I was impressed. My friend Michelle, who went with me, was too. Dr. L actually referred to the information I brought her multiple times (catch me before I hit the floor!), and she really seems to know her shit when it comes to Lyme and its coinfections. Here are the highlights:
- She said I need to be taking more Malarone. She upped my dose from 500 mg BID to 7500 mg BID. She also changed my artemisinin dosing schedule from 100 mg BID, 5 days per week, to 100 mg BID, 3 weeks on and 1 week off.
- She confirmed that I will have to repeat the Lyme treatment once we have dealt with the Babesia.
- She listened to my description of the new dental pain and recurring tooth pain. She said she was the first patient she had seen with Lyme-related dental issues, but said she would do some reading and see if she could find something that might help.
- She said that, in her experience, doxycycline doesn't lower Malarone levels. How did she find out? By testing patients until she was convinced. I liked that a lot.
- She also said that it was fine to take CoQ10 with Malarone. She said that even the man who did the original research had recanted. She confirmed it for herself, again by testing patients on Mepron or Malarone with and without CoQ10.
- She agreed that I should get my hormones tested and gave me the name of the lab she uses. She offered to order the tests herself, but she just moved offices and didn't know where her box of stuff from the lab was, so I said I'd have my internist do it. This is encouraging, though, because it means that she has experience interpreting saliva tests, which my internist doesn't. She asked me to bring her a copy of the results. You bet!
At the end, she told me that I was a complicated patient. I acknowledged it, and then asked her politely if, now that it had been said and acknowledged, she could please never say that again. She said okay.
Once again, I am cautiously optimistic. Everything seemed good until the "you're complicated" remark. I get nervous when doctors tell me I'm complicated because it can mean so many different things, from "wow, you have the medical history from hell" (yep) to "you are going to be a huge pain in my ass" (run away!). I did make sure to ask directly if she was willing to take me on, and she said yes. I really, really like it that she tests hypotheses for herself, and follows the evidence rather than the accepted dogma if the two don't agree. I definitely feel like I'm in better hands with her than with Dr. M, so I wrote Dr. M a goodbye letter yesterday.
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