Question
Nursie, Can you help me find any info on this. It seems I can't find any web sites on it. I tested positive for it Wednesday. My doc said that it can cause cardiac arrest among other things, I am in a high risk group now because I went so long,(since Oct.) without the proper treatment. He said that my last doc just put me on the Paxil to get me out of his hair and that I have two weeks to get "weaned" off it. Acording to the CDC there are only 1000 reported cases a year. How'd I get so lucky?
Answer
Hi FTL,
I had some extra time so thought I would do some research for you. The below links will help you a little. Most of the sites I searched showed repeative information of the same caliber.
As long as you are on antibiotics now, there should be no problem. MAKE SURE YOU TAKE THEM AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. Sorry for the sterness of the comment, at times people start feeling better and stop taking thier medications (bad idea). If at anytime you feel like you are not improving after 48-72 hours after starting your medications feel free to call your doctor and get re-checked.
I'm not sure how 'lucky' you are to get this? Since it has been caught and started treatment, like I said, you should do just fine. There is such a small amount of exposure to this disease since ticks are so small, and then only a small number of ticks carry the disease to begin with. Maybe this is the time to play the lotto?
As far as the paxil is concerned, don't go too fast. You may, at times, feel adrenaline rushes (periods of feeling hyperactive). Try to calm yourself, these feelings are normal unfortunatly. They will pass. You may want to keep some Kava Kava or Valarien root around and follow the bottle instructions during these hyperactive times.
Almost forgot...Here are those links
http://encarta.msn.com/index/conciseindex/30/03004000.htm
http://www.adam.com/ency/article/000654.htm
Good luck,
Jim
Answer
As I mentioned in another post your chances of cardiac arrest are close to that of being hit by a meteor if you follow treatment guidelines. There has been evidence that inflammatory processes induce arteroschlerotic (fatty) deposits in blood vessels providing oxygen to the heart.The organisms become resistant to antibiotics according to several theories. One is that they become "encapsulated" as a natural way the body deals with malignant organisms. That encapsulization prvents them being destroyed by the antibiotics. If they get on the heart valve the turbulance induced by the blood prevents the antibiotic from staying in contact. You might think about taking anti-cholesterol drugs in addition to anti-inflammatorys. There is theory this makes the organisms more sensitive to destruction by the anti-biotic and there seem to be no contraindications. I recommened the FAA because they track aviators with diseases VERY carefully and you are bound to find they have a file on several with Lyme disease. Good luck.