I have been doing antibiotics for quite a long time (2 years)... for lyme and bart even though we are not sure if it is bart in the Fry Labs smear test...
I have tested for babesia through Igenex and it was negative but my LLMD informed me there are some other strains that they dont test for. He drew blood from me yesterday for the other babesia tests. Anyways...
I have not been making progress treating bart and lyme... my blood work looks better but not symptomatically...
Do any of those symptoms go hand in hand with babesia?
Posted by Leelee (Member # 19112) on :
I have Babesia microti and I have never been good at diffentiating those symptoms from my Lyme and Bartonella ones but I think nausea and sweating are Babs.
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
Those things could be due to babesia, but they could be due to other things too, so it's hard to know.
The best way (in my opinion) to find out if you have babesia is to do a trial run of artemisia or artemisinin (if artemisia isn't strong enough). See if you get more night sweats, vivid dreams, or worsening of any babesia symptoms in an obvious way. Also see if you feel magically better.
Are your sweats at night? Have you ever had profuse night sweats? Not that you have to. Just see if artemisia/sinin brings them out. I wouldn't do the experiement too long wtihout informing your doctor, because the herb can interfere with other things.
Most people pulse 4 days on, 3 off.
Also, Igenex FISH supposedly does catch multiple species of babesia. How many? I'm not sure, but more than one I believe.
Posted by Dekrator48 (Member # 18239) on :
I also tested negative for babesia.
My hot flashes decreased dramatically and my sleep improved with the use of bioidentical hormones.
Then I started taking artimisinin...started with 1 caps daily and then went to 2 caps.
I have noticed that my hot flashes are worse again, especially at night. I do not sweat profusely.
I also am having trouble going back to sleep during the night when I wake up. I had been doing well for several months.
I switched from artemisinin to artemisia at the suggestion of my LLMD and am taking 2 caps daily.
The night time hot flashes are getting worse.
I am now convinced that I will have to treat for babesia.
My 6 months of lyme and bart treatment has not made any difference in my muscle pain and stiffness...my worst symptom, especially my neck.
Posted by Buster (Member # 19472) on :
I have never had "night" sweats but I do sweat a whole lot more than your average person.
From what my LLMD was telling me, the babesia microti is more of a east coast strain. He said that the first 5 patients he tested for another strain were positive and it was something like a babesia WA1 test
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Yes, microti is the east coast strain and WA-1 (Washington State, case 1) is the west coast strain.
However, people everywhere in the U.S. can get either or both strains.
Have you read in Burrascano where he says that as many as 66% of lyme patients show serologic evidence of co-infection with babesia microti? That's on p. 23.
So, statistically, you probably have babesia.
Your doc is probably testing for WA-1 (duncani) now through Labcorp. That strain is more difficult to get rid of than microti.
Either way, I think you would do well to do a trial of babs treatment and see how you react. I really reacted.
This was after 2 years of treating just lyme and then bartonella. That's how I got rid of all my diseases.
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
WA-1 testing might be done through Quest. I know a few Lyme patients that have used Quest for that, and had positives.
Posted by Buster (Member # 19472) on :
Yeah, that is the one... my doc is doing it through Quest but my other LLMD uses Labcorp. I kinda almost hope I have it because it will give me reason to believe this is why I am not getting better after all the antibiotics, heparin, and supplements.
Posted by jmb (Member # 18338) on :
Also, you might want to drop the cash on the FISH test. I was babs negative from Quest, (Antibodies) but babs positive from Igenex. (FISH)
Even though you can treat from a clinical standpoint without a positive lab, it helps the insurance folk "do the right thing" when you have a script for Mepron...
Posted by Ocean (Member # 3496) on :
I tested neg with Igenex Babs FISH test. It tests for 2 strains.
Prior to ever getting even a Lyme test, I was tested with Electrodermal testing using a Biomeridian machine.
It showed Lyme and Babesia Canis. This doc used to be ER MD, and is now alternative. He didn't know anything about Lyme and co and was very surprised that it showed up.
I would like to get a blood test for Babesia Canis, but am not sure how.
I have had drenching night sweats, low grade fever and air hunger off and on. Seemed like 1997 I had constant air hunger.
Babesia Canis is a 'dog' Babesia. Dr. S (who writes books on Lyme and co) said that a bunch of people were tested for Babesia Canis and 30 something percent tested positive.
Also...I checked the site where it lists common tick borne infections by state and I checked South Carolina where I was bitten and Babesia Canis is listed.
I don't know how many strains there are, but LLMD's typically only test for 2.
Take care and good luck!
Ocean
Posted by Maryland Mom (Member # 2043) on :
Last time I talked to Burrascanno, he told me they had now found at least 11 different strains of Babs. They do not have reliable tests for most.
Although night sweats is considered a hallmark symptom, not everyone with Babs has them. Other possible sx are fevers, chills, muscle pain, and headaches. Sometimes a trial treatment course is the best way to determine if you're infected.