After going to J. Clinic, tested again through Igenex and had positive test for babesia, which has turned out to be quite a problem.
My doctor who believes in Bowen said they are not good at coinfections, but excellent for lyme.
Good luck
Lymelady
He had a positive PCR for Babesia from MDL.
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Hey KH,
I had wondered how you & your kids were doing.
You've been at this much longer than me, but for what it's worth here's what I've learned about Babesia.
(Please, if I say anything you already know, please disregard the repeated info.)
I don't know if you have a silent Babesia infection or you have definite overt symptoms, but some LLMDs will treat without a positive test.
SORRY ---- you probably already know all this, but for new readers just want to say if you try getting a positive PCR lab test for Babs, well it's like finding a needle in a haystack
(ABX will also adversely affect a PCR test.)
My Bowen was negative for Babesia.
Dr. H. decided to treat me based on symptoms & said we've spent enought money on testing------so let's treat.
He treated me last year with 2 rounds of Mepron/Zith & others have already told me I'll relapse.
I had weird, just of the blue, shortness of breath & petechiae on my upper body (i.e. those red pin point dots).
Here's what I try to tell people when they're wondering about Babesia:
The following text is taken from the link listed below: Lyme Borrelia Out-Reach Founcation, Inc.:
"Dr. B. talked quite a bit about piroplasms. There are 13, and the only one that has a name is babesiosis.
Interestingly, at least 90% of his chronic Lyme patients have tested positive for babesiosis.
In fact, he said they are now questioning anyone who does NOT test positive, still being suspicous that they may have it!!!
It commonly causes brain dysfunction and headaches, so he said to watchout for the arthritic symptoms clearing (lyme), but the other symptoms persisting.
Suspect babesia! Three things he pointed out about babesiosis.
1. much more common than originally thought
2. high fever is rare
3. becomes chronic when lyme is chronic
An interesting thing is that babesia hangs out in spinal fluid, which is odd considering that they are blood parasites!"
Found at: http://www.angelfire.com/ny/lymedisease/fdn.html
This is all so interesting to me. One person on the board said it took 8 rounds of Mepron/Zith to get rid of the depression.
I'm sure others more experienced will visit & have better advice for you.
Hope this helps in the meanwhile.
I'm on minocycline for my brain & am still wondering about Bartonella. My Lab corp test was negative for Bart. I cannot believe how much die-off I'm getting after being on 20+ months of ABX.
Someone recently said on Lymenet, "If the specific disease has not been targeted yet, then it will continue to cause problems.
It's so hard putting it all together. Hope you can find some good answers.
Best Wishes,
Jan
I think you may have me mixed up with KJ from Houston also.
I do think I have babesia, although I'm not sure what I can do to get rid of it for good. I was on 6 rounds of mepron/zith and for the last 6 weeks of treatment also added in artemisin. Maybe I should go back on and increase the dose of artemisin.
At last visit with Dr. H in September, he told us that babesia settles in the lower back, which sounds very similar to what your doctor says. I got this from my husband so it does not just reside in the RBCs.
What doctor are you seeing? I need to find a new one soon.
KH