tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
I have just started Mepron after stopping my Minocycline. When reading past posts, there is a lot of talk about needing to do another abx with it, ie Zith.
I have been on Zhang Artemesia for five months and still continuing with that, but Mepron is my only prescription abx at this time. Have any others had success with Mepron alone and not in combination with other abx's?
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
Call your LLMD and get something to go with it. Zith seems to be the preferred med these days.
I'm taking Mepron 2 tsp. daily, zith 500mg daily and 200mg artemisinin also. It has helped quite a bit.
-------------------- Getting older is when we would rather not have a good time than have to get over it. - Oscar Wilde Posts: 386 | From Radnor, PA - where the ticks run free | Registered: May 2006
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beachcomber
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posted
Hi, Cathy:
I also just went from Minocylcline to Mepron. I was on Minocin for 8 months to "mop up" the last of my symptoms. It really just held me steady, until I developed Pseudotumor Cerebri.
My MD and I concurred that I still had the Babs to clean up. I did really well on my first round of Mepron & Zith. But, the Zith trashed my gut big time. So, we took it out of the mix. (I was also on IV Rocephin). I improved greatly sans a macrolide.
I stopped Mepron for a bit, as is sometimes advised, then went back on it, this time with Bicillin, no macrolide. I got to about 60% better. The Mepron kicked butt.
The studies show that Mepron failure results in 20% of "patients" (hamsters) when no macrolide is present. That means that 80% can and do benefit from Mepron alone. I feel that I did.
I have been doing pretty well for a year but not well enough. Babs is still a problem for me. So, I am back on Mepron. We are trying the Zith again, to tolerance. My MD feels it will be helpful but is not necessary in all cases. I tend to agree, based on the studies and my own initial progress with just Mepron. So, we will see how I tolerate the Zith this time. If I don't tolerate it, we will stop it and maybe add Artemisinin in.
The Macrolide/Zith combo is a guideline, not a definite. You have to see how you do without it. I know of a couple of people who never took the Zith and cleared their Babs with just Mepron.
Give it time. Ask to add it in if you feel you are not progressing. Give the Mepron at least a month, as the first 4-8 weeks is pretty tough.
posted
I've asked about pulsing the art, but my LLMD just has me take 100mg twice a day. I'm using Nutricology's artemisinin.
-------------------- Getting older is when we would rather not have a good time than have to get over it. - Oscar Wilde Posts: 386 | From Radnor, PA - where the ticks run free | Registered: May 2006
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WildCondor
Unregistered
posted
Make sure whenever you take Mepron that you eat fatty foods with it to maximize the absorption. Have your EFA's, some olive oil, some fish, some butter...whatever...some fat! Also, never take CQ10 with Mepron.
posted
What about two slices of Kraft cheese per dose of Mepron? Would that be enough?
Posts: 310 | From TN | Registered: Jan 2007
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
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posted
Not the low fat kind*)!!!
I ate a lot of mini ice cream sundaes!!! So did my daughter*)!*)!
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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beachcomber
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posted
I follow mine with a big spoonful of almond butter. It's a treat and works well. Any nut butter should work.
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kelmo
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posted
I heard almond butter inhibits absorbtion. Look back on old, old threads of Mepron Buddies.
posted
What about the regular Kraft american cheese? Two slices with each does of Mepron?
Posts: 310 | From TN | Registered: Jan 2007
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beachcomber
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posted
Hey, Jason, I think you need more Mepron! CALyme answered your question. The cheese may be alright, just not the low-fat kind.
I would go even further to say that Kraft single slices are a processed cheese product and probably not what you want in your diet while treating the bugs and associated Candida (if you are prone to that). I would suggest maybe a full fat, no sugar yogurt, if dairy is on your food list. At least you will get the benefit of probiotics. Otherwise, maybe try to find an organic real cheese that has some fat. Horizon makes a few.
I'll have to check on the almond butter. My MD said that is better than peanut butter because of the mold on peanuts. What I would really like is a big Reese's peanut butter cup!
tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
Thank you for all of the imput. I do have a call in to my LLMD regarding having me ONLY on the Mepron. Since me has me on Zhang Allicin and Artemesia, I wonder if he's going to try to tell me that my Allicin is my abx, but as I said, I do have a call on his machine in hopes he will get back to me on his feelings on this one.
In regards to the fat, even in my info from the pharmacy, they just say to be sure to take it with meals, but I had read so much here about the fat, that I have used either cheese or peaunut butter since then, but will swap to almond butter since I have that too. How much do you need to take to make it work properly?
I would guess it's best if we swap around with what we use anyway, correct? Awhile ago, I think I was reading about someone taking a spoonful of flax seed oil. Does that fit in the equation?
Again, hopefully my LLMD will go ahead and add Zith or something to this Mepron, but if he doesn't, is this time on Mepron a total waste?
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
Cathy, when I got my first prescription of Mepron it was near the doctor's office, so they are used to dispensing it. That bottle said to eat fat.
However, when I got it at my local pharmacy, they had to order it. The pharmacist had never heard of it and the bottle didn't say to eat fat.
Be careful with it ... mine yesterday was watered down! When I took it back to discuss it with them and insisted I didn't THINK it was thinner, I KNEW it was thinner (but I didn't accuse them of doing it), he took it to the back when he went to look to see if he had another bottle.
Then he came to the front and showed me how they were the same thickness ... and they were ... he took a long time in the back, I think he switched it out because it was different than the first stuff I had. The thin stuff even tasted watered down.
I didn't think stuff like that really happens!! What made it really suspicious is that they put all of it in their own bottles, but usually I get two bottles sealed from the manufacturer with a third partial bottle.
Why would anyone take the time to pour out Mepron, which is thick and hard to pour, to make it so I had the "convenience" of two bottles rather than three???? My 11 year old daughter even commented on how thin it was!
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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trueblue
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posted
I just wanted to say Almond Butter and Coconut Oil are both yummy and excellent together.
-------------------- more light, more love more truth and more innovation Posts: 3783 | From somewhere other than here | Registered: May 2005
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beachcomber
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
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posted
Do you really have 6 kids????
Mepron is thick, like yellow road paint. I get mine in individually sealed packets olr sachets - measured out in single doses. That way I don't have to worry about the consistency or the possibility of contaminating the whole batch, or taking the wrong amount when my Lyme brain isn't functioning.
Not sure if it is more expensive in packets but, my MD feels better prescribing it that way. Maybe you could ask the pharmacist about that option.
Posts: 1452 | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
Yes, I really have six kids ... been married to hubby for 22 years ... we adopted one from Russia, but had the rest together.
Oddly enough, when we first met, one day I was sick and didn't want to leave my dorm room. He came over and dragged me outside ... he thought that day that he could marry me! Taking care of me must truly be his vocation if he recognized it one day when I was ill after we first met!!
I am going to insist on getting the sealed bottles from now on for the Mepron. I've never heard of the packets, but that's a good idea. I believe I'm being switched to Malarone next month.
I had been taking if for three months before the watered down bottles were given to me, so I immediately recognized it wasn't the same. He did switch it back because this morning it was the old thick stuff. I'll be using a different pharmacy now.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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CALyme answered your question. The cheese may be alright, just not the low-fat kind.![[lick]](graemlins/facelick.gif)
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