Lyme Disease Support Group

I just got kicked out of the military after 18 years of service due to "Chronic Fatigue". My income now sux and I have 4 kids. With "Chronic Fatigue" as my Air Force diagnosis, how the hell do I pay for years of IV/pill antibiotics?

I have a Lyme diagnosis, the Air Force just doesn't care. I don't have all 5 bands on my Western Blot. Everything else - Positive!!!! Including PET scans (2 each because they didn't believe the first one)

Hello and welcome,

I'm sorry for all you are going through. This disease and the politics that goes with it is terrible. I am not sure how to advise you about fighting to get the military to help you. What I can offer is that there is an alternative to years of antibiotic txs. I am going to an alternative clinic in Georgia. It is private pay but I believe the cost and effectiveness of the txs is far less than conventional medicine. I'm sure others will be responding soon that have also gone to this clinic. I have just begun my tx but I'm confident that this place will really help me and reclaim my life as it has others.

I have asked the Dr. there, he is an MD, to get me a list of other clinics in the US for others to go to that don't have the means to travel to his. I am going there today and will pass on the info as I get it. If you have any questions you can PM me.

Good luck and take care, Denise

Hey there hambolio and welocme to our group,

I have no idea how you will get the military to pay for your treatment . All I can say is good luck with that. There are a lot of politics surrounding this disease. So sad, but true. We are pretty much on our own to find what helps and what doesn't.

As for me, I went to the clinic that Denise spoke of. I am totally recovered, even after a REINFECTION recently. (Well, I'm symptom free, pain free, very active again, etc. The borrelia is lodged in my colon right now and I'm working on kicking them out. I'm sure I will be successful with the expertise of my docs at the clinic). I'm amazed that I could recover so quick from a reinfection. It is an alternative clinic.. The Doc is an MD, so some insurance will cover his care. Not mine, I'm out of state and had to pay. I t was soooo worth it. I have my life back and getting better every day.

Research the heck out of this disease. The more you know ,the easier it will be to make a choice for your path to recovery. There's a thread on here with other members' book choices. you can probably get a lot of them at your local library or amazon. I was too blanking tired to go anywhere back then, so I have quite a collection of books now (from amazon).

Feel free to ask away. good luck and we're all here for each other. In other words, we know your pain.

Peace,

Connie

Welcome to the group! So sorry to hear your story. Have found everyone here to be so helpful. My son is a sufferer, now going to same clinic as Connie and Denise. We are hopeful for his recovery. Am waiting for my test results, if positive I will go there as well.

Research everything you can, if we can help, please let us know.

Ann

Geez, I hate to hear stories like yours. You give to our country and the gov't bites you back. Sorry! I worked in social services and I was always amazed at some of our Veterans' stories.

I am paying out of pocket. I've read so much about people dropping like $100,000 on this disease going the conventional route. I chose the alternative route as well. I feel that I'm saving money and making some decent headway. Don't get me wrong, it's not cheap but I'm not on a bunch of conventional meds that aren't really working for me. I'm detoxing and taking supplements. I feel much better!

Just remember to treat your whole body instead of just the disease!

Good luck and thank you for serving our country!

For my family we all have lyme...The conventional meds are much cheaper than going natural...I don't understand how clayton can say they are less expensive...please fill me in on this? I would love to try the natural way. Help me please!!!!

Doxy cost 25 dollars without insurance with we pay 8.50

zpack cost 80 w/out insurance with like 15.00

NAC supplement "natural" is 30 dollars

IV Mulit vitimin treatments are 150.00 per week

Infra red treatment 15.00 per session

Chiro is 40 per session....insurance doesn't cover

Accupunt is 40 to 80 per session...insurance doesn't cover

If i had no insurance and a family to support with kids I would go to Mexico and buy the antibotics at one of there pharmacies. I'd stock up on the doxcy. Natural method is more expensive when you add up all your costs! For me it is. Plus we do it times three. We are near broke from this and have insurance and make well over six figures so I really don't know how people afford these treatments. We all ready moved to a cheaper state with cheaper cost of living...with gas and food prices up. I feel it too.

I hope you find a way to pay for this! Yr health is worth it but in our country only the very wealthy get healthy!

My advice to the average american is DO NOT GET SICK!!!

Very sad indeed!

I am not surprise the gov. isn't supporting you...history always repeats it's self.

So unfair! I really feel for you!

Take Care!!!

See you in Mexico!

Oral abx are not to expensive that's true, but it is the IV abx that can get really expensive. Anyone out there have to pay out of pocket for IV abx.?

Denise

I'm thinking my clinic can add up my total cost for me. I'd rather not know . I'm guessing it was around $10,000 to $15,000. However, I'm 100% better. I feel better than ever and you can't put a price on that. I also had to pay for my own labs and the MD visits. He was out-of -network. Some insurance will cover all of that which will significantly decrease the cost.

I did get chiropractic care and acupuncture about once per week for many months at $50.00 a pop (for both), no pun intended. I also bought my own FIR sauna at around $1800. So worth it (for me). I'm in it right now. I did buy a hyperbaric chamber (this is a biggie) for 18,000. it's not necessary, but very helpful for me.

We have to realize that lyme is destoying us. If you've had it for a long time, you are probably immunocompromised, have depleted nutritional stores, have a build up of toxins, weak organs, etc. It's just going to take more than a few months of antibiotics (natural or conventional) to get rid of this crud. We have to rebuild our immune systems, too. THat just seems to be a fact of chronic lyme and coinfections. Insurance isn't going to pay for our supplements and frankly I don't think we want insurance companies and big pharma involved in the supplement, herbal and homeopathic industry. They' ll mess it up, for sure.

I chose alternative mediciine because I was SICK of taking all that conventional medicine that did nothing for me (the pain pills were helpful, though...). I was being treated for FM for about 4 years with all kinds of drugs. I had to go out of state to even be diagnosed. I kept telling my doctors , "there has to be something else wrong with me, I'm getting worse every day!." They said, "No, nothing else is wrong. You need to see a psychiatrist." So, I was really frustrated by the way I was treated. After just meeting my new doctor for the first time, I knew I had to give his kind of treatment a chance. It was a fluke I even heard about him. Well, I'm glad I gave it a try, because it flat worked. That's our ultimate goal , no matter which route you take, is to get better. So, you have to weigh the pros and cons and choose which is best for you.

So, good luck Hambolio, and let me thank you for serving our country, too.

Peace,

Connie

ahhh, our good ol' government. I'm sorry to hear that you got kicked out. If you need help finding a lyme doc, pm me with your location.

as for paying for meds, sometimes if you contact the drug company they will give it to you free, or at a reduced price. I have a friend who got the new drug valcyte for free because she qualified.

hope this helps a bit.

jaime

Connie where do you live? Can I come over?

I don't have access to that kind of money...maybe I could start selling drugs or if I can loose some weight I could work the pole! LOL!!!

I just think it's sad that it comes down to either we pay 100 grand per person to be healthy or be sick the rest of your life. Like I said only the very weatlhy in this country are able to get better.

To afford all that you have to make at least 250K and up per year! How many people make that much? Sorry that isn't right! Insurance should pay for alterative treatments!

Our country SUCS!!!