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, fluconazole, benzathine penicillin G, combinations of antimicrobials, pulsed-dosing (i.e., dosing onsome days but not others), long-term antibiotic therapy, anti-Bartonella therapies, hyperbaric oxygen, ozone, fever therapy, intravenous immunoglobulin, cholestyramine, intravenous hydrogen peroxide, specific nutritional supplements, and others.
Most Lyme Literate Medical Doctors (LLMD's) think that lyme can hang around for a very long time.. They tend to follow the guidelines of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society.
Individuals with chronic Lyme, including me, will tell you that our symptoms are not mental. Lyme disease burgdorferi (Bb) is a master at hiding out in the body to survive, going from adult spirochete to cell-wall deficient form to cyst and back. For those who also have one or more of the common Lyme co-infections (Babesia, Bartonella, and Ehrlichia), treatment gets trickier. In addition, along the way Lyme disease disrupts the immune system and body metabolism, allowing other normally dormant microorganisms like viruses, parasites, and fungi (yeasts and molds) to activate and also cause symptoms.
No two chronic Lyme patients have the same symptoms. Nor do they follow the same course of treatment. For those reasons, and the fact that I am not a medical doctor, this is not the area to discuss the specifics of chronic Lyme treatment.
Suffice it to say getting healthy from this infectious assault is often a roller coaster ride of improvement and relapse. Still not well understood, the complex of diseases continues to prove a problem for both patient and doctor.
