Been in treatment for lyme for over a year, completely missed that I had Bartonella which Clarithromycin had knocked back without me realising, when i switched antibiotics for Lyme i thought i was herxing but actually the Bart ran riot!
Just wondering if anybody has had a positive experience with Factive for Bartonella and Lyme, I am fully aware of the risks of this class of antibiotics so I only want to be on it if it's effective for both infections, I have already started it and presumably herxing, mainly with bartonella symptoms, feet pain, muscle aches mainly.
I didn't take Factive but Cipro for 6 weeks. I had a lot of the same herx symptoms that you are experiencing. I also experienced a wondrous clearing of cognitive issues and my mood fluctuations and crazy rages were very much improved.
I wish it was all positive, but I had to stop due to developing tendonitis in my feet and achilles. I'm probably 5 months out of the Cipro, going into my 4th month of PT for the achilles tendons.
I hit the magnesium heavily for a couple months before, during, and after the cipro. Oral, topical oil, and 1-2 epsom bath soaks a day. Also iodine supplementation, and some other supps to help connective tissues and prevent inflammatory cytokines... boswellia, glucosamine, tumeric, and buhner herbs.
I feel the cipro really knocked down my bart and mycoplasma, and I became symptomatic again after discontinuing the cipro. Later I added rifampin to my abx combo and my symptoms really started clearing. With the rifampin I experience very little herxing.
I don't know if the rifampin would have been so easy or effective for me had I not been on the cipro beforehand.
I hope it works out for you, it does for a lot of people, and it's the worst for others.
Posts: 474 | From US | Registered: May 2014
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Thanks for your experience! How did you know you had tendonitis? I have heel pain, shin pain and muscle pain in the lower leg, I think it's all a herx but it's quite difficult to distinguish what pain is what because there is so much around the achilles tendon area, so I really need to specifically know what I'm looking out for?
I took cipro for 10 days when I had bart and lyme but didn't know, we were treating a suspected prostate infection, I stopped early because I thought I was having a drug reaction, I now know it was a massive herx, I then took trimethroprim and felt awful again
Posts: 4 | From Somerset | Registered: Jan 2016
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Also, did you combine the rifampin with anything? I need to attack lyme and Bart at the same time! I can't take doxy or mino, clarithromycin hurts my stomach too, so I'm a bit limited!
Posts: 4 | From Somerset | Registered: Jan 2016
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Die off pain would come and go, quite fiercely. I had a lot of foot pain, along with burning and stinging sensations. The pain would often travel, and was not inflammatory.
My first clue to tendonitis started at the arch of my foot, PTTD. It swelled and was quite obvious. Around the same time I got little nagging aches at the base of my calves and down through my heel. That pain wasn't always constant at first, so it was very easy to question it.
I was hypervigilant of it, and it didn't have the same stabbing, intermittent pattern that all the other weird pains had. I had some brutal wrist tendonitis in the past and recognized the lingering feeling in my achilles and surrounding area. I had never had any type of pain in my achilles in my whole life, so I stopped the med.
The PTTD seems better, but my achilles tendons are still very tender and often painful. They slowly continued to worsen after discontinuing the cipro. I worry that I am still in danger of a rupture by the way it feels when I do anything at all.
I've also had some gut issues and neuro stuff since the cipro, but can't say if it's from the bart or something else.
Rifampin should always be used in combination with other abx to prevent resistance. In addition to the rifampin I take four other abx plus plaquenil, numerous herbs and supplements, and complementary therapies.
I found chewable DGL tablets to be very soothing for stomach irritation.
[ 01-07-2016, 08:09 PM: Message edited by: gz ]
Posts: 474 | From US | Registered: May 2014
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Judie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
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posted
All I have to say is don't mistake an adverse drug reaction for a herx.
If you have ANY neuropathy, I'd avoid the fluoroquinolones. They don't cure bart anyway.
Bart mutates and then you have that mess to deal with. See the first thread.
Topic: 2013 FDA Warning about Fluoroquinolone antibiotics causing PERMANENT damage
posted
I've got the tendon pain, it's getting worse even off the antibiotics, don't take these drugs, I'm a fool for doing so!
Posts: 4 | From Somerset | Registered: Jan 2016
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Judie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 38323
posted
TimmyT, I'm so sorry you're going through this.
Rest your Achilles for at least a month, two is better. Baby it for another 6 months. Try not to do anything strenuous on it.
At the 2 month point after taking levaquin, I took up swimming to exercise (it was less painful than walking). It helped.
Good luck.
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