Scientific studies suggest that there are just as many bacteria in your digestive system as there are cells in the rest of your body. These bacteria are part of our immune system. They present a hostile environment for other nonbeneficial germs. Infection from one of these bad germs can result in systemic sepsis or yeast overgrowth.
Antibiotics kill bacteria. They kill broad spectrums of bacteria. Some of the bacteria they kill are beneficial to your health. If you kill too many of these good bacteria, you can suffer abdominal symptoms. This can include things like bloating, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, or cramps.
Lynette has been having some of these issues since soon after she starting taking the IV clindamycin. Dr. J has prescribed Lynette an antifungal drug to combat yeast. He has also prescribed her something for nausea. She has been taking lots of probiotics to replace the good bugs that have been killed by the antibiotics. Lynette finished the clindamycin last Friday. We are hoping that stopping this medicine will help with her symptoms.
Lynette's antimicrobial therapy is on a pulsed schedule. She takes all of her antimicrobials morning and night on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. She follows this regimen for about three weeks and on the last Thursday and Friday of each cycle she takes another antimicrobial called Flagyl (metronidazole). Lyme bacteria can evade the immune system by changing to a cyst form. It does this when environmental conditions are unfavorable, such as in the presence of antibiotics. The Flagyl is also referred to as a cyst buster. I feel like the flagyl is working, because Lynette has some obvious reactions to the drug including depression and just plain feeling lousy.
All of these symptoms are no fun, but I when I think back to some of the other symptoms that Lynette no longer has, they don't seem so severe. I remember when Lynette couldn't walk. And when she was awakened several times per night with violent leg cramps. There was a period of 3 or 4 weeks where Lynette kept her right eye closed to combat the cross eyed/double vision she was suffering from. Her facial numbness is gone. The involuntary twitches in her legs are gone.
Lynette has been spending a lot of time filling out paperwork for her disability claim. She finally relented on waiting for friends and family to fill out paperwork for her. She's getting better at writing with her left hand, although it looks like a kindergartener's hand writing. Of course there are all these questions on the disability application about her symptoms. I just laugh and think to myself, "LOOK AT HER HANDWRITING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" Is this the handwriting of a healthy person? She did include dysgraphia (deficiency in the ability to write) as one of her symptoms. Hahaha. That's pretty obvious.
It's obvious that Lynette continues to improve. It is hard for us to recognize immediate improvements though since the actual improvements are miniscule and incremental. I have watched 3 of our children grow from babies to adults, and watched another little girl well on her way to being a woman. They say that kids grow up fast, but it isn't always obvious when you are there all the time. We are experiencing the same thing with Lynette's progress.A shout out to my in-laws Miles and Beverly Eckard who are celebrating 50 years of marriage this weekend!
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