[Misanthropy]

Being that I have no health insurance - I am fairly certain that I have Lyme disease, I was wondering if anyone has turned to pet stores for meds.

When I was into fish I remember Doxycycline was avalible at most well stocked pet stores.

Any experience with this?

 

[sluggyslugworth]

I'm no doctor, but I believe Doxycycline is the correct antibiotic to use. I'd be careful what you take tho.

 

[Misanthropy]

I'm no doctor, but I believe Doxycycline is the correct antibiotic to use. I'd be careful what you take tho.

My mom is a pharmacist and actually told me to take the Doxycycline thats left over when her dog is done with his antibiotics for Lyme

Just wondering if anyone here has tried it, any recomedations for dose?

 

[sluggyslugworth]

Well the John Hopkins website, says

"Lyme disease is treatable at all stages, with either oral or intravenous antibiotics. There is some complexity in the treatment decisions, and these differ somewhat for children and adults. There have been few randomized clinical trials of treatment, so optimal choice of antibiotic or optimal duration of treatment are not known. In general, early Lyme disease in adults is treated with doxycycline 100 mg orally twice daily or amoxicillin 500 mg orally three times daily for 20 to 30 days. Doxycycline should not be used in children under age nine years or pregnant women. Other antibiotic choices include phenoxymethyl penicillin, tetracycline, cefuroxime axetil, erythromycin, or azithromycin, with the latter two considered to be second line choices."

"Doxycycline for 30 day courses has been used to treat certain cardiac, nervous system, and joint manifestations of Lyme disease. Other specific manifestations of Lyme disease are generally treated with intravenous antibiotics, most often ceftriaxone 2 gm twice daily for 14 to 30 days, and these include Lyme meningitis, neuroborreliosis, arthritis not responsive to doxycycline, and severe cardiac manifestations."

So....

 

[speedofl33t]

10 to 20 days (depending whom you ask), 100 mg morning and night. Best taken with some food. No probiotics during treatment. No antacids. Not for pregnant women or children.

Can cause a severe allergic reaction. Allergic reactions can get very serious.

And be careful.

 

[Misanthropy]

Looks like im going to head out to the pet shop this weekend and see what is availible. I will update with progress info.

100mg x2 a day was what I read too. I might stock up on the Doxycycline as a SHTF prep. WI is one of the biggest hotspots for Lyme in the USA.

 

[speedofl33t]

Doxy is a tetracycline. It stores well, right???

The original tetracycline gets toxic when expired. Just checking.

 

[rusty_brass]

100mgx2 daily is only adequate if you just got a bite. For late lyme you need 200mgx2 daily.

Trust me, for later stage lyme 100mg is just throwing water at the problem. Later being defined as, you've had it in your system longer than 30 days.

And good god man, don't refer to Johns Hopskins for lyme literature. Go to http://www.ilads.org/. The OLD guidelines, which all these mainstream healthcare systems follow (MONEY TRAIL) will just leave you chronic and sick, they are dead wrong.

From Burrascano guidelines:

There are four types of antibiotics in general use for Bb treatment. The tetracyclines, including doxycycline and minocycline, are bacteriostatic unless given in high doses. If high blood levels are not attained, treatment failures in early and late disease are common. However, these high doses can be difficult to tolerate. For example, doxycycline can be very effective but only if adequate blood levels are achieved either by high oral doses (300 to 600 mg daily) or by parenteral administration.

 

[Tenfeathers]

Being that I have no health insurance - I am fairly certain that I have Lyme disease, I was wondering if anyone has turned to pet stores for meds.

When I was into fish I remember Doxycycline was avalible at most well stocked pet stores.

Any experience with this?

If you are sick go to the emergency room ,they have to treat you with or without insurance.

 

[rusty_brass]

If you are sick go to the emergency room ,they have to treat you with or without insurance.

That's only if you just got bit. And half the time they still undertreat it, IF they treat it at all. Only a few states recognize lyme disease, while it's actually in all 48 states of N. America. So most ER's will be useless.

The OP is doing the right thing and treating himself, it's what you have to do with this "political" disease, unfreakingfortunately.

 

[augoldminer]

A percentage of the people that have the antibodies for lyme have never been treated and there immune system fought it off with out any problem.

Lyme disease is diagnosed clinically based on symptoms, so if you never have the symptoms you like will only know years later if a doctor checks to rule it out because of a other unknown disorder you have.

Hold off till you show symptoms of lyme as you may not need treatment.

Yes humans can use many of the animal antibiotics.
In many cases they are made by the same companies and the only difference is labeling.
http://www.slate.com/id/2290513/

I get my medications free from the VA so i have no reason to use animal antibiotics.
But if TSHTF and i needed animal antibiotics to stay alive i would use them without question.

 

[Misanthropy]

That's only if you just got bit. And half the time they still undertreat it, IF they treat it at all. Only a few states recognize lyme disease, while it's actually in all 48 states of N. America. So most ER's will be useless.

The OP is doing the right thing and treating himself, it's what you have to do with this "political" disease, unfreakingfortunately.

Agreed. I watched a good documentry about Lyme and how poorly it gets diagnosed and treated. After you get labled with a mental disorder you can go into debt by tens of thousands of dollars by the time doctors start treatment for lyme - even then, their is no general guidline for treatment. Even then, the CDC guidlines were written by doctors who are being paid by drug companies that produce meds for lyme. Its an epidemic that the government wont admit to.

Im going to start the antibiotics in a few days, see how it goes.

 

[Steadam2011]

The best deals on Lyme Disease > PetSmart all in one place. ShopLocal saves you time and money shopping online

cascade coupons

 

[LuniticFringeInc]

Agreed. I watched a good documentry about Lyme and how poorly it gets diagnosed and treated. After you get labled with a mental disorder you can go into debt by tens of thousands of dollars by the time doctors start treatment for lyme - even then, their is no general guidline for treatment. Even then, the CDC guidlines were written by doctors who are being paid by drug companies that produce meds for lyme. Its an epidemic that the government wont admit to.

Im going to start the antibiotics in a few days, see how it goes.

I saw that too and found it to be queit appauling they way this is handled if treated at all in the US.

The comment about alergic reactions to the antibiotics should be taken seriously as some of them can be quiet debilitating and questionably worse than the illness your trying to treat.

 

[Cryptkeeper]

The best deals on Lyme Disease > PetSmart all in one place. ShopLocal saves you time and money shopping online

at the pet shops are the antibiotics on the shelves or are they behind the counter and you must ask about it? at the co-op you must ask about it because they keep it behind the counter

 

[Misanthropy]

at the pet shops are the antibiotics on the shelves or are they behind the counter and you must ask about it? at the co-op you must ask about it because they keep it behind the counter

Depends on the area you live in... Im rural so everything is out - higher theft areas will have it behind the counter or in a case.

I started taking the Doxy a few days ago... first prescription type drug I have ever had to take in 29 years of life - even with food it is tearing my insides up. A month of this is going to be rough.

 

[Misanthropy]

To further support pet meds for practical/SHTF use:

Doxycycline 100mg Tablets

Saved me $100s of dollars in doctor bills and prescription costs, being that I have no insurance.

 

[Me in NJ]

I got Lymes and all the nasty things that go with it for the past 2-3 months, DR. put me on Doxycycline 100mg twice a day for 3 weeks, take it either 1 hour before meals or 2 hours after, unless you take antacids, iron other vit/minerals then it 2 hours before and after, you should lie down for at least 10 minutes after taking the med. I would see a Dr. because there are other things it could be. I think Doxy is a generic so the cost shouldn't be that bad.

 

[Misanthropy]

I would see a Dr. because there are other things it could be .

I live in one of the hottest states for it - I have never had any other health problems - then my knees and elbows started hurting, I was getting tired, stiff neck. After 4 days on the Doxy I am already feeling better.

Plus, Doctors dont know how to diagnose it. There is a good 2008 documentry "Under Our Skin" that shows how poorly Lyme is treated. Many are diagnosed with MS, Parkinsons, Lou Gehrig's disease, or mental disorders before doctors even check for Lyme. Our United States Government wont admit its an epidemic.

Doctors are like mechanics = guess and guess until they fix the right part - then you are stuck with the bill. My outlook is, if I cant fix it with superglue, ductape or easy to aquire antibiotics - its mother nature saying "Times up!".

 

[MaKettle]

It really is bad the way they treat lyme disease. I took my kids in last summer and told them the kids had lyme disease and we needed the scrip.

I was looked at like I was nuts and told 'we don't have lyme disease here'. Well, you do now! It took me several days and several different doctors and tests before they would even DO the lyme check. They came back saying only ONE of the kids was positive and would only give the scrip for that one.

2 days later I was back with 2 more, both with the rings, and they were calling in other doctors and nurses to come look because they had no idea what it looked like. a couple days later was back with another 1 and when I went in I was told that word had got around and if I came back the hospital wanted permission to take pictures for their training. :thumb: Happy to be of service. I said I'd give permission IF they treated all the kids since they were ALL in the same area playing and ALL had been bitten by ticks the same day. It took me over an hour to search and pick all the ticks off them that day.

The kids each had 1 round of anti-biotics except 1. The youngest had 5 rounds before it was gone.

Here's a lyme ring if anyone's interested. ETA: That ring is NOT where he was bit. The bite itself was at the base of his neck.