Pregnant and have Lyme

[FallingApart]

Hello,

 

After 7 years, DH and I are pregnant again! The last time I was pregnant we had ever heard of PANDAS or Lyme. We now believe that my oldest dd got Lyme from me in the womb. We did about 2 years of Lyme treatment for dd and myself and saw some decent results, but never the full improvement we were hoping for, so when the school year began, we stopped. It's been about 2 years now I called the llmd to ask if I should be on an antibiotic while preg. She said yes, but I need to come in for an appt. I have another holistic doc who will write me the rx for the duration of my pregnancy but she doesn't know what to write. The llmd is a few hours away and super expensive. Has anyone faced this? What were you rxed and what was the dose? I will go to her if I have to,but since I won't be pursuing aggressive treatment right now, I'd rather not.

 

Thanks all.

Edited September 24, 2013 by FallingApart

[PowPow]

Dont know anything about Lyme and pregnancy.-but CONGRATULATIONS! !

[SSS]

Congratulations! Here is information I am pasting here, these are not my own notes, FWIW:

 

Here are my notes from Dr. J.'s talk (world famous pediatric lyme specialist) at the Toronto ILADS conference the other day.

 

2011 ILADS Conference, Toronto, Canada

 

Pregnancy & Tick Borne Diseases: Gestational Lyme

 

Dr. J. 10/28/11

 

Impulsivity is an earmark of children born with lyme. Lyme is a multi-system disorder. It can wax and wane and change. It likes collagen (valves--like heart valves, etc.), nerves, and joints; it is almost always tick borne.

 

HIV, CMV, any infection in the mother can be transmitted to the fetus.

 

If lyme is transmitted, you will see severe hypotonia (floppy baby), child will be irritable, tire easily, sensitive to light, noise, skin. The hypotonia will cause trouble sucking due to the lips being floppy. This can improve as time goes on. 30% of these children will have developmental delays.

 

Tissue PCR biopsy is more likely to be positive rather than a test of bodily fluids (blood, urine, spinal fluid, etc.). Test placenta and foreskin remnant.

 

Some of these children are classified as autism spectrum early on due to their failure to progress. These children do NOT experience regression as is often seen in autistic children. If antibiotics help them, it points to lyme as the true diagnosis.

 

He described 2 patients. One little boy ran around his office. He had never spoken. It was doubtful that he could understand what others said. But Dr. J. noticed that the boy made good eye contact with him, which autistic children will not do. He took his face in his hands and said to the boy, �I am going to unlock your brain.� The next time the child returned, he ran to Dr. J., put Dr. J�s hands on his face and said, �Thank you for unlocking my brain.�

 

The other boy had committed a long list of crimes, the most serious of which was attempted murder of his mother, and was about to be removed from his home due to his crimes. The boy announced that nobody was taking any blood from him. Dr. J. gave him a choice--either give blood or have a wrestling hold put on him. He put the hold on the child lightly and the child asked for him to stop. Then, he jumped into Dr. J�s lap and hugged him (while Dr. J. patted him down for contraband) and cried profusely for about 2 minutes. When asked why he was crying like this, the little criminal said, �Nobody has ever given me a choice before!� This boy was diagnosed with lyme thanks to the persistence of his mother.

 

Treating the pregnant mother: There is less than 1% transmission of the illness if the mother is treated with 2 antibiotics during the pregnancy; 25% rate of transmission if she is treated with just one antibiotic; and 50% rate of transmission if she is not given antibiotics at all.

 

It doesn�t matter what trimester the mother becomes infected. These are the statistics.

 

A baby born with babesiosis is in really bad shape. He told of one with heart and numerous other serious problems who was given numerous transfusions at birth, plus atovaquone and azithromycin and is now well. It took 1 week to see great improvement.

 

Some medications he suggests for the pregnant mother include 1,000 mg amoxicillin every 8 hours for months, also mentioned IM (intramuscular injections), ceftriaxone (? not sure of this--something that started with �ceft� but not ceftin), etc.

 

The mother can only breast feed the child if she is on antibiotics. Then, yes, it is fine to breastfeed.

 

He mentioned that a lab known as Advanced Laboratories can now culture for the lyme bacteria. Western Blots test only for exposure, so this is a much better test.

 

He said that a father can infect a mother. In in vitro fertilization, a father infected the embryo, but it was not part of a study, just anecdotal.

 

He quoted Dr. H., �If the mind doesn�t know, the eyes don�t see� to explain how lyme can be missed in these children so that they are misdiagnosed.

 

One month of amoxi should be given to the mother if she is bitten while breastfeeding.

 

To treat bartonella in children, give them zith and/or Bactrim, ciprofloxacin in an older child.

 

Antineuronal antibodies can be found in infected children. If they are found, treat the child with antibiotics. The child can have strep antibodies also. He uses various meds including IV gamma globulin, if needed.

[Hopeny]

Hi congratulations on your pregnancy! I struggled to get pregnant with second DD and it is such a blessing. Personally if I had it to do over, I am not sure but think I may have passed some type of Lyme to my kids, I would have taken amox for most of the pregnancy. I am not a doctor but it seems better to treat aggressively than to possibly deal with Lyme. We have had a horrible experience with Bactrim and I have had two doctors tell me they think it should be taken off the market. Others have used it successfully but if you try it be careful and watchful. Enjoy your pregnancy and try not to worry too much