10 months later...

It's been just over 10 months since I started treatment for Lyme Disease. Sometimes I feel like I haven't made any ground. I definitely thought I would be much better by now. However, when I think back to how I was feeling when I was first diagnosed, I have made some progress. Either that or I'm just getting better at coping with this. I would like to think the first thought is true. That I have made some gain in taking all of these antibiotics.

When I was first diagnosed, I couldn't go anywhere by myself. I felt so lightheaded and dizzy all of the time I was terrified that something would happen when I was by myself or worse when it was just me and Holden. So I saved all of my errands for when Matt was home. I also would have to hold on to the basket or stroller a lot during this time. It became a regular thing for Matt to say "Do you want to push the basket (or stroller)."

Now I don't feel lightheaded nearly as often. I can go to the store by myself. I no longer have to hold on to anything for support. That is certainly some improvement! I need to start looking more at what has gotten better besides dwelling on what has stayed the same.

I started a new antibiotic called levaquin a few weeks ago. I wanted to try to treat some possible co-infections. Levaquin usually targets a co-infection called Bartonella or "Cat Scratch Fever". I've been on it nearly 3 weeks and haven't seen much difference. Usually it causes a severe herx reaction in people that have Bartonella. So maybe that means I probably don't have that... which means I can start treating other possible co-infections.

I think next I'm going to see about treating Babesia. I treated it for a couple months early on in my treatment. All of the co-infections are based on clinical symptoms. I quite a few symptoms of Babesia so my doctor put me on Malarone (an anti- Malaria drug). Babesia is a protozoan that is why you can't treat it with antibiotics. Well I didn't stay on the treatment for long and wasn't sure if I took the meds correctly. You are supposed to take it with fat or else the Malarone won't absorb properly. I would get kind of lazy and just drink a few oz. of milk with it. I know that has some fat in it, but maybe it wasn't enough??

So that is my next step... trying to treat Babesia. I really hope I can start improving more rapidly. I want to be completely better so bad!!!!