MY UPSIDE DOWN ROLLERCOASTER!

• I have seen that every case is different and that every one reacts differently to the different treatments given, or to the lack of treatments. What I am sure of is that for most cases of Lyme sufferers this has not been a stable healthy situation; it looks like each one is living it's own roller coaster!

• Mine is a very particular one, at the point it seems to be one of the fastest ones I've heard of or read about. I can easily have some good days while taking Unsayn in injections or the pills called "Sultalbac" - that are the same mix of Ampicillin with Sulbactam; - and then be down the roller coaster just a week after I "finish" the treatment... and when I say "down" I mean suffering lots of nasty symptoms and getting close to be totally incapacitated of doing anything to help my self.
• And I should also clear what I mean when I say "finish" the treatment; and it is when I have no more injections or when my pills are gone; not after certain reasonable amount of time. These are very expensive antibiotics and I get what I am able to buy; plus, I do not have a medical prescription to be able to buy them regularly. Yes, this is what this Doctor called "guerrilla antibiotics" meaning buying them out of the country or "under the table"? with the difference that the guerrillas cannot buy antibiotics anywhere they live, and that no one sells under the table antibiotics in the US; so the expression is not really correct: "guerrilla antibiotics" should better be called imported antibiotics or, like in my case, brought from other country by a generous someone.

• As a normal person, an antibiotics treatment should be taken for a couple of weeks or maximum for a month, so that's what I have done, just to find it is not good enough to kill what ever bug is killing me. This being said I would like to add that the longer I am able to do the treatment the better I feel and the more it lasts. But again, every time I finish it, I am back to getting sick again. I wonder if I could get longer treatments would I get better and healthy at the end?

• I am having such glorious days that I can live absolutely normal, sleep like anyone else, dance, eat, work and do what ever I want and need – like bathing my dogs which is a strong job, or cleaning the floors of my house which requires strength too, or painting the walls of my bath and bedroom – to then realize it was just a dream because when my treatment is over I go back to having so many different incapacitating pains that I end up barely taking a shower and being able to make my bed as my most huge accomplishment.

• I believe I have not being properly taken care by the Doctors I have seen precisely because I mention this roller coaster and I tell them about the many symptoms I have. Doctors get “confused” and won’t dare to treat a case like mine. Specialists don’t do it either because their name states they just take care of one thing so, showing up with many different symptoms seems not to be in their comfort zone either…

• So, it is really hard to maintain a very optimistic attitude knowing that I cannot get any medical, professional help in this country; but I hold on because this amazing Doctor in South America takes my calls and dedicates me the time I need to get his advice. He is desperate for having me tested against bacteria and viruses, but I have not had a Doctor here to give me such prescription. Mean while I try to hold on to this very painful roller coaster.

• I live out of what ever God brings me, one day at a time. I live happily aver after though! Yea, happy. I think it is because of my husband, daughter, sister, brother, nephew, dogs, cats, family and friends; and dear God who has not abandoned me in the middle of it all. They all have been with me in the goods and the bads and believe me I have had them all!

• I know I should detail more the ups and downs of the roller coaster, but like in a friendship, I am being a little superficial until I get more accustomed to writing in first person; time will tell! I just hope I can give some hope or ideas to others who are in situations similar to mine, and to bring some light to the medical field who is totally in a obscure denial of this problem. Lyme exists!