My 14 year old daughter has Lyme and M Fermentans. Her doctor has prescribed Zithromax and Cipro. I'm just wondering does the one abx treat one of the diseases and the other treat the other? Or do they both work together treating both problems?
Posted by lpkayak (Member # 5230) on :
someone forwarded me an article that said cipro gets myco F. but i can't tell you who said it or what the article was.
when my llmd gave me zith for lyme it was with amox
Posted by Mathias (Member # 5298) on :
Cipro is good for m. fermentans but not for lyme and Zithromax will help with the lyme but m. fermentans is resistant to it. There are better combinations that may work better. I would recommend Doxy and Factive, both antibiotics are effective against both bacteria.
Posted by Stardantzer (Member # 3681) on :
If that's the case then I wonder why he put her on these two meds?
Posted by Mathias (Member # 5298) on :
Because they will help.
Posted by Stardantzer (Member # 3681) on :
Yes, of course I am hoping they will help.
I was just reading in Dr B's guidelines: Zithromax: "Overall, poor results when administered orally" That's a bit discouraging. My daughter cannot tolerate the Cipro or Bactrim due to intestinal issues when she takes them. So she's been on the Zithro only for about 2 months now. We have a phone consult coming up with the LLMD at the end of the month. I am hoping he will want to prescribe different meds at that time. Seems like Dr B has had good results with Amoxicillin and Doxy. Maybe I will ask our LLMD about one of them.
My daughter is feeling much worse now, two months into treatment and she's discouraged. I keep telling her she's probably herxxing but things aren't looking up for her right now.
Posted by ChrisBtheLymie (Member # 8916) on :
Cipro is good because it does kill Mycoplasma and many of the coinfections that comes with Lyme. It IS also effective against Lyme, just not as effective as most other meds. I know there was a study done by Dr. Boszik which showed it worked well in conjunction with Tetracycline. However, it DOES have more and quite serious side effects. At first I didn't even want to start it, because of the side effects, but I started it about 3 weeks ago - the first 2 weeks were pretty bad, loads of pains in my shoulders/back, fatigue, etc. It felt like a herx to me because I have always had problems in my back/shoulder caused by Lyme. I very nearly stopped it, but for the last week my pains have been MUCH better, so I think it was a herx.
I haven't been sleeping as well, not sure if this is a side effect or not, but apart from that I have been tollerating it quite well.
I wouldn't worry too much about what Dr. B says about Zithro being taken alone. Many people have done well on Zithro without any other meds, check out www.remedyfind.com and look at the antibiotic reviews, Zithro is a good drug for Lyme with few side effects.
Posted by dontlikeliver (Member # 4749) on :
I was just looking at the guidelines and....
I am not sure if Dr B means that Zithromax has a poor outcome on it's OWN, or whether it means that it also has a poor outcome when used in conjunction with another drug, especially such as Plaquenil.
What about switching to Biaxin instead of Zithromax then as it says Clarithromycin is more effective then Azithromycin?
DLL
Posted by Lymeblue (Member # 6897) on :
Your daughter's LLMD has A LOT of experience......
My daughter is currently on zith and bactrim for almost 6 or 7 months....for bart and lyme.....
she is doing very well..her stomach/intestines issues which were very bad have improved significatively together with her head aches.
Specially her nauseas and cramps around meals. One more time: she is doing GREAT. Anorexia have decreased too....constipation dissapeared.....
Join pains that come and go and fatigue persist, but not as bad as before.
I know cipro,bactrim and levaquin are prescribed for bartonella by LLMD's.....
And I know both Biaxin and Zith belong to the macrolides family of abxs...which are good for Mycoplasma F.
If I were you I would wait at least not 3 but 4 months for the outcome of this cipro/zith combination and keep a calendar.
Remember all this co-infections and even the lyme bacteria have many different strains that respond to different abx.....
Keep in mind too that maybe this abxs would kill other "bugs" that we , as lyme sufferers might carry and have not been identified yet under the microscope...
6 years a go when we all got bitten, my 2 daughters were placed on zith and amoxy for one whole year..they were "cured"..symptoms 100% free...but one of my daughters, the one that I'm talking about (11 Years old) relapsed a year a go after almost 5 years symptoms and abx free..I never thought about a relapse...now I hope my older 12 years old never relapse.
You are wellcome to PM anytime....24/7
Posted by eloise (Member # 128) on :
I was on nearly every antibiotic and various ones helped me in various ways. I had a lot of success on Zithromax and Plaquenil.