October 7, 2025

Underdosed

If you have read previous posts you will know that my husband and I have had different but a little similar (weird joint pain but mine was in my back, his in his feet and knuckles) following our dog being sick with inflamed joints. Our dog was treated with a specific antibiotic and is doing well. Her Lyme’s test came back negative and so did that test for both of us. However we have been told that Lyme’s is one where there are many false negatives. I felt better right away when I was given the same antibiotics.

But my husband actually got that antibiotic first. When he went to the regular urgent care at the small hospital system before I did he was told by the provider who saw him that he had a choice, he could get a Lyme’s test or he could just try the antibiotic that our dog had that he was asking about. He chose to take the antibiotic and he started to feel a little better much before I did. The issue, however, is this. He was only given 10 days of that antibiotic where a standard course treatment is 28 days. He then followed up with the the PCP we both have and she thinks it’s a virus and won’t give him more antibiotics and for weeks he is still experiencing symptoms and the symptoms are still with him. And one of those symptoms is that one of his feet hurts even more than the other one and he can barely stand on it. Not so helpful with a full-time job managing others and a busy life with 4 kids, aging parents and in-laws and a wife who is often asking him not to quit on her and to bear some of the load.

It feels very much like we are not getting the best guidance and the best treatment in an efficient manner. And it also seems like our particular PCP does not know what it takes for us to hold up the life we have built and what truly is sometimes in many ways the life we didn’t know we were choosing at the time. So many unknowns, so much unpredictable timing. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t believe she has 4 children at our children’s ages, aging parents who live with her, and I know she does not have a job without sick time. I want to feel that she understands that my husband and I want to be (and a number of important people need us to be) better Sooner or at minimum More Smoothly and with less stress and More of a Sense that our PCP cares about us as individuals and about our family’s needs and circumstances. All of it is part of the whole picture for one’s patient.