posted
I'm looking for input from anyone who has experience with treating babesia. I'm in my second month of mepron/zith/doxy/zhangs art/buhner herbs including crypto & sida acuta/alinia. I have been rotating the alinia with the zhangs art.
I'm taking doxy because I also have tested pos for analplasma. Due to the doxy being in the mix, I have increased my mepron to 2 tsp twice per day. My fatigue and exhaustion is excruciating. I had a bulls eye rash in 1994 but went undiagnosed until beg on 2011. Didn't start treating babs until about 2 months ago.
How long does it take before a person regains some energy and gets past the worst part of this? I was diag with pos test from Igenix for babesia duncani.
Any suggestions. I'm looking to hear from some veterans who know the ropes. Hopefully some of you have beaten this parasite.
cardsfan001
Posts: 6 | From St Louis | Registered: Dec 2014
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Cards Fan,
Welcome to LymeNet!
It is a bit late, so I will simply share this link for now and hope that others will address your questions in the real morning time.
TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
I had lyme, babesiosis and bartonella. I got rid of all three 10 years ago now. Praise God! I am still thankful for this every day because I was sick for 10 LONG years before I ever got diagnosed.
I had babesiosis microti. I understand that duncani can be harder to eradicate.
Here is a quote from Burrascano's Lyme Treatment Guidelines:
"The duration of treatment with atovaquone combinations for Babesiosis varies depending on the degree of infection, duration of illness before diagnosis, the health and immune status of the patient, and whether the patient is co-infected with Borrelia burgdorferi. Typically, a three-week course is prescribed for acute cases, while chronic, longstanding infections with significant morbidity and co-infection will require a minimum of four months of therapy.
Relapses have occurred, and retreatment is occasionally needed. Problems during therapy include diarrhea, mild nausea, the expense of atovaquone (over $600.00 per bottle, enough for three weeks of treatment), and rarely, a temporary yellowish discoloration of the vision.
Blood counts, liver panels and amylase levels are recommended every three weeks during any prolonged course of therapy as liver enzymes may elevate.
Treatment failures usually are related to inadequate atovaquone levels. Therefore, patients who are not cured with this regimen can be retreated with higher doses (and atovaquone blood levels can be checked), as this has proven effective in many of my patients. Artemesia (a nonprescription herb) should be added in all cases. Metronidazole or Bactrim can also be added to increase efficacy, but there is minimal clinical data on how much more effective this will be." (page 24)
It sounds like you are on an excellent treatment protocol. When you will regain energy is a good question. If you have not yet treated lyme disease, you may not regain energy until you do.
If you already got rid of or aggressively treated lyme, then perhaps it will take 4 months (length of time to grow new red blood cells) before you get more energy.
Babs explodes the red blood cells. The red blood cells carry oxygen to all the cells of the body. Without enough red cells, you will have very little energy as you are not getting enough oxygen for the body to operate optimally.
So, be sure to treat lyme with good treatment, check your blood Mepron levels to be sure they are high enough, be sure to eat fatty foods with the Mepron to ensure that it is being absorbed by the body, and take all of the supplements Burrascano says to take.
Eat the anti-yeast diet because yeast will also make you exhausted.
This page from a lyme book gives other tips about properly taking Mepron:
posted
I treated babesia Duncani for about 3 plus years with higher dose mepron. I rotated through many different drug combinations. Malarone, coartem, bactrim, plaquinel and many others. The first year was difficult but I slowly improved. After one year of treatment I was still FISH test positive. I have been off of drugs for about 4 years now. Had one short relapse in there but I live a very normal life. As a matter of fact. I haven't posted on this site in years. Keep going! It really does get better. I was sick for 8 years. Of those six where very bad. Three pic lines and mulitple treatments. Get up to a therapeutic dose you may have to rotate a bit. Blessings to you!
posted
Katrina- So how long did you end up treating Babesia Duncani? Are you still positive for it? I have been treating it for a year and still have it!!!!!
Posts: 123 | From Washington State | Registered: Dec 2013
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posted
I commented in the post about afternoon fatigue in more detail. After one year of aggressive treatment I had a positive FISH test. I was discouraged and couldn't believe it. My doctor told me not to worry and we continued to rotate drugs. I made progress slowly. But eventually all my symptoms went away.
posted
Katrina - That is encouraging. I have been infected since 1994. I also have bart and I think that makes things a little tricky. Did you have bart or lyme to deal with also?
Posts: 6 | From St Louis | Registered: Dec 2014
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Yes I tested positive for lyme. Had numbness in hands, lower legs and feet. Vision was affected as well as swallowing. Balance disturbance. Extreme fatigue! Lyme affected all three valves in my heart. All of which have resolved. I was treated for Bart even though I never tested positive. Rifampin worked well for me. My doctor wanted to hit all the confections during treatment. I have to say, thinking back rifampin was one of the game changers for me. So was treating babesia aggressively! Keep after it. I kept a journal and marked my progress Daily and the responses to drugs. It really helped. Some months I didn't improve much. Others I only improved 10%. But it helped me figure out what was working and also keep track of even the smallest improvement. I used to flip through the calendar all the time and find hope in small improvements!! It kept me going. I wrote down things I was able to do ( like take a short walk) At the end of the year I only improved 20% but it helped to know I was moving in the right direction. Eventually I wrote 100% it took so long! I am grateful every day for my health.
Posts: 219 | From Michigan | Registered: Apr 2008
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