posted
My husband has been doing chemotherapy for colon cancer, and continuing his Lyme treatment as well.
One of his most enduring Lyme symptoms has been bumps on his skin that begin with a stinging (as in insect bite) sensation. Sometimes you can almost see them appear before your eyes. For the past year, these had been restricted to two areas: site of initial tick bite, and along spine. More recently, they've flared, and have become more diffuse again. It's very disappointing to know that whatever's causing this is still lying in wait.
The treatments that have seemed to have worked best on the stingers are are Rifampin, Cat's Claw, and Malarone.
He's currently on Malarone with zith, Nystatin, Tindamax, and some of the Buhner herbs. However, it feels like he's starting to plateau, so it's time for a change.
The next abx on his list to try is Bactrim. Has anyone had success with Bactrim for this kind of symptom? Should we be thinking of revisiting Rifampin?
Any and all ideas welcome! Many thanks, Aviva
Posts: 532 | From southeast US | Registered: Oct 2005
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charlie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25
posted
Bactrim worked great for me and some others for just about everything.....but for some it did almost nothing.
You just have to experiment and see what works.
Also for those bumps we sometimes call by the ultrascientific term 'owies' I've had relief using ultram (with or without neurontin) and also questran.
tinidazole made them worse if anything.
Charlie
Posts: 2804 | From Texas | Registered: Oct 2000
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Thanks for your reply. From your response, and some searching of old threads, I'm feeling encouraged about the prospect of Bactrim (although I know everyone responds differently).
Were the 'owies' among the symptoms that the Bactrim hit for you? (Hey, 'stingers' isn't exactly a scientific term either!!). And I haven't heard of Ultram before...
More questions: I'm also wondering if the stingers are babs or bart. They were helped by Rifampin, which I thought is for bart, but also by Malarone, which is supposed to go after the babs. Ideas,anyone???
I also need to clarify if LLMD was suggesting the Bactrim alone, or adding the Bactrim to the Malarone and Zith. Sounds like Bactrim plus Art is one possibility; also sounds like some folks have gotten good results from the Bactrim-Malarone-Zith-cyst buster combo.
Aviva
Posts: 532 | From southeast US | Registered: Oct 2005
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charlie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25
posted
My non professional guess would be babs and I'd favor a bactrim/art combo along with either zith or biaxin.
Charlie
Posts: 2804 | From Texas | Registered: Oct 2000
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I will ask LLMD about art, too. We have some, but have been hesitant to add in anything that would cause big-time herxing (as I hear art does) while husband is going through chemo. Also, the oncologist has to okay it, and as wonderful as he is, he's predictably not very familiar with alternative medicine. However, we're nearing the end of the cycle, so it's time to look ahead.
Gabrielle,
There is no such thing as a stupid idea when brainstorming about this utterly perplexing stuff!
I'd never thought of it being viral in origin, but that's definitely something to throw out to LLMD next time we talk. I'll do some more digging on viruses and the spine. Thanks for opening up another idea!
Aviva
Posts: 532 | From southeast US | Registered: Oct 2005
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