Boy am I ever glad I had done some reading about Lyme treatment before I started it.
Doctors rarely think to warn their patients about likely side-effects of treatment. In the case of Lyme, I’m not talking about the direct side-effects of the antibiotics, though to be perfectly honest those are pretty nasty too. Instead, I’m addressing what happens to a body when you treat a major infection. You see, if you have a lot of just about anything growing in your body and start killing it, you get some fallout. That is true whether you are talking about bacteria, viruses, yeast, or bigger parasitic organisms like worms.
In my case, it has meant an enormous increase in fatigue. It is also affecting my ability to think and communicate clearly. My memory is an absolute crapshoot, with more trouble remembering comparatively recent events (in the last year) and not as much affect on older memories. The Lyme was doing all of those things to me before the antibiotics; the antibiotics just made things worse. Ugh.
On the other hand, there were some swift gains. The swelling in my hands went away very quickly, and my pain levels dropped substantially. Fortunately, the fatigue and brain side effects seem to be fading, so I am getting closer to my normal. This is definitely a good thing.
Now if only antibiotics didn’t tend to result in yeast infections for me. This long course of antibiotics has caused excruciating yeast infections. I didn’t know they COULD hurt like that; I had always kind of assumed that people who complained about pain during yeast infections just had low pain tolerance. I really should know better, being someone who lives with chronic pain. Ah well. At least I can just take a pill and it improves things enough to make the pain stop for a couple of weeks.
Anyhow, all of that is why I’ve been so very quiet lately. I’m having trouble making it to my classes (which meet for a total of about 8 hours a week), so things like blogging have been a little extraneous. Not to mention, it takes more brainpower for me to blog than it does for me to do more frivolous stuff like muck about on forums. I don’t know how ‘back’ I am yet, but I am trying!
I totally hear ya. Herxing sux! I am glad that the swelling and pain are better. I am sooooo fortunate not to have yeast issues. It’s kind of a miracle, considering I eat sugar, too.
You probably already know/are doing this, but just in case: Did your doc put you on Nystatin (assuming you can take that) and a probiotic? (A good probiotic.) It’s considered standard to be on Nystatin or some sort of antifungal and a probi throughout Lyme treatment cuz of all the abx causing yeast and/or killing off good bacteria.
Lymenet flash and Lyme Friends are good places to talk to others about all this stuff. Yes! More brainless forum-hopping.
I haven’t been posting either. When I feel up to it, I’ll post about why! Ha!
*gentle, virtual, non-ouchy hugs*
I’ve done 2 doses of Diflucan, and honestly if I can stick with that, I know it works and doesn’t cause me side effects. I only have a few more days on this course, and with any luck maybe this’ll kick the Lyme. I have a probiotic, the issue is that it makes me very painfully gassy right now. So I figured I’d finish the antibiotics before I start it because it seems like it’ll just keep doing that so I want to wait until I won’t have to use it long. If that makes sense.
I hear ya. I’ve learned a lot over the past 9 months in my Lyme crash course for Thane. You actually hit the nail on the head about changes when you start antibiotics. Thane crashed so hard after starting them that he could barely walk outside to go busy. Then his liver crashed so he had to have a med change No one warned me of anything that could take place. He’s now been on antibiotics for 9 months. Though on probiotics, his parts are a pre-occupation of his. It helps to hear you talk about long term antibiotics and yeast. I know the latter all too well myself so will be more attentive to symptom resolutions for him now- so thanks for the heads up there.
I had to learn indepth about this disease so that I could give him the fighting chance to be back at my side again.
I can’t fathom what folks like you and Sharon deal with- multiple fatigue and pain causing disabilities. I have my own as well and can’t imagine adding Lyme to the mix.
I’ve been relatively lucky in that my only crashes started to resolve after just a couple of weeks. I hope (HOPE!) that means I didn’t have that serious a case of Lyme and won’t need long-term antibiotics, but realistically we won’t know until we see what happens in a few days when I finish this course.
I was expecting to have some trouble with yeast, as I am always a bit prone to yeast infections while on antibiotics, but the amount of pain really shocked me. I had a couple of days where I couldn’t sit or stand without being in tears from the pain. I had no idea that yeast infections could be anywhere near that painful!
The mix is pretty damn awful, to be honest. I’ve spent a lot of time asleep and a lot of time in bed, much longer than I would prefer, and not been able to do the kind of exercises that are really necessary to manage my joints. Again, hoping that this detour is ending and I’ll be able to get back to those before I do myself too much new damage.
Hi, found you at Health Zoo. Just letting you know I am hosting the Disability Blog Carnival this month for the first time ever and was looking for interested bloggers. I’ve made it simple to join and show case early parts of your blog. Cheers.