This is topic Babs Treatment Options in forum Medical Questions at LymeNet Flash.


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Posted by Jon (Member # 9123) on :
 
With all the beautiful weather we've been having I again find myself lying around inside worrying about my health.

Anyways... for Babs... The only route I have some knowledge in is the

Mepron + (an anti-biotic)

From what i gather there is a low success rate with this combo.


So what are the other drugs i can throw in there?
What about those really toxic Malaria drugs?
Can those be pulsed in the treatment process?

And what about a herbal supplements to beat babs.

Artemisinin, garlic etc...


[spinning smile]
 
Posted by SarahLong (Member # 9614) on :
 
Hi,

Many people have excellent results with Mepron combined with one or more antibiotics. I made a great deal of improvement with Mepron/Zithromax/Clindamycin combo. I made more progress with this combination than with any other.

Artemisinin is highly effective against Babesiosis. I had very good results with it, in fact the whole course of illness began turning around when I combined it with the above combination. It is important to get a brand that contains sufficient amounts of the active ingredient to be effective. The brand I use is Allergy Research Group, I take 2 100 mg capsules twice a day, at least 1 hour away from other supplements, etc. I take it for 3 weeks on and one week off.
 
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
 
I take 1500mg of Art for 3 days with a 2 week break and then repeat....
 
Posted by Michelle M (Member # 7200) on :
 
My regimen for babesia WA1 is:

Mepron + Zith + artemisinin.

The art is two 100mg caps, three times a day, for a total of 600 mg per day.

Zith is two 250 mg pills in the morning only; Mepron is a spoonful in the morning and a spoonful at night.

I've heard and read that Art packs a big punch when added to the Mepron/Zith.

My stomach would tend to agree.

What's all this about breaks? I want some.

[toilet]

Michelle
 
Posted by suki444 (Member # 4261) on :
 
I think many people have an easier time with Babs than I and can shake it off with the correct treatment, for others it is repeat courses. I think it depends on the strain and how long you have had it (in my case 17 yrs).

My treatment with Dr b has been Mepron + macrolide - usually Biaxin in my case, + Artemesia OR Artemesinin for five months or longer until Babs symptoms subside.

You cannot take Mepron on it's own , and must always add in the Artemesia OR Artemesinin to stop parasite resistance.

I have done this combo for a yr, then a 7 month break then 6 weeks then five months. I have chronic Babesia (european strain which is virulent) and have had it such a long time. At the moment though I am off meds and have no Babs symptoms (touch wood!!!).

Everyone is different though and after each course I noticed great improvement..it is just the expense. My LLMD thinks you can get rid of Babs but you must slowly burn away at it.

hope this helps
Emma
 
Posted by Jon (Member # 9123) on :
 
Hi,I also have a European strain. I got it in France, Starzburg near Germany. What are your symptoms?

I think it was LymeToo that used something other than mepron to successfully treat her babs.
[confused]
 
Posted by trueblue (Member # 7348) on :
 
Jon,
I don't know if this helps at all, but it's slightly different. I just started treating Babs about 5 weeks ago so can't tell you how well it works.

I started Artemisinin first, and it packs a wallop on a small dose.

I've taken a week of Malarone (which has the same drug as Mepron in it and another Antimalarial the name of which escapes me right now.)

I'm starting a Macrolide ABX on Monday, I have no idea what to expect.


So far it seems to me the Artemisinin is kicking my butt more than the Malarone. A month in and I'm cycling in about 12 days.


I was started on low doses of all these meds. I haven't asked yet how it will progress in the future.



I suspect the Artemisinin is a very important part of this but have nothing to base it on. Blah, blah, blah, no medical traing, etc...
 
Posted by trueblue (Member # 7348) on :
 
Oh, I think Lymetoo, used Clindamyacin and Quinine, if memory serves...


Oh, tootoo, where are you? [Big Grin]
 
Posted by JeffM (Member # 8919) on :
 
I took mepron 2.5 tsp 2xday, biaxin 2000 mg day, ceftin 2000 mg day, and artemisinIN (not IA) for 3.5 months.

I noticed an almost immediately positive response. I was less profoundly exhausted. Instead of sleeping and feeling malaise for the first half of the day, I woke up at a regular time and had energy.

I think it was the mepron, but it could have just been a turning point in the tx of 1+ years of abx.

I couldn't take the GI side effects of mepron and stopped after 3.5 months.

I also had a series of colonics, which stirred things up and made them worse temporarily. But some of the colonics were torture because the mepron was screwing up my GI tract so badly.

Like I said in a previous post, I also learned mepron can cause hyponatremia. I drank gatorade and it helped.

I would say I don't have babs symptoms right now. The shaking chills are gone.

But people here say relapse is common.

go figure
 
Posted by suki444 (Member # 4261) on :
 
Hi Jon

I also have Bartonella, Lyme and maybe Erlichia so singling out Babesia symptoms is hard...Bart and Babs overlap so much, but here goes!

My Babs symptoms are- headaches, air hunger, heart palps (after eating sometimes), nausea, feeling of being 'punched' in the gut after eating thus anorexia,night sweats, low grade temp increases, sense of imbalance, dark urine occasionally.

Emma
 
Posted by liz28 (Member # 4946) on :
 
I used a combination of chloroquine and primaquine. Before using this treatment, I was on plaquenil for two years, and found it useless, and mepron + ketek + artemisinin for over a year.

Mepron was able to suppress the babesia symptoms temporarily, and at one point, I thought I was in complete remission, and started gym training again. Then I relapsed with a much more drug-resistant generation of babesia, and lost several more months.

I started out taking 15mg base of primaquine on a 4-day-on, 2-day-off pulse. I got a G6PD deficiency test from a travel doctor before starting primaquine, and went through a harsh two-week herx at first.

After two months, I cut back to 30mg base of primaquine per week, and took three courses of chloroquine. The dosage for chloroquine was as follows:

Day 1 300mg twice per day
Day 2 300mg once per day
Day 3 300mg once per day

You need to give yourself a break of at least one week between chloroquine courses, because it has a low overdose threshold and builds up quickly in your system. It is usually taken once a week in tropical areas to keep from catching malaria--although in places where people take it all the time, malaria has of course built up considerable resistance. It's still new to the United States, however.

Most Lyme patients seem to believe that most bacteria act like Lyme does, and that they will require months and months of treatment in order to be cured. But babesia is much more like malaria than Lyme, and malaria drugs have to work in two ways: they must clear the active form of malaria from your bloodstream immediately, so you don't die en route to a hospital, and they must remove any drug-resistant dormant bacteria. Malaria is notorious for going into dormancy and then relapsing years after you think you are cured.

When I took primaquine, I had severe side effects the first month, and also experienced a Lyme relapse for another month. Then primaquine ceased to have any effect.

When I started on chloroquine, I was terribly worried I'd run out and hoarded a big stash, expecting to be on it for months and months. My babesia symptoms went away about two hours after the first dosage, which is exactly how a malaria drug is supposed to work.

The babesia symptoms stayed away at first, then came back after a few days off the first chloroquine course. I used mepron to temporarily control them, took a second course, had a much milder babesia relapse after a few days, took the third course, and so far have been okay. Here's hoping!

Lymetoo used quinine for several years, and quinine would have been my next drug of choice had chloroquine not worked. And there is always a chance of a relapse. So my babs-free summer has been spent aggressively researching a transition into a higher paid version of my job, so that if there are any further babesia problems, I can just hop on a plane to a tropical country where they take this disease more seriously. The only thing worse than being disabled for six years with babesia is finding out it could have been cured in two months.

I'm sorry to say that I still have a mild form of Lyme, and cannot yet go off maintenance without relapse. But the symptoms are far milder, and I can work full-time, so the next goal is to earn enough money to just pay for IV rocephin out of pocket in a year or two. With no co-infections left, the IV might actually work this time around.

Also, two noticeable effects of this babesia treatment were that I lost ten pounds and cut a minute and a half off my mile on the track. If that doesn't convince you to check this out, nothing will.
 
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
 
I just found out I have babesia. I'm going to start Biaxin XL, Clindimycin, and Mepron. The 3rd week I'll add Flagyl.

I guess these are specifically for babesia, but I really don't know.

I've just been on 3 weeks of Biaxin XL and Augmentin. I added Flagyl the 3rd week.

I am feeling much better, but not 100%.

The rapid infection of multiple systems is mind-boggling. I got the bite & rash & symptoms nearly all at once. Wham Bam!

I was ready for an extended period of antibiotics, but didn't realize how fast this stuff can affect you & how long it takes to knock it out.

I acted fast when I first got the rash. Unfortunately it was over the weekend & that delayed things a bit.

Nancy
 
Posted by oxygenbabe (Member # 5831) on :
 
I am interested too and PMe'd Liz. If she feels all those drugs were necessary with chloroquine topping it off or could chloroquine do it alone. Since babs has not been treated with chloroquine.

OTOH looking up the mechanism by which chloroquine works, it deals with the 'heme' molecule that malaria creates. I wonder how it works on babs as my understanding, at least last time I studied it, was babs does not cleave the heme molecule even tho its a red blood cell parasite.

Also, Liz, it would destroy the red blood cells that are parasitizied--did you get temporary anemia?

Also, do we know it clears where babs nests, which is either the bone marrow or the liver?

Just questions. Was it a hard protocol? How toxic a drug is it compared to the others?
 
Posted by Robin61 (Member # 5470) on :
 
up for liz!
 
Posted by Jon (Member # 9123) on :
 
Interesting...

Liz could you also describe your babs symptoms? What symptoms immediately improved after taking the chlorqine?

thanx
 


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