Cystic forms and relapse

It happens all the time. A patient has finally done great. No symptoms. Remission at last.
Symptom free with a "maintenance" med or regimen-- Doxycycline alone or Amoxicillin and Biaxin. Meds are stopped. Lyme symptoms return almost instantly, within days or weeks.

Why?

I have given this some thought. Lyme spirochetes grow slowly. They replicate every 24 hours give or take. The Lyme "load" hasn't suddenly grown exponentially. Is it autoimmune? Antibiotics do have anti-inflammatory properties; have they been suppressing a smoldering autoimmune response lying in wait? No--autoimmune processes generally progress gradually.

This leaves only one possibility. What happens quickly? Cyst forms of Lyme quickly convert to spirochetes, within hours. Ah-ha--the ready source of spirochetes!

As a patient recently told me: "The other antibiotics just cause everything (spirochetes and L-forms) to convert to cysts. Do they?

Cysts are metabolically inactive and generally don't make us sick; the brain seems to be the exception.

In the brain, cyst forms are associated with inflammation. There is experimental evidence supporting this. Tindamax-- the magic drug - sharpens the brain - eliminates vestiges of brain fog.

With the relapse, cognitive functions frequently remain intact while other Lyme symptoms explode. If brain cysts cause more damage than spirochestes there-- I quess this makes sense.

Questions: few answers. Do cyst busters lower relapse rates? Early or late?

Are dreaded L-forms in fact more docile than cysts? Not in the brain.

Perhaps a regimen of a cell wall inhibitor-cyst buster might work better in (in patients lacking cognitive dysfunction), assuming the germs have not passed the blood brain barrier.

Just a thought.