Today was my appointment with Dr. Albers. Before I went I picked up my labs from the rheumatologist appt. My CCP was negative. If the CCP was positive, then that might be indicative of rheumatoid. Although, I've pretty much ruled this out in my head already.. Still awaiting the HLA-B27. Geez, where the heck did they take that vial? China? On a slow boat?
So I went armed with questions, which I will write below. But the short and the long of it is, I will start 6 weeks of oral antibiotics (yeah!!!!!) and follow that up with another blood test. If results show progression, then I will continue with pills. Unfortunately, she said it's pretty rare that the pills take care of it, but we have to try the more conservative approach first. If there is not enough, or no progression, then I will need to start IV antibiotics. My treatment with either route will be approximately 1-3 years long. Ughhh....
The good news, I can still have red wine. Yeah! The bad news, I need to avoid gluten!!! I think I'd rather quit the wine! I love my pasta and breads! Those are my main staples! Plus, I don't really want to be one of those "special needs" people, who has to order special. blech. That's not me! I love food, and love to cook, and don't want to cook out of "special" crappy cook-books. It's funny, with all that I'm facing, I choose gluten to whine about the most, LOL ;)
So tonight I take my first antibiotic, Zithromax 500mg. I'm excited to be starting, but a little worried about the herxing. What is herxing you ask? Well, when the antibiotics start to do their work, the Lyme spirochetes release toxins into my system, and I will have a reaction. I'm not sure what it will be because everyone is different, it may be that my inflammation gets worse. I will have these reactions, or flares every 4 weeks or so, and they will last 2-7 days.
Here are some of the other questions I asked:
1. Test results?
IgA will get worse then clear. Indeterminite will show positive. IgG will get worse, then should clear. (she basically helped me to interpret my results.)
Will I be retested?
Yes, after 1st 6wks, then depending on symptoms.
Insurance pre-authorization?
Need to get better insurance, Anthem will not pay for IV antibiotics past 1 month.
Do I have early or chronic Lyme disease?
Chronic, with an acute flare up.
Do I need to be worried about being immunosuppressed? No, should be okay to work at hospital.
Diet? Alcohol? Gluten free will help reduce symptoms, and avoid a possible gluten sensitivity. Red wine ok.
How long before I’m better?
I may be on treatment 1-3 years
Joint damage? Not as long as its lyme causing the flare up, and not rheumatoid.
Work? She prescribed non-narcotic pain med’s and I will try and start next week.
Who do I call for questions? Call her MA, and follow up appointment in 2 weeks
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