I'm just starting a new protocol, and would love to run it by the board to see if it's a good start. Thanks to all of you, I'm COMPLETELY convinced that co-infections are the root of chronic Lyme, and am excited that I may get rid of all these health issues soon.

If anyone thinks this protocol will absolutely not work, by all means, let me know:

omnicef
mepron/artemisinin
biaxin 500/2x day
flagyl

If I were you, I'd start out with the omnicef, biaxin 2xday only, and Mepron, all for a week, then add artemsia and flagyl the following week. My guess is that you'll herx to high heaven the first week, and you won't want to start the others until you've stabilized.

BTW, I think the Omnicef targets Bartonella, Art/Mepron targets Babesia, Biaxin hits Lyme and ehrilichia, and Flagyl gets the lyme cysts.

No way would I take all that stuff at once! I'd be bedridden from all of it, and probably living in a cardboard box under an overpass within a year!

Forcing the healing in this manner accomplishes nothing. The body heals when it is ready. One step at a time -- if we want to keep our eliminating organs functional. When they stop, everything stops.

Gigi, hi, it's nice to hear from you. I actually finished the DMSA detox a few months ago, or at least took a break, and it worked very well.

Are you still doing Dhonden's herbs?

I am on them and am curious how you did.

I am about to take my Mercury out and my Doc wants to do IV Rocephin after that as I am chronic and untreated thus far.

Funny, Dhonden said he didn't sense I had Lyme, but had something called "Hidden Fever" and a "Wind/Bile" disorder.

I've been on them for 7 weeks now and notice some extra energy and moments of clarity, but my stomach is going nuts and I have Candida IGA.

Anyway, I hope that combo works for you and wish you the best!

GiGis has a point. When it comes to abx, more is not always better.

I tried a very hefty abx protocol, became Neutropenic, and nearly wound up in the hospital. I had to see a Hematologist, it was not pretty. Be careful.

Foggy--I can't AFFORD the follow up test! But I still take NAC (sorry Gigi--everyone, please read Gigi's posts on this before trying it) to get rid of metals. If and when this co-infection treatment ends, I will have to go back and do the test.

Since you're out in the Real World and interacting with people, just wanted to warn you that the mepron/artemesinin made me amazingly cranky and I had a hair-trigger temper while I took it. Not like any other lyme rage I experienced, when I've been on a slow boil and very aware of my irritability. On mepron zith I'd be a perfectly normal person one second, and then Raging Bitch Queen the next. I said some truly horrid things to the hubby. Very unlike me.

Hope you can take some extra time off to rest up while you attempt to scale this particular Everest. Take good care of your liver.

Best of luck, let us know how it goes.

Alas, I've been on mepron for a while. I didn't turn into the Raging Bitch Queen, I turned into the Candidate for Continuous Intravenous Paxil, except that I don't take such things. That really explains a lot, good thing I'm still in grad school and have an excuse. But I'll still stop the mepron before meeting with any more hiring officers.

So what do you tell them -- "Don't mind me, I'm on drugs?"

It's true, it's easy to forget that "normal" people....aren't. I wasn't, even when I was, if you know what I mean.

zithro and rifampin
doxy or mino and rifampin
doxy or mono and levoquin
zithro and levoquin
OR
a macrolide with cipro

now these are what they mention as working..I just called dr. jones office and asked them. They put my kids on zithro and rifampin and it eliminated bart in both my kids. it is what they currently use to treat bart in most of their kids. In their very young kids they use just zithro to start.

My daughter, who is away at college, just tested positve for mycoplasma fermentans at her last , final visit with dr. jones. THey just called me. He put her on septra and rifampin for 3 months..he says he 's had the most success with older kids with this combo for this...

I used zithro and rifampin for a month, and pulsed in levoquin adn would stop the rifampin for 10 days a month when I did this...I did htis for 2 motnhs(all i could take)..seems to have gotten it?????

I hope this helps.

Lisa

[This message has been edited by lla2 (edited 03 February 2005).]

Also, it sounds like the symptoms you were describing earlier this year have been eliminated with rifampin.

I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I can no longer take abx.

I went from being able to jam 4000 mg of amoxicillin into my body per DAY without absolutely any problem what so ever, not even diarrhea LOL. I would take it, and get my 28 to 31 day herx,

believe the world was ending, but coming out feeling a smidget better.

However, I got on a protocol that was switch, switch, switch. Ever since that time, I can no longer take antibiotics,

OR within a half hour of taking one ( and we tried doxy, ceftin, biaxin, clindamycin, rifampin, and a few others), I get deatlhy, deatlhy ill.

By the time the medicine wears out in my body, I feel SOO much better, but god forbid I take another pill, it starts all over.

So I went from almost completey recovered, feeling absolutely good, and getting my 28 day herxheimer reaction and improving

to NOW, if I take an antibiotic for 30 days, I am completely sick for 30 days.

It doesn't make sense to me and it really sucks. If I would take an antibiotic right now, come 930 AM, I would have head and neck pressure galore and be in bed being VERY VERYcranky.
I just got a new LLMD so we are going to try to work on uncovering the

"mystery as to why Jodie can no longer tolerate any abx".

Thank you very much for sharing your insight and experience.

Even though you are having a tough time now, it sounds like you are in good hands. Dr. J seems to have a stellar reputation about Lymies.

Also, many people have listed listed new, cutting edge bart treatments in their recent posts and responses. So if you have suspicions that you have bart, maybe you could request these same abx from another doctor?

By the way, as you read through Lymenet, especially more recent posts, you may see (or may not, depending on your perspective) that you may not have to take treatment all that slowly. This whole "Lyme takes years and years to cure" theory looks more and more ridiculous these days, as co-infections are found to play a greater role. Don't let yourself suffer if you don't have to.

I know I have asked this question before to someone of you, but here it goes again. Seems everyone has a different list of what bart symptoms are.

Questions: What symptoms does your LLMD and you attribute to Bart??

By the way, I'm already done with this regimen. The flagyl worked brilliantly, especially when combined with mepron, and the biaxin was a dud.