Hello all,
I am new to this community but I am grateful it is here. After being misdiagnosed for years I was finally diagnosed with Lyme in 2016 and am still trying to learn about it. I am wondering if anyone in the community has gotten pregnant after being diagnosed with Lyme. My partner and I have been waiting to get pregnant until after treatment but as I am sure man you of you know it feels like treatment well never end. Currently I am on two antibiotics that I have to continue for 8 to 12 weeks. I really would love to have a baby but I am terrified of passing Lyme on to our baby or losing the baby before term. Any help or previous experience with this would be SO appreciated. Thank you.
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I can’t speak directly to your issue except to say that I just read an article (somewhere on line…sorry I can’t be more exact) about a woman who had a baby and the lyme was not passed on, so at least it is possible. If I were in your shoes, I would try to do a lot of research and then try to find a pediatrician and an ob/gyn that have had experience with this. Good luck! It’s a long hard road, but I have hope for a cure in the coming years.
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I am in the same boat as you - I got Lyme at 27, just around the time I started thinking about having a baby; every year I get told “wait one more year” which is very frustrating to hear. I’m 33 now and hoping to be able to try in the next year; its taken awhile to find treatment that works for me and I feel like I’ve finally cracked it. I’ve tried to do as much reading as possible and talking to doctors about their opinions on chronic Lyme & pregnancy - and while there is info out there, the fact of the matter is that there have not been major studies on Lyme & pregnancy, so it is mainly anecdotal evidence. (I think acute Lyme that is dealt with quickly may not apply to this info) There is some info out there about how taking 1 abx during pregnancy decreases the rate of transmission to 20%, and taking 2 abx goes down to 5% transmission. The other consideration is that you can pass LD on with breastfeeding, so you would need to consider abx during breastfeeding as well. However, I think it’s important to acknowledge that while abx do have their place, they also can do a lot of damage to your digestive system, gut flora and immune system… so its worth doing some research about things you can do to counteract that damage (probiotic supplements and food, low sugar anti-inflammatory diet, etc).
I tried doxy & Plaquenil and did not react well to them, so I am hesitant to be on abx for 1+ years; my digestion is also a weak point and long term abx (for my body) does not feel “right” to me (however, if they are working for you, that’s good too! I have found that what works for one person with Lyme doesn’t work for another). Right now I am doing a modified Buhner Protocol (herbs) which has been working really well. I have recently started seeing an herbalist that believes the Lyme can be cured - rather than just killing lyme with abx, essentially you are building your immune system up again with herbs (that also are killing Lyme), and clearing other infections too (like parasites, which will keep reinfecting you with Lyme as long as you have them). He thinks that he can get me to a state where I will not need to use abx while pregnant or breastfeeding. Definitely not something that mainstream medicine would agree with, but for now I am trusting my gut that abx are not the way forward for me, and that herbs are, based on my reactions to both. Not using abx while trying to get pregnant scares me a bit, and it is something I am still wrestling with…
Hopefully this info will help you a bit. I’d be interested to hear what you decide to do and how it goes, and also am happy to chat more if you just need some moral support from someone in the same boat (I could too! I don’t know anyone else who has Lyme and wants to get pregnant/has been pregnant). Best of luck!
Sarah
Here are some good links:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=sites&srcid=ZGVmYXVsdGRvbWFpbnxkcmpvbmVza2lkc3xneDo3NDkxOGRjZTczMmZkNmVh
I have a lot more bookmarked - I can send them to you if you are interested.
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