Still holy crap high!
I would be feeling the same about wishing I had the IV oxy-tet with those numbers. I was really struggling to understand why when my horse was already hospitalized that dosage via IV was not the better choice than oral minocycline but supposedly the data supports that there is no difference.
Good luck to everyone and keep up the good fight against this freaking scourge.
You beat me to it! Yes we were testing for EPM and Lyme and from what I was told this was going to give a clearer answer.
So sorry to hear about those high numbers there @JB - this is such an outrageous disease.
I jumped the gun and hopped on the big guy today bareback to walk around and stretch out. He definitely seemedā¦ not yet totally himself. Sound though so that was good. Happy to pick up all his feet for me. Odd with his head carriage, lower than usual, perhaps still sore from the procedure itself. He had his cervical vertebrae sampled from. He was VERY sore two days after. Maybe the effects from the Lyme are exacerbating how sore he can get. Dunno!! Will update when we are a little further along.
I guess it makes sense to test for both if you are pulling CSF for EPM, I didnāt realize he was neurologic. I hope he responds quickly to treatment
NB not ābelievingā in Lyme (and therefore all the good vets in the area tending to be skeptical too because they work closely with NB) has been a source of endless frustration for me. I havenāt had a horse test positive recently but in the past Iāve always treated with Doxy and no vet even mentioned alternatives.
Here we are a solid two weeks into treatment. His personality is largely back to normal. After going out on that trail ride (he only walked, maybe 2 miles) the other day his stifles started to lock up again for the following two days. I have purchased the Med Vet E-Clipse supplement to help him along. Clearly this recovery is going to be a bit more involved than I first imagined.
I wonder if it would be beneficial to either inject his stifles or start him on Pentosan to increase the synovial fluid of his joints while he recovers? I will have to look into the actual biomechanics of Lymeās + joint pain. Increasing fluid might be a bad thing if that compounds the issue.
My mare had lyme a few years back - she completely refused to move under saddle, was extra super grumpy (well beyond baseline normal grumpy mare) and just seemed like everything hurt. After 5-6 days of doxy she was like a new horse.
My dog and husband also have had lyme, all treated with doxy (30 days for the 4-leggeds, 2 weeks for the husband as he got acutely ill and had a bullseye rash), no recurrences for any of them. We monitor the dog yearly because she had crazy high titers.
For locking stifles, Iāve actually had the best luck using Estrone to work through it until they get strong again. The IV injectibles canāt hurt and could help. I donāt know that Iād inject the joints in this case until I tried the other things. That said, he might just need some more time off to readjust to normal.
For locking stifles, Iāve actually had the best luck using Estrone to work through it until they get strong again. The IV injectibles canāt hurt and could help. I donāt know that Iād inject the joints in this case until I tried the other things. That said, he might just need some more time off to readjust to normal.
Very curious!! Something I will have to keep in mind. I went back and read through some of the older threads on Lyme and it seems it can take awhile for symptoms to completely resolve, but I did not read any specifics on what was lingering. Locking stifles were not an issue before Lyme since he first came to me tubby and out of shape. At that time it seemed they were less of an issue the more he worked. Now it seems the more he moves the worse it is the next day or two.
Wow that is extremely frustrating, and good to know. It is a huge problem in human medicine as well. I had chronic Lyme and had to spend $$$$ out of pocket to be treated by a Lyme specialist for 4-5 years. I went to a new primary care last year after mine died (miss her!!) and she also made it clear she doesnāt believe in Lyme, or at least she thinks everyone is cured by a few doses of doxy and therefore chronic Lyme is not a thing. I felt extremely dismissed and condescended to, so I moved on to another doctor.
@libotome, re: the joints, my experience with human Lyme FWIW is that it causes a lot of inflammation, and for me the inflammation seemed to āsettleā in areas that are already problematic, like my lower back. IIWM I might give the meds longer to work before treating the stifle directly.
Iāve hit this problem too. I donāt think itās a NBC thing specifically but rather a young vet thing or maybe a regional thing because of consulting with NBC, like you say. Neither of my regular vets ābelieveā in Lyme. Neither graduated from or worked at Penn, but both graduated within the past 7 years.
Yet the older, near retirement vet in the area, who also consults with NBC frequently, hands out doxy like Halloween candy. 
That is so obnoxious!!! So sorry you had to deal with that. I do not understand what is behind not ābelievingā in Lyme.
I will certainly go the course of the antibiotic before doing anything further. One thing I did not really understand before todayās research is how different Lyme neuroborreliosis is from non-neurologic Lyme. I am not seeing much in the way of success in treating Lyme neuroborreliosis which is a little disheartening. I may ask my vet why she opted for doxy over mino given the studies I saw on bioavailability and concentration of the different meds in the CSF.
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