Has anyone tried Zithro for Bartonella and gotten headaches (lots of pressure/squeezing and ear pain)and or stomach issues (nausea and pain)??? I started on this 4 days ago. I am new to all this as I was just diagnosed with Bart. Any info. on Bart. treatment sucess or which abx works the best for this?? Or how long until any relief? Seems everyone has their favorite abx single or combo approach to Bart from reading the posts here. Seems many go to IV treatment too. My LLMD says it is hard to get Ins. to pay for this and uses orals. Do the IV treatments work better or faster??
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
I had zith with malarone for babesia not bart.
I was on rifampin for bartonella.
I too, got horrible stomach aches with zith.
The key for me was not to take it with food.
I would take it about one hour after I ate and no more stomach ache.
The headache may be a herx.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
I took Levaquin for bart for three months and it really seemed to do the trick. I switched a month ago to Rifampin because my LLMD didn't want to keep me on that strong of a med. for any longer, but he didn't want to stop the bart treatment prematurely.
I'm on a bunch of other stuff for Lyme and babs.
Posted by CaliforniaLyme (Member # 7136) on :
Zithromax will cause stomach and gastro pain for some people!! can also cause you to have to suddenly defecate- no fun!
the headache thing sounds like a Bart herx-
Posted by Stacyb (Member # 13084) on :
Hi,
Thanks for the info. everyone. I am still in nauseau and pain and constapation too. Feel gassy and bloated too and no appetite. I tried some charcoal and stomach herbs like slippery elm and cramp bark with a little relief. Any other suggestions? Are these symptoms common on abx or Zithro or in general with Bart. and or treatment. Trying to hang in there.
Posted by Clarissa (Member # 4715) on :
How is your diet?
I couldn't tolerate Zith 5 years ago when first treated for Lyme. I would lay on the cold tiles, writhing in abdominal pain.
And yes, the runs. Finally, they had to put me on IV Rocephin.
I "think", for me, it was Candida...an imbalance in my gut flora for all the years of abx I took for acne (sigh)...what a mess.
Anyway, fast forward to Sept 2007, I was diagnosed with Bart. Good thing I decided in April to get my yeast thing under control. I bought the book Yeast Connection and totally cut out sugar, bread, alcohol, etc and also got on probiotics such as:
Primal Defense Florastor Natren Trinity Diflucan for 3 mos) (Per another member, Diflucan CANNOT be taken wuts certain Bart drugs...I think it was Rifampin)
Now, I can stomach 750 mg of Zith daily with NONE of those problems. I take 500 mg in one dose but only AFTER a big meal. Definitely must take WITH food.
So, yeah...could candida be an issue for you?
Just a thought.
Posted by djf2005 (Member # 11449) on :
i have the head pain and it never goes away, just changes in severity.
i treated bart, babs, and lyme.
now to do them all again
good luck, you may want to try drugs like levaquin, cipro, etc for a 3 month course, they are strong but take it easy... my tendons are still sore
cheers
derek
Posted by listenswithcare (Member # 10719) on :
I'm not sure about the headache. I used to have them alot before treatment. Now I get them every once in a while.
I have Bart and Lyme. I'm still on treatment, part of that is 600 MG Zith 4 times per week.
Zith was hard to get a handle on, so be patient.
I found that I needed to take it on an empty stomach, but NOT first thing in the morning. I like to take it 2-3 hours after lunch and at least 1 hour before dinner.
I use Theralac as a probiotic every morning along with another probiotic called Polydophilus. Then at lunch I take 1 Sacchromyces B. and I also take one of those at bedtime.
For me the Theralac and Sacchromyces are the life savers. I rarely have stomach pain with Zith anymore. And, if I do, it is usually because I am due for the Sacchromyces pill.
Of course diet is also key. I try hard not to have any sugar, but invariably, I end up having a little bit here and there.
Garlic is also good. Someone shared recently about crushing a clove or two and swallowing it down. Following it my eating some fresh parsley.
When I eat fresh garlic like that, my stomach does not like it, but I tried the fresh parsley and my stomach was happy again. It is also suppossed to stop the garlic smell....
Add some detox to your regime if you are not already doing it, that should help the headaches pass. Don't give up. Just try different ways/times of taking the Zith and don't forget the probiotics!
I have been taking Zith since last April.
Robin
Posted by knshore (Member # 13451) on :
I'm also on Zith (but only Zith) and it has made me my nausea even worse than it already was. I called my LLMD and they called in a script for anti-nausea meds because I couldn't eat.
It could also be a candida/yeast issue.
Posted by luvdogs (Member # 9507) on :
I recently switched from IV zith to oral. I immediately had horrible stomach probaems with the oral. So then I inrceased my probiotics (theralac and culturelle) and it got better.
Then I started to relapse because the potency of the oral vs. the IV was so much less. So they upped my oral intake of zith and that took care of the Lyme/bart sx/relapse. But my stomach immediately got worse - so I again increased the probiotic intake and no more GI problems.
Hope this helps. Feel better!
Posted by roro (Member # 13383) on :
I was on doxy/rifampin/zithromax where i took the rifampin M-F and the zithro on the weekends.
i got horrible headaches from the zithro. right sided, behind eye, pressure, squeezing pain.
my dr said it was a herx, switch me to biaxin, said same class as zithro but not as strong so i dont herx so bad.
Posted by Stacyb (Member # 13084) on :
Hi everyone,
Thanks for the repsonses. I have not checked back on this and was PM-ing some folks too. I also am having ear pressure and one of the poster said to call my LLMD quick as Zithro can cause hearing loss. Anyway I do take probiotics- Dr. Ohhara's 2 per day as directed by my LLMD but I see here alot of folks take many other brands. I just ran the test for candida (yeast) so that will take a week or 2 to come back as I thought it could be yeast causing stomach issues too. I have noticed if I take the 2 caps probiotics together at night even with food (which was recommended) it causes me more nauseau the next morning and day. So I split it now at least 2 hrs away from my abx. Wonder if I am intollerable of the probiotics if that does indicate yeast too?
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