posted
I am on 3 weeks of invanz & zithro and the last week of the month I am doing flagyl... I am suppose to do this treatment for six months or so.
I never did a blood test for babs, but I have all the symptoms.
I feel lately my babs symptoms are worst. I am wondering if the therapy I am on gets babesia as well as lyme.
-------------------- Ema Posts: 394 | From Southern California | Registered: Jun 2010
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
No, this is not babs treatment.
From page 24 of Burrascano:
"the current regimen of choice for Babesiosis is the combination of atovaquone (Mepron, Malarone), 750 mg bid, plus an erythromycin-type drug, such as azithromycin (Zithromax), clarithromycin (Biaxin), or telithromycin (Ketek) in standard doses."
People also use Bactrim DS. Artemesinin is also added to nearly all babs treatment.
So, you can see you are not on babs treatment.
I don't think it is wise to just treat lyme disease for 6 months. Sophisticated lyme doctors know how to treat lyme and babs simultaneously. I suggest you find such a doctor.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
Flagyl does have some effect on babesia. But by itself it is not enough. The doc is only treating you for lyme with your current meds.
Some docs still believe that treating for lyme only will get a person well or other docs believe that lyme must be treated first. I personally think it does not matter in what order the infections are treated, but think it is best to treat the infection with the worst symtoms the most aggressively. I also think it works better to treat all the known infections at the same time if possible.
If you have lots of babesia symptoms, then I think waiting 6 months to treat babesia is not a good idea. A month or two is probably ok until you get the lyme infectious load down.
Unfortunately newbies do not know what questions they should be asking a doc in the beginning of treatment to find out the docs treatment philosophy. At least your doc does seem to believe in cyst busters.
To be honest except for the Dr B I don't think any of the many LLMD's hubby saw over the years ever gave him a 6 month plan. But Dr B's plan didn't happen because hubby had what at the time we thought was an allergic reaction to mepron.
It always seemed like just about every appointment with every other doc was a new game plan. I do think docs need to communicate long range goals and most of them do not do a very good job of that. But there are so many variables it is hard to put together a plan.
The basic question you should be asking is when if any tests or treatment will be done for babesia or bartonella or any of the other coinfections you think you might have. If the doc does not believe in treating coinfections you need to find that out ASAP. Also need to know if they treat coinfections based on clinical diagnosis or if they will treat only if you have positive tests.
Bea Seibert
Posts: 7306 | From Martinsville,VA,USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
My doctor told me that this treatment I am on will get all the coinfections. She does treat co infections based on clinical diagnosis and not positive test results.
I guess I just need to tell her that I am having more babesia symptoms and maybe she'll add another medication for it to be treated at the same time as lyme.
I have too much shortness of breath. I just feel like I can't breath for a long time.
-------------------- Ema Posts: 394 | From Southern California | Registered: Jun 2010
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Yes, you need to request more meds! She just needs to add Mepron or malarone or both. Mepron especially is very expensive.
Then, if you also pulsed artemesinin, you would be on full babs treatment.
I don't see how she can claim she is treating you for babs or bart. For bart, you want Levaquin or a similar med. Here is Burrascano on bartonella treatment:
"The drug of choice to treat BLO [bartonella-like organism] is levofloxacin. Levofloxacin is usually never used for Lyme or Babesia, so many patients who have tick-borne diseases, and who have been treated for them but remain ill, may in fact be infected with BLO. Treatment consist of 500 mg daily (may be adjusted based on body weight) for at least one month. Treat for three months or longer in the more ill patient. It has been suggested that levofloxacin may be more effective in treating this infection if a proton pump inhibitor is added in standard doses.
Alternatives to levofloxacin include rifampin, gentamicin and possibly streptomycin. A very recent article suggests that prior use of quinine-like drugs including atovaquone (Mepron, Malarone) may render Levaquin less effective. Therefore, in a co-infected patient, treat the BLO before you address Babesia species." (pages 24-25)
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