Monday, December 2, 2013

Pregnancy, Birth and Lyme Disease

After being in remission from Lyme disease and finally getting off of antibiotics at the beginning of this year, I found out I was pregnant so I had to get right back on antibiotics to help prevent the Lyme from crossing the placenta. I'll have to admit, it was hard swallowing those icky tasting antibiotics* again. I questioned if that was really all it took to save my baby from this dreadful disease.

Although it was a very difficult pregnancy, my health held up wonderfully well throughout the entire pregnancy. In the third trimester, my Lyme doctor wanted me to add Azithromycin in, but when I did, some of my Lyme symptoms came back, which panicked me since I had been totally symptom free. I immediately stopped taking it and the symptoms went away as quickly as they had arrived. My doctor said that was a pretty strong indicator that my symptoms would come back after the birth.



My baby was born peacefully at home on November 1st, 2013. 




My sweet little baby girl is now one month old. Every day, I've looked into her perfect little face wondering if I passed my Lyme disease to her. After her birth, we sent off a sample of her placenta to be tested by a tick-borne specialty lab (Igenex) for Lyme disease. It's been a long four weeks of waiting, but...



...we got her test results back today and SHE'S NEGATIVE!! 


Unfortunately, my doctor was right and some of my symptoms have come back since the baby was born. My visual problems are back (it's like a fog on my glasses that won't wipe off), which was my very first Lyme symptom, and I have mild joint pain. I'm still taking Ceftin, and I had no other choice but to give the Azithromycin (the antibiotic that I couldn't handle during the pregnancy) another try. I've been on it for a little over a week now, and my joint pain is much better and my energy level is back to normal. I'm still struggling with the visual problems, but it's better than it was before I got back on Azithromycin, and I'm hopeful that it will continue to work its magic and that this protocol will be enough to keep my symptoms under control. 






**I did Bicillin injections for the first trimester and took Ceftin for the remainder of the pregnancy

10 comments:

  1. I took Bicillin shots for my whole pregnancy and my 2nd born is lyme free and 7 years old now. My first born was infected via in-utero because I didn't know I had Lyme. At 18 years of age he is still in treatment.
    I have one damaged kidney from the bicillin shots but I would rather deal with that then to of passed this on to another child.
    So happy to hear your baby is lyme free ! Blessings to you and your family in this special time.

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  2. Oh Alyson, I'm so very happy to hear your sweet baby girl is lyme free. Love that news! Super excited for you. I'm sorry some of your symptoms have returned; I hope they are short lived and you are healthy and in remission speedy quick. In my prayers and heart. <3

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  3. This is wonderful news about your baby girl! I hope that you all stay healthy and happy!

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  4. Yay! Crazy, but i was just thinking about you this morning and wondering how you were feeling. So glad Lila is negative, what a relief for you. I'd love to meet her when you're feeling up for it. -Jenna

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  5. Just found your blog and I am also happy to see a negative result for Lyme. I'd like to ask you a quick question, but can't find your contact info on your site. Please email me at mtrucillo(at)recallcenter(dot)com when you can. Thanks

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  7. Big congrats to you! Feel better soon. I just recently got diagnosed with chronic lyme. Had my 2.5 year old tested via Igenex Western blot. IFA positive but IgG and IgM negative. Any advice as to what this means? Does she have it but it just isn't active??? If you have a moment please reach out.

    Sincerely,
    Concerned Mommy
    Meg.Hursh.Murray at gmail dot com

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