My 3yr old just tested positive for Lyme's Disease. I haven't talked the her doctor yet, they left a message on the machine. What questions, should I ask when I call them back on Monday? How will the lyme's affect her when she gets older?
If she is treated appropriately with antibiotics she should be fine. No lasting
effects. My son had Lymes very bad. Sky high titre. Worked outdoors. Treated with a long course of antibiotics and has not lasting problems.
Perfectly healthy.
Howl? Do you mean "how will?" ;-)
My nephew had a dear tick several years ago and contracted Lyme Disease. He had to go through a round of treatment including (I think) antibiotics. He does have aches and pains in his joints which meant he had to give up high school wrestling, but in place of wrestling he joined the crew team a few years ago. He'll likely have some early onset arthritis.
My brother's wife contracted Lyme Disease the same way a couple of summers ago and her joint pains that she already had got worse, and she now has full fledged arthritis at only 34. But her health hasn't been good for years, and she's immunocompromised already. She already had back and knee problems too before this happened. When she first got it she had to have a couple of rounds of treatment because of her immunodeficiency. Her case isn't really typical.
My cousin contracted it when she was 7 years old and other than occasional aches and pains, she's pretty healthy. So she and my nephew are probably more typical and they don't really have a lot of problems in relation to having had the Lyme Disease. They'll always have it, but they're really fine.
My son had it last summer was caught early and treated but he still has some arthritis.
Lyme is a peculiar bacteria that can create a whole range of different symptoms in different people. If the infection is very recent, chances are good that a month on antibiotics will completely eliminate the bacteria without any further symptoms.
Different doctors have very different beliefs about the illness and optimal treatment, however. It's a tricky illness, and if you don't feel confident your doctor is treating it aggressively enough, get a second or third opinion, sooner and not later.
Watch the documentary "Under Our Skin" (available streaming on Netflix) for a great deal of information on the illness and the aftermath of lax or inadequate treatment. I make this recommendation cautiously, though, because it will probably scare your socks off. We have a strong interest in this illness because we're pretty sure my husband contracted it several years ago. He had to fight hard to get his doctor to even prescribe a 2-week course of treatment. But he did, and we apparently caught it in time.
I wish the best for your family.
My 3 year old daughter contracted Lymes last summer and she is fine now. What I learned during this scary experience is that it is MUCH easier to treat Lymes in children then in adults - mostly because adults usually ignore symptoms and therefore get diagnosed too late. If you catch Lymes early, it is easy to treat and eradicate.
My daughter's doctor prescribed 5 weeks of Ammoxicillin. He did 5 weeks because you need to catch the disease when it is "active" and Lymes cycles between active and passive phases (I believe) every 3 weeks. And then after a certain period of time, Lymes goes dormant and becomes a lot harder to treat. But I think (and you should ask your doctor about this) that that Dr. should be able to tell if it is in an active phase based on your daughters test result levels.
Make sure you add probiotics to your daughter's diet when she is on the antibiotic regimen - it will help replenish the good bacteria in her stomach and prevent diarrea and yeast infections. We bought little chewable ones at Whole Foods and gave it to her around lunchtime (antibiotics were morning and evening so you space the probiotics in between those periods.)
Good luck!!
