Is this possible? I tested negative for babesia but the air hunger makes me think that I do have it. However, I have never experienced the night sweats so many others with it have. I know noone knows for sure but what are the chances I have it anyway?
Posted by TerryK (Member # 8552) on :
Yes, it is possible. I wasn't able to sweat until babs treatment. I've read of others who have had babs but didn't have the night sweats.
Air hunger for me is related to babs AND acetylcholine. I only know this because I use muscle testing and found that things that increase my acetylcholine help a great deal to alleviate the air hunger.
Later, I read the article at the link below that explains that the borrelia toxins affect acetylcholine.
I'm cutting and pasting just a fraction of the article:
http://www.townsendletter.com/FebMar2006/lyme0206.htm Dietary Supplements in Lyme Disease One of the known actions of the Lyme spirochete toxin is to diminish the release and availability of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, a simple organic compound (see above for chemical structure).
This substance is biosynthesized by the body as required in nerve activation and transmission.
Supplementation by the precursors of acetylcholine synthesis would be of value to Lyme patients since they have a deficiency of this substance. (See Listing 1.)
Listing 1: Dietary Supplements Increasing Acetylcholine Synthesis Improving Neurologic Function
If the inhibition of acetylcholine release were total, Lyme patients and those suffering from food poisoning would not be able to move; they would be completely paralyzed.
Since the blockage is only partial, any increase in the amount of available neurotransmitter would benefit anyone experiencing neurotransmitter blockage. For this reason, dietary supplements increasing the amount of available acetylcholine have been shown to benefit Lyme patients.
I'm not sure why it causes air hunger but there is some info related to anxiety and air hunger symptoms that show a relationship to acetylcholine. I think acetylcholine does control breathing to some degree.
I have no idea if increasing acetylcholine will help you and it's hard to say if you have babs or not but many lyme patients do even with negative tests.
Terry I'm not a doctor
Posted by trish4 (Member # 14156) on :
Terry,, thank you for all the helpful information Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
Hi Trish,
I have babesia in addition to Lyme.
I haven't sweated much for many years. While treated for babesia I began to have sweats just on my scalp, and sometimes my scalp and trunk. I think I'm over it because I no longer sweat as a reaction to the babs medicine.
I've never experienced air hunger.
We're all different.
Posted by Michelle M (Member # 7200) on :
I did not have the "typical" signs of babesia, meaning I never had sweats and I never had air hunger.
In fact, I was so sure I didn't have babesia that I thought I would be clever and frugal and not bother testing for it. (This was NOT my LLMD's advice, by the way.)
Hah! Boy, was I smart, or what!!!
NOT!!
After treating aggressively for a year and not getting better, I decided to test for it.
I tested positive for babesia WA-1.
So, it turned out that my shrieking headaches were mainly due to babesia WA-1, since lyme treatment failed to eradicate them, but babesia treatment helped (though initially I thought it would kill me).
Moral of the story: Do NOT rely on the "classic symptoms" to decide whether you have a co-infection. Your presentation can be completely atypical!
Good luck!
Michelle
Posted by psano2 (Member # 11711) on :
I didn't test positive for Babs, and didn't have the classic night sweats, but I WOULD get uncomfortably hot. Due to symptoms that just weren't responding to Bb and Bart meds, we started treating for Babs, and I'm definitely getting better.
Posted by Bugg (Member # 8095) on :
I, too, did not fit the "classic babs" list as I didn't have night sweats or air hunger or headaches or even fevers...Therefore, I thought I didn't have babs...Well, when I wasn't getting better, my LLMD decided to treat me for babs with mepron,zith, and art...I immediately started herxing and herxed the ENTIRE TIME....I've noticed that some of us who have treated for lyme but still have very "heavy legs" (meaning it's very hard to walk up stairs/feel like your legs have weights on them) and toothache pains in the legs have untreated/undertreated babs....When I started herxing on the babs meds, I would get these mild night sweats, extreme tightening of muscles along the spine and in my neck, increase in toothache pain in the legs, increase in fatigue...Not fun!!!...After four months of babs treatment, I've definitely noticed improvement in my fatigue, pain, and stamina....especially in my legs...Over Easter, I was able to swim, grocery shop, and cook dinner for my entire family in ONE DAY...Before babs treatment, just one of those activities would have knocked me out....(I'm waiting on all my bloodwork to see if I need more babs treatment or something else)....I'm still not back to normal but I definitely know the babs treatment has helped....
Posted by Lymen (Member # 6882) on :
I never had hot flashes, air hunger, night sweats and was negative to Babs (I had 3 negative blood smears tested in 3 different labs including Fry Lab) but still am treated for Babs and improving.
The road was somehow bumpy for the first two weeks of my treatment but currently I am definitely better than 3 weeks ago. Also I have noticed dark urine (coffee color) a few times. As far as I remember that is what is happening to some people when they treat Babesia.
Symptoms that seems to be going away are: fatigue, confusion, headaches, puncture pains in skin muscles and bones, heaviness of legs, nausea, constipation, carpal tunnel.
I think that the necessity of presence of night sweats and air hunger symptoms in Babesia is a harmful myth.
_________
Since March 6th: Mepron 4 tsp/day Zithromax 750 mg/day Bactrim DS 3 tablets/day Artemisinin 300 mg/day
Posted by jamescase20 (Member # 14124) on :
Babs or lyme drove my temp down to as low as 95.9 in the am. I know I have adrenal insuf.(tested for that) Anyway, I started art, and nothing happened. I did have massive air hunger in acute stage. Well, after getting on low dose cortef and thyroid T3 T4, I started to sweat. I think it maybe that my low adnreal prevented me from fighting babs.
Posted by trish4 (Member # 14156) on :
Thanks everyone, i wasn't sure if the night sweats were a sure indicator of babs or not. I guess not. I just got tested for it a couple weeks ago and will know the results soon. How effective is the babesia test. Is it as ineffective as Lyme? My Dr. is treating me with enula and zith for it anyways, but not aggressively until the results come in.
Posted by Chia Pet (Member # 12399) on :
I've had Babs for 20 years or more- specifically Babesia Duncani, tested positive for many years ago. I never had sweats before treatement and even during treatment. I've been told I have a mild form of it. I get the sweats now from relapse, but not drenching ones. I never can tell if it is from Bartonella or babs.
Posted by sweet pea (Member # 6495) on :
I tested positive for babesia and never had the sweats, day or night. One symptom I had that I think was babesia was facial flushing, that went away with treatment.
Posted by CherylSue (Member # 13077) on :
Trish4,
Your LLMD treats Babs with zith and Enula. That's very interesting because my doc give me zith for the L form of Lyme, but even at 1/4 tablet made me so ill.
I started with 5 drops of Enula today. It made me a bit sleepy. How is your LLMD dosing the zith? I've heard reports on the board to start with 30 drops. The label on the bottle says start with 1 drop twice daily. How are you taking it? Any problems or reactions to it?
Thanks for you input.
CherylSue
Posted by trish4 (Member # 14156) on :
Hey Cheryl...yeah I think the zith is mainly for Lyme but helps with babs too. Thats what I meant Yeah, the bottle does say start with 1 but my LLMD said to just start 30 drops 2x daily right off the bat. There were no side effects that I noticed, as I am now in one big herx but its from ALL the medicine Im on, not just the enula.
Posted by trish4 (Member # 14156) on :
Soooo, I just got my results back for babesia (second test) and it is POSITIVE Dont know if I should be happy or sad about it, but either way Im starting Mepron tomorrow. Hopefully it'll help.
And now I know the answer to my question. Not everyone with Babesia has night sweats.
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Dont know if I should be happy or sad about it, but either way Im starting Mepron tomorrow. Hopefully it'll help.