From the Infectious Diseases Society of America (which establishes guidelines for diagnosis and treatment) on Lyme disease: "In rare cases, people who have been diagnosed with Lyme disease and properly treated have lingering symptoms, typically generalized pain, joint pain and fatigue. These symptoms have been interpreted by some to suggest the presence of chronic Borrelia burgdorferi infection. However, an extensive review of scientifically rigorous studies and papers available to date, has determined that there is no convincing biologic evidence to support a diagnosis of chronic Lyme disease after completion of the recommended treatment. There is no doubt that patients with persistent symptoms are suffering, but many report non-specific symptoms that also are associated with a number of other medical conditions. To be certain they receive the proper medical care, people who continue to have symptoms that persist after appropriate antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease should talk to their physicians about whether the original diagnosis of Lyme disease was accurate or if they may have a different or new illness. (bolding added) ...Long-term therapy for so-called chronic Lyme disease can involve weeks, months and even years of intravenous antibiotics. Although some people may feel better, it doesn�t prove that the antibiotic cured or suppressed infection. Sometimes, the belief that a treatment is helping can be enough to make people feel better. This is called the placebo effect and it is a well-documented medical phenomenon. Antibiotics also have anti-inflammatory effects that may help alleviate certain symptoms. Or, in some cases, patients may have another infectious disease that is responsive to antibiotics. In more than 20 years there has not been one scientifically valid study published in the peer-reviewed medical literature that proves that the benefit of long-term antibiotic treatment outweighs the risk. ...Long-term antibiotic therapy for so-called chronic Lyme disease is not only unproven, it may in fact be dangerous. For instance, it may lead to complications related to delivery of the medicine, such as infections of the blood stream as a result of long-term intravenous administration of antibiotics. Also, use of certain antibiotics can lead to a potentially severe and sometimes deadly infection of the bowel caused by a type of bacteria called Clostridium difficile. Further, long-term antibiotic therapy may foster the development of drug-resistant superbugs that are difficult to treat." Here is a link that might be useful: IDSA

Maureen, "I wish I'd seen your doctor when I had my tick bite. I am always heartened to hear of prudent reluctance when it comes to the dispensing of antibiotics." I was very glad to get the 200mg dose of doxycycline in response to my tick bite, which was an engorged female deer tick that had obviously been attached for some time, based on the inflamed nature of the bite area. I was afraid the doxycycline might be too late. I hope to repeat that preventive treatment for any high-risk deer tick bite. Incidentally, apparently I "dodged the bullet" on that one, because the bite site remains clear of any secondary reddening. My tick was an exact match for an actual-sized picture of an engorged female deer tick on the Maine Tick Identification Card. We actually placed the tick on a printout of the picture, and the match was uncanny. Then I called my doctor. "I ended up in the Emergency room, after a botched attempt to remove the little bugger (tick removal + one mega dose of doxycycline runs about $180.00--if anyone cares to know)." You had an unusually bad and expensive experience. My 200mg dose of doxycycline cost me just $1.75 at Wal-Mart. My phone consult with my doctor cost me nothing and they faxed the prescription to Wal-Mart. So we drove straight to Wal-Mart. I took my dose right at Wal-Mart as soon as I got possession of it. We had removed the tick with tweezers ourselves and put it in a bottle for identification. It's OK to gently pull the tick for several minutes, if necessary, to give it time to voluntarily release its mouth parts. Just make sure the tweezers gently grip the head or thorax area of the tick in front of the abdomen. You don't want to hurt the tick. And you don't want to squeeze the tick's abdomen, because that would be just using the tick as a syringe to inject its body contents into you. If I get any more deer tick bites I plan to repeat the single doxycycline preventative dose. A study has shown it is effective in a high percentage of cases in preventing a Lyme infection. When it comes to Lyme, prevention is definitely better than cure. And you take a lot less doxycycline in the long run. MM

You are welcome. I just called the doctor to see if I could get a new prescription. I have been on Doxycicline for 2 weeks and the Lyme's is still causing me trouble. I haven't been able to do much other than dead head flowers for almost 3 weeks.

I mentioned in another thread that I had gone down to TMD the day before she opened because I happened to be in Tulsa. They had a chain across the drive and were just starting to put out plants. I had thought that I would be back in town last Saturday, but when my grandson went home, his Dad met me in another town. I have had company from Tennessee all week and they are staying until Saturday. On Sunday I have more company arriving. LOL It is about an hour and a half to drive to TMD so I doubt that I can find 3 free hours to drive down, especially since it is only weekends. I looked at Lisa's selection and she is growing some that I would really like to have, but that is a really long drive for a few plants. I bought from her Dad one year, but since then I have always started my own. I would have started them this year if I had known that I could get my garden ready in time for fall planting. It may still be a fight as I am sure new grass will sprout, but maybe I can keep up with it. I have planted several things, and we have had 1.8 inches of rain this week so they should get off to a good start. Too bad I didn't have tomato plants in there already. We were trying to get as much tilled as we could while it was still dry so the earthworms would be lower and we wouldn't chop any. We got about half of it done, but had re-sprayed some of the other and wanted to make sure we had a good kill there before we tilled. My backyard has always been about half garden and half grass and it was hard to keep the grass from creeping in so we just killed it all out and made all of it garden. It is fenced with chain link then has smaller wire all around the bottom. It is pretty well rabbit proof. One gate has to have blocks under it and I noticed my DH had moved them so a friend could come in with his wheelchair, so I have to make sure to put them back before the beans start sprouting. I poured concrete under the other gate. I think the fox keep the rabbit population pretty well controlled now, but we see a few. The area of our yard we really use, for cook-outs, flowers, etc. is on the south side of our house instead of the back yard. We have an extra lot there so we have plenty of space. I may have more garden than I can keep up with. LOL I think it is about 40x40. I can't plant all the way to the fence line until I remove a lot of roots from all of those vining plants that had been planted on the fence. Most all of the plants have now been removed but they still have those nasty long roots that wind up around the tiller. It will still take a lot of work, but it sure beats doing dishes. LOL I love to watch things grow.