We're done, we're done!!!
(ahem)
I mean, she's done, she's done!!!
Her latest doctor's appointment ended with the decision for Sweetie to come off the antibiotics now. Now? Now. Right now? Right now. Done. No more antibiotics.
Okay, then. Yay!
But now what?
On to the herbal supplement! In Sweetie's case, that means Artemisia. A supplement that's excellent in the fight against, of all things, malaria. But the doctor said that malaria and Lyme have one important thing in common. Both, as I understand it, develop cell walls around themselves, hiding themselves against antibiotics. But the Artemisia can get through. The Artemisia is out to kill!
Kill, baby, kill!
On her new regimen, Sweetie need only take one Artemisia pill at bedtime, and her probiotics are cut to once a day as well. Better yet, the Artemisia and the probiotics don't interfere with each other as the probiotics and antibiotics did. She doesn't have to worry about spacing out these 2 products for maximum effectiveness. Yee haw! This just keeps getting better and better!
In actual application, though? A pill is a pill is a pill is a pill. I still make sure Sweetie takes her immune support gummy bear every morning. We still make sure she takes her probiotic at dinner time, along with another gummy. And we still have her take another pill at bedtime - the Artemisia. So really - same song, different notes.
And then, really... after all the excitement settled down, (yay! you made it through the antibiotics stage!) we really had to realize what the doctor's truly getting at here. The actual situation shows that she's not pulling Sweetie off the antibiotics because Sweetie really is "done" with them. No, it's more like she's pulling Sweetie off the antibiotics because Sweetie's body is telling us that her body is done with the antibiotics. Sweetie's body is revolting after 6 months. It can't take it anymore! Headaches and tummy troubles and nausea, oh my! It's time to give that body a bit of a break and try to fight with a new weapon. That is all.
Throw in my own little post-appointment Google search of what exactly Artemisia is... and I get nowhere near a sense of finality of my Sweetie's troubles. Turns out that Artemisia, yes, is excellent for fighting malaria. Aannndddd.... maybe not exactly Lyme so much as Babesia, a co-infection of Lyme.
Awesome. So now it may be that Sweetie doesn't only have Lyme Disease, but - given that she's kind of stagnating - she may in fact have this co-infection as well. Or another one! Let's try the Artemisia and see what happens!
(No, I'm not picking on her doctor. I'm just back to playing the roll of the frustrated mom who's trying to figure out, along with the doctor, what's going on with Sweetie. But at least this time I actually am confident in her doctor that, one way or another, we'll all figure it out. At least in time.)
So here we are, with Sweetie now on the herbal supplement for a week now. And I'm waiting. Waiting for the big Herx. The doctor said that, with the switch to the supplement, Sweetie may experience a strong Herx reaction. Alrighty, then! Bring it on!
And still we wait.
So far so good. No problems! Her belly feels good. No headaches. All is well. We've even taken to the habit of asking her nightly if she's still remembering what "art" is (artemisia. Art amnesia. Heh. We're funny.) Happy to report that, all things considered, this has so far been one smooth transition.
But, oh ho ho! Is no reaction, in fact, actually a good thing here? Just like when she started on antibiotics, shouldn't she have to experience a Herx reaction to show that something's working here? To prove that the supplement is killing what needs to be killed? Hmmm....
And so... On to the next phase, if for no other reason than Sweetie's body demands it. It will be good and interesting to see what positive changes come about from no more antibiotics coursing through her body. And we wait to see what, if anything, happens to her while on the Artemisia. Will anything happen? What if it doesn't? It means no Babesia, right? Probably? Maybe? I don't know. But if not that, what? How do you ever know, with Lyme or any of the co-infections, when you've got it licked? Is it ever licked?
I will say, upon lamenting to the doctor that I too felt Sweetie was "done" being on antibiotics and that I felt only the worst cases of Lyme were on meds for 6 months or so, she said "no." She has patients who have been on antibiotics for 3 years! So 6 months is really not bad.
Not so bad. Not so good. One step forward, two steps back. Two steps forward, one step back. The dance goes on.
