Hi Biggs,
I'm so sorry that no one has been able to answer your questions yet. I don't use abx and really don't know enough to answer many of your questions, but I'll share what I do understand!
It' really quite possible that with your history of herxing badly, your doc wanted to introduce these abx slowly, possibly ramping up the amount once she sees that you are tolerating that dose.
It's not uncommon at all for any of the tick-borne infections to not show up on the blood tests, yet we have the symptoms which do indicate an active infection - there are two main reasons for this. One is that Lyme suppresses the immune system, and what the tests usually look for is the immune response to the infections. The other thing is there are many, many strains of each of these infections and only a very small handful of them are being tested for. Lyme alone has over 100 different strain in the US and only 4 or so are being tested for - Bartonella has around 28 different strains- I believe- and only 2 or 3 are currently being tested for, so it's pretty easy to have contracted one of these strains that aren't being tested for.
Most of the time, it's another tick-borne infection that stops us from healing from our Lyme infection, so we have to be treated for that before we can complete our Lyme treatments. I treated Lyme first, then added in Bartonella treatment, as I was really suffering from those symptoms. I'm now treating Babesia, although I know that I still must go back and retreat not only my Lyme, but the Bart infection again to get rid of the active infections.
And I have no choice but to type slowly today!!! LOL! All kinds of mistakes since I am having a herx thanks to that lovely 2nd blue moon last night!!! LOL!!!
Sitting here with my feet in a tub of Epsom Salts and peroxide.
