It’s been awhile since I’ve done a proper update.
Sorry for that, but I’ve been mad busy with work, coaching, life, etc. So here we go…
First things first… another race
A few months ago my last beginning runners group did the “Race to Deliver 4 Miler” in Central Park as their graduation race. For fun I jumped in and banged out a pretty respectable time considering all that’s happening (or not happening as the case may be) with me physically. This past weekend I did it again with my new group at the “Run for the Parks 4 Miler.” The race report is coming after this post.
“Oh, that’s complete bullshit”
This is what my LLMD had to says about Aetna’s response to my request for 12 weeks of IV Rocephin. As you might have guessed, they (finally) said, “no.”
I was going to quote from their rejection letter, but I realize now that my LLMD must have kept it for my file. They basically said that long term IV therapy for Lyme is “unproven” and that they consider it an “experimental” treatment. The won’t cover it.
My LLMD has an idea about how to potentially get around this. It essentially plays the insurance company against itself by exploiting the weakness of their compartmentalized bureaucracy. I don’t want to go into any more than that here for fear of Big Brother, but it’s a pretty novel idea. Of course, it’s also sad at the same time… the things we have to do to get the medication we need. Amazing.
Look out Bart, it’s your turn
So while we wait to see if the IV trick is going to work out I’m going to take a swing at Bart. I downloaded the following co-infection check list coinfection_checklist.pdf (42.7K) from somewhere (LymeNet maybe) and found it interesting. After going over it I found that I had checked off many items in the Bart category. After discussing this with my LLMD we decided to try 6 weeks of Rifampin (along with my Zith, Mino and Diflucan) to see if it makes any difference. I’ll keep you posted.
Herbs
Through all of this I’ve been continuing to take the herbal tinctures that my Chinese herbalist gives me. I can’t even begin to explain exactly what’s in them — different anti-viral, fungal and spirochete elements is all I know. That and the current batch contains some cinnamon and tastes far and away better than the previous batch. Still tastes like poison though.
What’s next?
I’m going to wait and see what happens with the Bart treatment and then see about the Rocephin. Hopefully I’ll feel something with the Rifampin and be able to avoid the IV all together. Somehow I doubt it, but fingers crossed.
