Sunday, July 06, 2014

Day One on Medication

Thanks to All

By the by, may I start out by thanking you all for your perceptive comments.

I know Kate has a ton of expertise on Lyme, and she is 100% correct about the new tests available. The titers test for: :# 1. a horse that has been vaccinated, #2. a horse with an active "new" infection, and #3. a horse with a chronic infection. Chance was normal for #1 & #2 and nearly 7 times normal for #3.

Bless his little cotton socks, as some of my British blogging pals might say, but I tried Kate's suggestion of simply putting the pills in his feed and feeding him on a clean, flat floor--I have rubber mats in the aisle. I added some cut up carrots just to distract his taste buds, and to my delight, Chance ate up every bit of his dinner including all 22 capsules of minocycline. The pills are gel capsules, not tablets so I was a bit concerned, but so far, so good. I don't know how long he will keep eating them, but I will try every day.

I have a dose syringe just in case and a small stock of applesauce easily refilled if we need it. I do like the idea of his eating the pills directly, though. Thanks for the good advice so that I tried.

In the meantime, I decided to talk to my own human doctor about getting myself tested again. I have been treated twice for Lyme disease and tested a third time just on general principles. What I hope is, but I can't seem to find confirmation on the Internet, is that there are new tests for humans as well. The last time I was tested the results were negative.

First, since Chance has Lyme, I can be relatively certain ticks in my area are infected, and I've had plenty of ticks on me. I've had no rashes that I've noticed, but the frist time I had Lyme, I had no rash, so that means nothing.

Second, I have had chronic issues with my knees, even after the replacements. It's worth checking to see if those issues might be cause by something like Lyme.

Third, considering that I live in New Jersey which is a hotbed of the disease and I spent a lot of time in the woods and fields, it's not a bad  idea to check anyhow.

I don't know how the doctor I'll be seeing will take all this, but he's generally been pretty reasonable about such things. He's the physician at my chiropractic center--Alternative Integrated Medical Services--where they do all kinds of therapies. It's a fabulous place--did my physical therapy there, get chiropractic, acupuncture, nutritional counseling, massage therapy, chelation therapy, xrays, blood tests, and basic medical services there, all in one practice.

Anyhow, that's the plan.

I think it's a good idea.

3 comments:

  1. I think getting yourself tested again is a good idea too.

    Glad Chance ate his meds like a good boy.

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  2. Anonymous8:21 PM

    Glad he's eating the pills so far. Good idea to get yourself tested again.

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  3. I had no idea that Lyme's was that widespread! So glad that you have a firm diagnosis and a concrete plan to move ahead. It looks like most of your readers have useful knowledge of the disease. And so helpful was the advice to feed him the capsules straight. That will save you a lot of trouble if he continues to eat them straight up. How fortunate that the new tests are available! As for testing yourself, I think it's an excellent idea!

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