I am to start this week: I've searched but found only a few people posted their actual experiences. Anyone? Thanks!
Posted by opus2828 (Member # 15407) on :
From my experience, it worked but you need to follow it up with more babesia therapy, like malarone or mepron.
I didn't and relapsed in two weeks time.
It was not an easy drug to take - I took 2 pills twice a day for 7 days.
Just be aware that it does seem to last in the body for another 4 or 5 days after you stop taking it.
I did herx on it - merry go around feelings, air hunger, chest tightness, heart palps and all - but that went away after stopping it.
Good luck.
Posted by joysie (Member # 11063) on :
Thanks Opus: Anyone else?
Posted by RC1 (Member # 31923) on :
I did it before and I thought it was great. I had no side effects. I did relapse and I am starting it again with Malarone to follow. Best to you. R
Posted by seekhelp (Member # 15067) on :
Had ALL kinds of side effects..no sustainable improvements.
Posted by joysie (Member # 11063) on :
Seek, do you mind telling me about your side effects?
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
I went through three rounds of it with Mepron and Zith between rounds after a few days break before going in to each.
Each time, I had a completely different reaction. The first was the hardest for me and it was your usual Babesia symptoms but you do push through it when you feel you might be on the path to recovery.
Babesia can be pretty persistent, so don't be too surprised if you need to do it more than once, but since no two people have the exact same strains or the same reactions to medications, you will probably find your experience to be pretty unique to your own case.
If you haven't tried this course yet and your LLMD is prescribing it, I would certainly give it a try. Good luck and let us know how it goes for you.
Cathy
Posted by joysie (Member # 11063) on :
Thanks everyone, I welcome all responses!
Posted by Amanda (Member # 14107) on :
I take it with larium. I have done about 15 rounds of it ( 4 pills 2 x a day for 3 days on, 11 days off)
I find that it works well, but about 7 days after I stop the last dose, parasites start causing problems again.
But everyone is so different. I have a very nasty, drug resistant strain. Maybe it will work for you!
Posted by seekhelp (Member # 15067) on :
Joysie, severe anxiety, heart pounding, blood pressure through the roof, fatigue were the main ones. It was like someone shot adrenaline into my veins. Posted by joysie (Member # 11063) on :
Yuck. My doctor is recommending Coartem because I can't take Mepron and did a year of malarone.
My only real symptoms are sweats that may or may not be hot flashes. I have been treating bart for a year and am not excited about stirring something up.
Posted by ktkdommer (Member # 29020) on :
My son has taken coartem for 4 months. He is 16. At first her herxed and missed school. Next month I timed the herx better over the weekend. Now he doesn't miss school, but doesn't feel so good on day 3 and the first day off off it. He only does 4 pills a day for 3 days. He also takes artemesia 10 days a month. His ECP test is down to 19 from 94, so something is working.
My ECP is 12 so maybe a day when I am done with babesia treatment?
My oldest is taking malarone and artemesia. His ECP should be back from the lab Friday. I am praying he is normal!
Posted by joysie (Member # 11063) on :
Kari Thanks for your response. I should know this but..what is an ECP? Thanks!
Posted by blinkie (Member # 14470) on :
joysie-what dose of malarone did you take for one year? I'm finding if I increase my dose, my sweats go away.
Yes, what is ECP?
Posted by seekhelp (Member # 15067) on :
Eosinophilic Cationic Protein
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Hubby did 8 rounds of coartem in the fall of 2010. He herxed a little at first, but less with each round. At that time his docs thought his babesia was gone -- no sweats and no obvious babesia symptoms. So he was not doing anything else for babs at the time.
Then he had his first test for babesia duncani (WA-1) and had an extremely high titer. Did his first and only ECP test and that came in at 69.4 -- used low dose malarone as a challenge for the test.
Has gone on to do very aggressive babesia treatment for the past 11 months and feel like we are back to square one again. Running out of meds and combos to try.
I would not be scared to try coartem, but depending on what other babs treatment you have had it might not do much of anything. Hubby had already done some quinine and clindamycin, artemesinin, bactrim, alinia and primaquine and chloroquine and daraprim and cryptolepis in the years before trying the coartem.
Bea Seibert
Posted by blinkie (Member # 14470) on :
I've never heard of this ECP Test. So, is it known to be high with babesia infection?
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Blinkie,
Here is a link to a thread I posted previously regarding the ECP test.
Bea Seibert
Posted by jjbuckster (Member # 28562) on :
I've take three rounds of Coartem, taking three pills a day for three days. I alternate weeks with Tindamax. The coartem seems to clearing up some of my brain fog and giving me a little more energy but it has also caused some of the worst herxing pain that I've experienced in a year. But also Tindamax tends to kick my butt so the combination is potent. The only consolation is the all the pain must mean the combination is getting at the bugs.
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