(Video) The Lyme Life: IV Antibiotics – What it’s like to infuse with a PICC line at home

When my Lyme doctor first mentioned that she’d like to put me on IV antibiotics I was scared, and went looking online for videos to help me understand exactly what that meant.

I wasn’t able to find exactly what I was looking for, but did come across a video from Mighty Well that walked through some of the supplies you can expect to use – along with some recommended supplies that are better than the ones you’d get by default – such as the PICC dressing adhesive that’s better for sensitive skin (IV clear). But it was also a video to promote their own Mighty Well products, which I ended up not liking that much, and still didn’t show what it actually is like infusing the meds.

Now that I’m 2 months into my daily IV antibiotics, I’ve learned a lot and it’s become second nature, so I decided to just make the damn thing myself! 🙂

I seriously hope this helps some of you out there to know what to expect, and to give a more clear understanding of what it means to say “yes” to IV antibiotics.

Now, because I’m always assuming everyone is getting paid for pushing products onto others, I want to make sure you know that I am 100% NOT getting anything from anyone, and that’s not what I’m here for. I’m going through this illness – I’m scared and unsure and learning and trying to get better putting as much effort into my health as I possibly can every freakin’ day.

This shit is hard, and there is so much information that is not easy to find. Most days I am stuck in my cave using all my energy just to get through this illness and my treatments. It means so much to me to get to do something, ANYTHING, that could help others to have a smoother journey than I have had, so I’m really excited to get this out there and hopefully help you too!

One of my current self improvement challenges is to not get bogged down by perfection, or insecurities – so for example, I wish I had more energy today to transcribe all the audio from the video so you don’t have to watch it all, to list out all my favorite products and offer a photo gallery of screenshots… and I feel guilty to you who’s reading this now because I haven’t given you all of that :), but I don’t want that to stop me from sharing this video. So maybe in the near future I’ll create a more in-depth non-video guide, but for now I hope this video will suffice! ❤

Disclaimer: this video shows my current IV meds and infusion process as prescribed by my Lyme doctor, and instructed to me by my home nurses. Your experience may be completely different, as well as what you’re instructed to do, and you should always put your own medical team’s instructions above any of the dumb stuff I have to say. 😉