The Tunnel of Illness

This is the news:  In England, possible antibioticsi [18] to be sold over the counter, to treat CHLAMYDIA!

This is the story form http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/aug/06/health [92]

Oral antibiotics are to be made available for the first time without doctor's prescription under guidelines approved yesterday by the medicines regulator.

A pill to treat chlamydia, the most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted infection, will become available for purchase in pharmacies across England later this year.

I was going to post updates with my progress monthly but having being overwhelmed with trying to keep up with life and treatment, I am way  behind.

Anyway, here I go. I started back in Jan'08 with big doses of CAPi [9] (3 abxi [18]) and after extremely severe die-off reactions and stopping a couple of times, I re-started nice and slow in Feb'08, adding 1 abxi [94] at the time, making small changes and ramping up.  

Finally on full doses of current protocol - Rifampin 600 mg/day and Doxyi [37] 100 mg x 2/day - since mid-March. 

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read this post.

I was not able to locate information referencing contraindications to my Rx topicals.

Please pardon me if this is covered elsewhere.

I'll start with a bit about where I'm at and have been.

Mental

I'm a graphic designer who works from home. I have a happy homelife and a positive worklife. I believe that i am a healthy person, I just do not physically feel like one. I have long suspected that everything I experience is tied together, so am really happy to see this Web site. I want to live my life again: I want to go outside into the sunshine; ride a bike; shop in a store!



Physical

I went to see my Lyme dr for a monthly appt. and came back home all disturbed and worried. This was my 4th appt with this dr and I am still in the beginning phase of the CAPi [9] tx. By this time my dr and I should be developing a working relationship but it's not happening. During appt he asked - Remind me, how long have you been sick? So I told him my story again very briefly. As I mentioned that I saw rheum dr before finding him, he asked - And Rheum didn't find anyhting? That surprised me completely b/c on my 1st appt with this dr I brought to him consult notes from the rheum dr stating the dx and plan of tx (not CAP, of course but prednisolone & Sulfasalazine). I felt he didn't remember my case at all.

When I saw my dr a few days ago we went over my labs results that had come back. The Western Blot for Lyme disease. IgGi [2] was negative. Good news, right? But strangely enough, IgM was positive by both standards - unconventional Igenex (where the labs were actually done) and CDC.

I was floored, I really didn't believe that I may have Lyme.  The dr told there may be a false positive and we ordered a confirmation test with Igenex.

The reason I think it is strange to have IgM (+) b/c my sxi [98] started so long ago and logically it's IgG that should be (+) if I have Lyme.

I am on Doxycycline 100 mg x2/day since 01/14/08. Before Doxy I started with Minocycline/Rifampin CAPi [9] but had to stop in a few days due to severe reactions and overwhelming hypoglycemia as well. Now, on Doxy, hypoglycemia continues. I was feeling good for a couple of days earlier this week but on Wed evening relapsed with weakness, tiredness, shaking/shivering due to feeling cold, tachycardia, BP's up, nausea, hunger and so on. Most of the Thu I felt waves of the same effects and had to leave work. Today, Fri, I am feeling much better but I have to eat something every 2 hrs to keep re-occurrence of hypoglycemia away.

Hi Everyone,

I had my second appointment with Dr. Powell last week (well actually it was with his assistant but same office).

He put me on the supplement regime before starting abxi [18]...

One of the things he prescribed to me is Ultrase, which from what I understand is a digestive enzyme, but when i went to the pharmacy to pick it up they informed me it would be $350 (and this is with insurance coverage). I can't afford that right now so I just picked up the Ursodiol which he also prescribed.

I did a search on Ultrase on this site and didn't find much about it. Just wondering if anyone has found it particularly helpful or if you think it is highly neccessary for the protocol...I guess I am just not totally clear on what it is supposed to help with.

Last Fri I saw my new dr who is an integrative MD specializing in Lyme. Very nice, compassionate and down to earth person. The appt was early morning when I am not yet in my best shape. I was so exhausted and brained fogged, my BP was soaring 170/110 so that my hubby had to drive me over and was a big support at the dr's office as well. 

Hello, everyone,

I had posted once on the forum, including a very brief description of my story. Now it's time to start a blog as I understand, I am here for A LONG HAUL. I am not sure where to start as there is so much to all my illness.

I guess, my arthritis/tendonitis and myalgia would be the main complaint. Then hypertensioni [46], then sinusitis, hypothyroidism, heart palps, chronic cystitis, PID, hand cysts, mild cough, brain fog and fatigue. All of this started one by one since I was 8 yrs old but only recently after doing a bunch of research and this year being dx with Reiter's syndrome I put 2 and 2 together and figured out that Cpni [10] infection could cause all or any of my conditions.

As this is my first blog im going to keep this short and just share my history and onset of symptoms..

April 05- thumping in left ear and pain, fullness (dr said allergies/benadryl...helped somewhat

May 05- very bad sore throat, after a week on amoxy went into upper respitory infection, but on cefzil, I seemed to get better then sick again.  Cough lasted about 3 weeks.

June 05-  very bad bought of constipation

August 05- sore throat begins again, chest feels tight, go back to the dr he says bronchitis is back again, puts ime on cefzil since it worked before.  This lasts about a week....i had more coughing especially at nite.

I was also on vacation in the pocono mountains.

I haven't posted in a while, but I am still around, LOL and gleaning  the site.  

I had two wonderful weeks of feeling normal -- actually having some energy (not endurance, but definitely energy) and cognitive thinking (my brain fog had seemed to lift after I was on the full dosage of Doxyi [37])  I guess that was plateau #1!  It was so wonderful to feel normal, they weren't whispers, they were shouts!  It seems like FOREVER, but I  have only been on the full dose of doxy the  end of June/through the month of July.

Hi,

was wondering if anyone has had problems with oral herpes (cold sores) while dealing with chlamydia pneumonia infection. i have never had a cold sore in my life but as soon as all my problems started (mainly interstitial cystitisi [6] and muscoskelatal issues), i get a huge outbreak of cold sores every time i start my period....i can control them somewhat with valtrex but it is really odd and frustrating. do you think this is related to cpni [10] hogging my immunei [47] system or simply a hormonal thing?

Hi,

I have questions about taking the antibiotic Ketek. My doctor has spoken with Dr. Stratton and he has suggested 6 months of this protocol of 5 days a month of Ketek followed by daily supplementsi [84] etc...it is to treat my interstitial cystitisi [6] and list of other undiagnosable problems. I am pretty new at this and am having trouble deciding if this is the road to go down. I am scared of taking all of this medicine and not knowing if it is going to work or not. Can someone tell me if Ketek has worked for them and what the side effects are? Basically any suggestions will help...thanks very much...

The following is a condensation of a slightly longer post which can be found at this link.

Jim K