I am due to start Malarone to treat possible Babs this week. Anyone know what I can expect? I think this is a relatively new drug combination. Wondering why the combination mepro/proguanil and not just mepron?

Also, does anyone have an article linking celiac disease to lyme disease?

I have lyme and my son has had celiac disease for 16 years. I am wondering if the connection is logical due to the lyme/autoimmune thing or if there is specific information out there regarding the two.

Info on Celiac:
http://f6.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/cFw9QV1Rop8o6EPa9_JKazEMMVqUmqJOFdROtYs7YWZeeO59ZTWlxE0StqWSEds9kZ9eXllULCn0Y32eOMcF61TI0wou6Zs7VvY/celiac_myths_facts.pdf

Gabrielle

Lyme isn't the cause of true celiac disease, but can trigger the underlying genetic predisposition to celiac disease...bringing it to the fore...Celiac can also be present before lyme infection

Celiac is an hereditary auto immune disorder in which ingested gluten causes the immune sytem to create antibodies to the lining of the small intestine.

One can have the genetic predisposition and never develop Celiac disease. It is believed that Celiac is triggered by stress, trauma or infection. Some kids are born with full blown Celiac....Some of us don't develop it til much later in life. It's different for everyone.

What we do know is that 1 in 133 people have the genetic predisposition to Celiac...that doctors in the US are undereducated as to it's predominance and treatment...Doctors in Europe are very familiar with it...restauants offer gluten free items on their menus in some areas..We're just behind the wave in the US on this at present.

That so many people with lyme would have Celiac isn't that surprising given the odds of having the genetic predisposition.

I don't dispute the information given in the sited posts above about the gliadin molecule causing problems in permeability of the small intestine. But that does not necessarily mean that a patient has Celiac disease.

True Celiac Disease is not something that goes away but it can be treated by a life long gluten free diet, allowing the gut to heal and normal absorbtion of nutrients to resume.

Yes, the diet isn't fun, but it certainly is far from impossible. It stinks for someone like me who adores bread, ceral, etc...I'm still a major carb junkie, but the benefits of the diet far outwiegh the risks in my opinion.

For us I would assume that the key issue would be absorbtion of medication by the small intestine. That would depend on the amount of damage to the small intestine, and that can only be determined via edoscopy...eye balling the small intestine and taking a biopsy of the tissues.

The symptoms of celiac certainly fit on the list for lyme, so teasing out what is what seems impossible. I would think that determining whether one has genuine Celiac disease is important as well as determining the condition of the small intestine while treating lyme.

There are two theories on how the immune system damages the small intestine, one being that the culprits are NK cells. Some of us lymies have very low NK cell production. Perhaps lyme has a small advantage for us Celiacs after all!

I spoke with the head of Celiac research at UCLA children's hospital in June telling her of my lyme and low NK cell counts. She was very interested in talking with Dr. S in San Francisco about his NK cell findings, so I passed along her info to him. I don't know what if anything has come of that.

My endoscopy in May showed little or no damage to the small intestine, but my NK cell counts have been bottom of the barrel for several years. They did find an odd little gastric ulcer that looked more like a polyp...and has been blamed on high doxy use. Hooray! No more doxy for me!

It's not exactly what you were asking about, but there is an important thing to consider when using Mepron if you have Celiac disease. In most Celiac patients fats are not absorbed properly. Mepron is dependent on binding with fat in the gut to be absorbed. So, if you are not absorbing fats properly, the Mepron will also not be absorbed properly.

I learned this after months of expensive Mepron treatment that didn't help my babesia at all. I have treated my babesia WA1 with flagyl and zithromax and my titres have gone down steadily.

Thank you, breathwork for your response. You told me exactly what I needed to know.
My son was diagnosed at children's hospital 16 years ago by a small bowel biopsy. He has been on the diet ever since.
Now that I have been diagnosed with lyme, the doc is wondering is that what triggered my son's celiac. I didn't want to give him false hope that if he had lyme too, the celiac could be 'cured.' I believe he has a true (book definition) case of celiac as my sister in law was diagnosed after he was.
We were all tested via the blood test years ago but you know how reliable blood tests can be. Only my daughter and I have had a small bowel biopsy to rule out Celiac.

Was just wondering where to go with the whole lyme/celiac angle. Thanks again!

My glutin intolerance seems to be asysmtomatic, but my llmd says it can cause enough inflamation to prevent absorbtion. I tested negitive for Celiac, but he says that doesn't mean anything.

I avoided wheat as best I could for a bunch of months. Lab results last week FINALLY have my iron levels in the normal range with my regular diet sans wheat! I couldn't raise my iron with diet or pills while eating wheat. I take b-12 sublingulally too.

I knew that until I could get my iron( folic and b-12 too) levels normal I couldn't get better. There is hope now.

Now I want to boost my cholesterol (115) some so I can heal my central nervous system. Cholesterol is needed to re-build nerve tissue.

I wasn't digesting food any more and my hair started falling out. It was apparent that something was very wrong with my gut.

Long story short, my natural doctor insisted that I start on Elaine Gottschall's diet "Breaking The Vicious Cycle". She also put be on MAJOR probiotics. I can't even tell you the difference that it has made already.

According to Elaine, you will never get rid of yeast, or any other digestive issues unless you starve them of "specific" carbs. We can't eat sugar or any kind of grains whatsoever. Wheat is only one trigger. All of them must be removed in order to heal the digestive tract.

We can however eat fruit and use honey. The books explains very clearly how different foods "ferment" in the digestive system and create an unfavorable environment for the good bacteria and a wonderful one for the bad bacteria.

Anyhoo, it's something to consider.

frenchbraid