Lyme symptom Lists/ Cipro
Hi SARA,
I just saw your post and suggest that you Google "Lyme symptom list", or go to
www.lymenet.org, join their flash discussion forum, look in the medical questions section in there and do a search for the list. Dr. Burrascano has put out the most comprehensive one. The symptom lists are almost identical, but there are a few differences.
I was finally diagnosed precisely because I developed a common Lyme symptom that was not on the FMS/CFS list, and that was totally out of character for me. It is a stage III symptom though, so Lyme patients in earlier stages will not have it. It is called Lyme rage, and it makes ordinary angry outbursts look like a day at the beach.
If In doubt, the best way to tell is by a trial of treatment. It is far cheaper than blood testing and more reliable too. High dose Doxycycline should make your symptoms worse at first, not better, if you have Lyme. This is called "herxing" and occurs when the strong endotoxins Borrelia produces are dying off. Borrelia is the pathogen that causes Lyme Disease. The reason you want Doxy specifically is that it works by preventing reproduction, not by outright killing, so you only get the mild die-off of older organisms, instead of a possibly dangerous herx that could cause organ damage or worse. The degree of herx depends on your bacterial load, but there is no sense in taking chances.
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Hi JENBOOKS,
I've been studying Lyme and going to LymeNet since 2003 and though I am no antibiotic expert, the overwhelming consensus by the patients and experts there is that fluroquinolones do not kill Borrelia. They DO kill Bartonella, a common coinfection with Lyme, so maybe confusion has arisen from that. Also, many drugs work in stage I that do not work at all in other stages. One example would be the use of Doxy in stage I to cure Lyme, or as a test at any stage, or to reduce the pathogenic load in later stages so that IVs can be tolerated, but if you are in stage III, you usually need IV Rocephin for quite awhile. Yes, sometimes different antibiotics have to be tried, since we are all different, but having several Lyme pals who see LLMDs, I can tell you that they are unanimous that FQs will not get rid of Lyme and even worse, can cause serious reactivation of viruses. In any case, I've had high dose Cipro for sinus infection in stage III Lyme and had no herx reaction, whereas Samento, which was my major treatment, caused herxes from hell.
I will however, check out what you suggested, as I am very curious. PubMed is a conventional source, and often such sources are operating under the assumption that Lyme is easily killed by 3 weeks of low dose broad spectrum antibiotics, and without any understanding of the stealth aspects of the pathogen and it's pleomorphic abilities. They will judge it gone, when it's merely hiding in cell wall deficient form.
klutzo
