posted
I felt much better babesia-wise on Malarone after a few days, but had to stop after a week because I had terrible gi symptoms (stomach burning, diarrhea, nausea).
My doctor wants me to try Mepron, but I have no insurance so 21 days' worth is over $1000. Even if I ordered from Canada, it's about $650.
Is there a cheaper alternative that works as well as these two?
The doc also has me taking 500 azith and pulsing artemisinin 5 days on, 5 days off.
Thanks in advance :-)
Posts: 330 | From TN | Registered: Sep 2011
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
My doc got rid of my babs by giving me Bactrim DS with pulsed artemisinin. It worked for me.
He prefers Mepron/zith, but I couldn't take it.
He said Bactrim will do the trick but it takes twice as long.
So, you can give it a try. With a very tough case of babs, it may not work. Some are taking Mepron/zith and Bactrim DS plus art. Some cases are just not being cured at all.
No harm in trying the Bactrim. Hope it works for you.
Some docs don't know Bactrim will kill babs, so here is a website for you:
TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Dr. H. gave a talk on babesiosis at the 2011 Lyme Conference in Toronto. I believe he is considered an expert on that particular disease.
Here are the notes I took from the talk. Will give you lots more info.
2011 ILADS Conference, Toronto, Canada
Lyme & Babesiosis: Updates on Treatment & Diagnosis 2011
Dr. H 10/28/11
He has 20 years of experience treating lyme; >12,000 chronic patients He was in France and China discussing babesiosis. Talked with Chinese CDC regarding parasites
Some of his patients get better with glutathione alone. It opens up the detox pathways (is an anti-oxidant)
Borrelia miyamotoi is showing up in ticks in Hyde Park, NY. This strain is in Japan. We can�t test for it.
There is a new ehrlichia species also found.
Indicators of bad outcome with babesiosis:
male sex, extremely high WBC
We see blood transfusion babesiosis in California. WA-1 is now in the Northeast U.S.. It is found along the entire eastern seaboard. It is difficult to get a positive test for it. LabCorp has a WA-1 test. The FISH through Igenex is also very useful.
He treats with clindamycin with azithromycin, also Mepron, then malarone. There is lots of Mepron resistance. So, he adds Septra (Bactrim). This works well. Also, he uses much higher doses of Mepron due to the Mepron resistance.
He uses coartem (which has Artemisinin in it) Dosage is 4 twice per day. Take at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.; then switch to 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. It can be pulsed once per month.
You can�t combine this with any med that affects the QT interval.
Babs is spreading world-wide. Babs also suppresses the immune system (based on a study of b. microti)
Artemisinin is not as effective now as it was in the past. Use art when coartem doesn�t cure the person. He no longer uses ketek.
Beta blockers (blood pressure medicines) control these types of parasites. So, use them as an antagonist. We need a study on this. Heparin may also inhibit babs. Need a large study on this.
Curcumin (a herb)--he is now using it to treat babs. Published studies show it is useful for malaria.
Cryptolepis has been used in Africa for malaria. There is a published study in Ghana. It had a 93% cure rate (a 50% cure rate in 3 days; 90% cure rate in 7 days) You can get it at: www.woodlandessence.com
If adrenal function is low (patient has a low cortisol), they will not respond to antibiotics.
He told of a patient with intractable babs. They were treated for babs for 5 years and were not cured. Then, he gave them 1 teaspoon of cryptolepis 3 times per day with Byron White herbs. This is making the patient feel well. He hasn�t found any side effects with the cryptolepis. It may not be curative. It lowers the parasite load and strengthens the patient�s immune system.
Brucellosis also causes night sweats, so check for this in a patient with night sweats.
Use malarone for the patient who can�t clear babs. Low dose to maintain them.
We need new treatment options for babs.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
Lariam is another option if you have no psych issues.
Hubby's most effective combo was doxy, flagyl, high dose malarone, high dose lariam plus sida acuta and ivermecitin (3 days per week) and artemisinin or artemix (3 days per week). Unfortunately this did not get rid of babs but it did lower the load.
Not sure what his new combo will be -- trying to get fevers under control first before starting back on aggressive treatment.
Bea Seibert
P.S. Quinine (qualaquin is the drug name) and clindamycin was also pretty effective. But it is very hard to take high dose clindamycin orally plus quinine does have potential hearing side effects.
Bactrim and alinia is another possible combo, but alinia is also expensive.
Some docs also add diflucan to other combos, but that didn't seem to do anything for hubby. Daraprim is another old med that might help a little used in a combo treatment.
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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