posted
My LLMD thinks I have babesia, there's been no clear confirmation from the Igenix western blot tests for either microti or duncani. I have been on cefdinir, azithromycin, and acyclovir for three months now. I had a hard time tolerating the artemisinin. Now I have the malarone and I'm terrified of it - I know I need to treat it - but I'm scared of the herxing. The air hunger and costochondritis pain I get can be unbearable, I don't know how I'm going to be able to handle it if it gets worse through the herxing. I have a lot of tools for herxing - infrared sauna, triliposomal glutathione, castor oil packs, coffee enemas, etc. But I simply don't have enough courage to get started. The other herxing stuff - pain, fatigue, even dizziness I can handle but the air hunger I just can't, and I've not read anything on the forums on how to relieve it. I live alone and I can't cope with this awful illness anymore. Please help me - give me the strength to begin my treatment for babesia, so I can finally start the process of putting this dreadful disease behind me and get on with my life. Thank you, blessings all!
Posts: 7 | From East Bay, CA | Registered: Oct 2013
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Lymedin2010
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 34322
posted
Sorry to hear your worries. I wish there was an easy answer.
Personally, I did not really herx with malarone or mepron & it was like taking nothing. At one point I tried to squeeze the bottle of mepron when I was getting down to the very end.
I think I ended taking 2.5x to 3x the normal dosage & I was down for the count and I had a herx. It only lasted 4-6 hours & then I was back to the NORMAL crappy self.
You can try lemon juice water sipped through a straw or alkaseltzer gold plus to help with the herxes.
Posts: 2087 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2011
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TNT
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 42349
posted
A friend of mine who has posted once or twice here actually has gotten much better taking the malarone. It was a rough first 3 months, but they persevered and it took them to a new level.
They did have a positive Igenex test, though. But the testing is not fullproof. Some people test negative more than once until they test positive-usually after some treatment.
I would start low and slow-and work up on the dosage- that's what my friend did. I was on the malarone as well and did fine on it the first round. But my case is too complicated to get into.
Posts: 1308 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Oct 2013
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desertwind
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25256
posted
Start very very slow and remember that you are in the drivers seat and can stop the malarone anytime should things get too tough.
For me Malarone was easier to tolerate then Mepron.
Posts: 1671 | From Tick Infested New Jersey | Registered: Apr 2010
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posted
Everyone is different -- hubby actually just felt better on malarone -- as long as he was taking enough other babesia meds with it. He felt noticeably better on 6 pills daily instead of 4 pills dialy.
Here is a link to the notes I took at the Buhner conference last summer. He suggests the herbal tincture cryptolepis for air hunger.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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mojo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9309
posted
I agree with going slow. It took me months to get to my full dose of Artemisinin (5 pills x 2) 5 days on 2 days off. I herxed hard.
When I first got my Malarone a couple months ago I worked my way up to the full dose in two weeks and a week after that I had the worst herx in years! So I started over and went very very slow.
I did 1 pill for a week. then 1 x 2 for two weeks and basically added only one pill per day every 10 to 14 days. I still herxed but it was tolerable.
My infrared sauna works very well for me, too.
Posts: 1761 | From USA | Registered: May 2006
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