February 20, 2013

• Why I Call Him,'The Lyme Whisperer"

  Michel wondered what a Lyme Whisperer is. 

   I refer to my Lyme doctor as "The Lyme Whisperer" because Lyme Literate MD's are open to prosecution in this country as they do not treat the patients in their care according to  the Infectious Disease Society of America's standards that " there is no such thing as chronic Lyme." IDSA holds that a three week course of doxcycyline is adequate to eradicate Lyme Disease. The insurance companies use this as a treatment guideline. The CDC has a similiar stance on Lyme treatment.

     Many folks who are treated with a three week course of Doxycycline may feel better in the short term can later on develop symptoms consistent with Lyme Disease. I call my doctor The Lyme Whisperer because he is more knowledgeable about this disease and it's effects. He treats with a series of long-term antibiotics. Treatment takes years. Like a horse whisperer or a dog whisperer, he knows what will make the Lyme respond to treatment. He coaxes the spirochetes to reveal themselves. Lyme spirochetes, the bacteria that cause Lyme, are able to change form and hide from one's immune system. The bacteria can go dormant encasing itself in a cyst and lingering in the system of the host until the environment is ripe and the cyst can open up for the bacteria to reproduce itself. 

    My doc also knows to start with the less potent of the antibiotics to help kill spirochetes and not overwhelm the host. Yes, it is achy and tiring and the brain fog makes me feel stupid sometimes, but the way he titrates the dose over a long period of time according to my response keeps me from being overwhelmed. Several years ago, I was treated with Rifampin for latent Tuberculosis infection. At the time, I did not know I had Lyme disease. It was a four month course of treatment and it knocked me on my ass. I was so tired and in so much pain I could not think straight. I had to take a leave of absence for four months in order to complete treatment- there was no taking a break from treatment and then restarting. It had to be a course of daily treatment for four months. Rifampin not only kills tuberculosis, it also kills the spirochete that causes Lyme. I was having a really bad herxe. I would sleep for fourteen hours and then nap some more in the afternoon.  The Lyme Whisperer increases my medications slowly.  He gathers information about my symptoms and we proceed accordingly. He never insists that I proceed to increase if I am overwhelmed. For this I am grateful. 

  I love the fact that even as I sit here resting, I am killing spirochetes. Hooray for me!

  • 9:49 am
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