I have always been under the impression that Bartonella needs to be treated with two antibiotics to be most effective.
My son's doctor wants to treat him with Rifampin for Bartonella and Rocephin for Lyme along with Tindamax as a cyst buster.
I have read that minocycline or doxycycline are good antibiotics to pair with Rifampin. Cephalosporins are not usually used to treat Bartonella based on the medical literature I have read online.
When I queried the combination he suggested, he got upset, asking me where I had read that Rifampin should be combined with another Bartonella drug, saying that internet sources were not accurate. He clearly wasn't happy with me and when he raised his voice, it made me upset!
Well, I am copying several medical journal articles to take to him to show him what I have read and hope he won't get even more upset with me.
I want the most effective treatment for my son as he is struggling taking meds as it is, so I just want to do the best by him so he has a good response and doesn't relapse.
Has anyone else been treated with Rifampin which has not been combined with another Bartonella drug and done well with that?
Many thanks!
Posted by GretaM (Member # 40917) on :
Good for you!
Yes, rifampin often needs to be combined with other abx, such as zithromax, doxy or mino.
The reason being, it's mechanism of action is one way... But it is a way that bacteria often get resistant to. I can't remember the specifics, but remember reading about rifampin's mechanism of action and remembering it was special. Lol.
For TB, it is always combined with other abx to prevent resistence.
For Brucella, it is always combined with other abx to prevent resistence.
For bartonella, same thing, and I believe also for mycoplasma!
I am so proud of you for researching prescriptions! Good for you! Half the time I think docs get inundated with so much pharma info it all blurs together and they forget.
When I was treating bart, I was on IV rocephin, tinidazole, rifampin and zithromax. (also mino for a bit, before the zith was swapped in).
Also CSA tincture.
good for you for printing out the med journal studies! Perhaps your bringing it up triggered something in your docs memory and will help to remember the rifampin rule.
Bless you, hugs Greta
Posted by oceangirlSA (Member # 40873) on :
Hi Greta
The one thing I am good at is researching! I spend a lot of time doing that, especially regarding medications.
I have learned the hard way due to drug interactions I have experienced first hand, and so I have spent much time not only studying the P450 enzyme system which metabolizes all drugs, but also, all the drugs prescribed to me and my kids.
Thanks for your support and encouragement! Being ill, I have really had to learn how to become much more assertive and be a good advocate for myself and kids. Its not been easy, but I keep getting stronger and more assertive as time goes by!
Thanks for verifying my suspicions. Are you recovered from Bart now? Did the CSA tincture help?
Sending you warm fuzzies! Posted by lostlyme (Member # 38561) on :
I have used rifampin slowly and swapped to factive and vice versa ,
Factive has one nasty side effect it can rupture your tendons ,it is a Fluoroquinolone type of antibiotic .
I slowly built up with it then it was back to rifampin.
So as to give bartonelia a curve ball .
Any signs of tendon pain stop immediately , notify doctor.
I took magnesium about 2 hours later to help protect the tendons as in dr b guidelines , and as LLMD suggested.
Did tindermax also along with mininocyline .
Took various other meds and supplements .
I havent had any symptoms in a long time especially bartonelia rashes they would come and go randomly
Posted by oceangirlSA (Member # 40873) on :
Lostlyme, so good to know that you are symptom free from your Bartonella treatment. That is great news!
Thanks for sharing!
Posted by Tracy9 (Member # 7521) on :
I treated with Rifampin alone, successfully...but could not beat it until I went to the Fry protocol of super high dose Rifampin. I took 1800 mg a day for 6 months. I think that was when I finally felt it receding completely.
I was on Rifampin for over four years. I just went off because I developed pancreatitis from it. It took me a couple of months to be diagnosed, but once it was identified by my off the charts blood levels of amylase and lipase, and a CT scan, I started looking for the cause and found Rifampin in very rare cases can cause pancreatitis. I immediately stopped taking it, and got better within 2 days. All my nausea and severe abdominal pain were gone.
If I had to do it again though I would; it took the high dose Rifampin to finally kill the Bart.
Posted by oceangirlSA (Member # 40873) on :
Thank you to all those who responded to my thread! I appreciate the help and information. I haven't responded earlier because I ended up in the hospital for 5 days and am still in recovery.
It is helpful to know that rifampin can work on its own for Bart and still be effective.
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