Image via WikipediaI had searched for the replacement of my Lyme guru and on my first try I found a young doc who had studied in New Jersey and was up on Lyme protocols. What luck!
That was in September and over the next couple of months I've continually sent up prayers of gratitude.
Over the years, I had counseled patients that finding a family physician is often a possible solution to the lack of LLMDs in their area. The younger guys have now had some sort of Lyme education. And if they are a bit older, one can help him become educated on Lyme disease. It’s often a long process but the end result may be helpful.
The real deal-breaker is the docs' own bias to caring for the often-unending need for close monitoring. The fact that we seldom respond perfectly to one 3-week course of antibiotics (per the CDC's protocol) will show your doc’s mettle and his aptitude for caring for you.
No medical person wants to treat people who don’t get well. On your job, you wouldn’t like it much if everything you did was useless to you or your company. No rewards, no increase in salary, no pats on your back. Initially you may ask for a transfer to a different department, but if that doesn’t improve your situation at all. You’d be looking for a different job as soon as possible. I know it’s hard to understand, but doctors need to be winners, too. Often the main reason for going through all those years of schooling is so they can go out and improve the lives of everyone they see. Only they don’t have the choice of a transfer if things aren’t going well with some of his patients. So they may simply opt out of treating Lyme patients. We chronic late-disseminated Lymies may never provide that doc with the good rewards he seeks.
I know, I know. We pay them and they should be grateful that we cross their threshold. However, just that little change in our attitude can provide both you and your doc with warm fuzzies.
It really took me about 2 months to break through my denial that I was in relapse. And it was, of all my doctors, my pain doctor who connected the dots for me. It never had occurred to me that even spinal pain was a Lyme symptom. I had made some off-handed comment about the severity of my back pain seemed to be cyclical and she said, “Do you think it’s your Lyme?” I’m sure I gave her a befuddled look because I was.
Because no doc will do much of anything until they get to know you, on my third appointment I asked for my antibiotic. He readily wrote the script but I didn’t know it unil I filled it that it was for only a week. I calmed myself down instead of calling him up and demanding at least a month’s worth.
So I went through my almost immediate Herx and was delighted that my joint pain evaporated again after 4 days and, after my week, returned 2 days afterwards. Luckily I had an appointment a week or two later and I pleaded my case for a longer run of Biaxin and got a month’s worth.
My swollen feet shrunk up so quickly and so well, from my knees downward I looked like I had just had come out of a long bath - all puckered up. Very funny looking. And that evolved into stretch marks since my poor feet and ankle skin had been stretched to the fullest for too long. Anyway, after almost a year of needing the “water” pill Lasix about every third day, on Biaxin that month, I only needed to take it once. This was really a case of unintended consequences since my swollen feet was assumed by everyone to be a heart problem. In fact, I’d spent last Fall going through a complete cardiac work up but no problems were found that explained the water retention.
I had never read or heard that pedal edema could be a Lyme problem. Since then, I have found a couple of references to that from LLMDs. I still haven’t located any peer-reviewed research articles about it. In fact, had I known, I wouldn’t have wasted everyone’s time and energy at the cardiac workup and could have saved Medicare and Blue Cross untold thousands!
Anyway, at the end of my doc’s month-long script for Biaxin, I found myself in another financial mess and did not have even three dollars to pay for the next months’ script. A great roller coaster: pain & edema/no pain or edema back to pain and edema until New Year’s Day. (Literally. I was in Walgreen’s on the first, when my pension comes in).
So today is Day 5. My spinal pain has diminished and my joint pain is gone. No sign of a Herx yet, but if it comes, I will be cheering through my tears.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_a.png?x-id=0ba9906c-f651-48dc-bf0c-98d083b07bab)
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment