posted
I'm going to get the bartonella species panel from Clongen (already have a positive smear for bart, but want to find out which specific species I have by doing the species panel then hunting for individual species) and Clongen told me being on antibiotics would skew the results.
I'm worried now. My bartonella causes very severe cardiac symptoms, which are barely being held in check by continuous antibiotics, and I relapse easily already. I don't really want to stop the drugs.
Any advice from anyone on this topic?
Posts: 929 | From Massachusetts | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
This is my personal opinion -- if you are still symptomatic while undergoing babs treatment then you still have an active infection.
When hubby did his first bloodslide from Fry in March, 2007 he had already been on low-dose quinine and clindamycin for a month. His symptoms of tremors, myoclonus and muscle rigors had greatly improved. His slide showed 8 or 10 ring forms of babesia.
He continued treatment for 3 more months on the quinine and clindamycin. Then did a couple of rounds of primaquine and chloroquine per the Liz 28 protocol. Also did 6 weeks of IV primaxin.
Retested with another Fry slide in August, 2007. Babesia was negative on the 2nd slide.
Both slides were positive for what Fry was calling Bartonella or mycoplasma at that time.
I think it would depend on how severe your babesia infection is and also possibly on how long you have been treating it.
Just realized I misread your question -- you were asking about bart and not babs!!!
Anyway, if your bloodslide is from Fry unfortunately I don't think you can say if you actually have bart or the mystery bug.
Which meds are you on?
Hubby did not stop any of his antibiotics before either the Fry or Clongen blood smears.
LLMD has hubby's prelimary blood smear results from Clongen -- did not get faxed to us today. Hope to get that fax tomorrow. Maybe there will be something in that report that can help you decide. Hubby's mycoplasma PCR is also complete and should be in the fax when it comes.
If there is anyway you could come up with the extra $150 to also do a bloodsmear with Clongen then you would in effect be testing for both Bart and the mystery bug at the same time.
P.S. I looked up your bloodslide that you posted before and it didn't really look like hubby's. His "fleas" as he calls them looked like the ones on the Fry website except he had a worse infection than on those examples.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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The conclusion I came to is if the antibiotic is not really that effective -- sounds like this is your situation -- then it would not make a significant difference to the test results.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Thanks Bea! This is very helpful information.
Just to be clear on what you're saying through the haze in my brain:
- You think I should stay on my antibiotics and, if I'm still symptomatic (which I am) it will show up anyway (I was on them when I had my Fry smear)
- You think I should do both the bartonella species panel AND the blood smear
I actually do think I have bart, possibly b. elizabethae since I saw a slide of it that looked exactly like my Fry slide and since I'm pretty sure I got bart now from a dog bite. I can't find a slide of b. vinsonii, which is another dog strain I think I might have, but it could be that one too, or another one. BUT I would not be a bit surprised if I also had the mystery bug.
After reading that link you just enclosed, I am feeling like being on the antibiotics will skew the test. BUT I don't really feel that feel safe stopping Rifampin, since bartonella can build resistance to it so quickly and I cannot take flouroquinolones due to tendon issues.
Posts: 929 | From Massachusetts | Registered: Oct 2007
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