Just a couple questions about mepron.

It says to take it with a greasy meal. What exactly does that mean? And why is it necessary?

Also, is three weeks long enough? I am on Zith/clindo/mepron this month, then I'm on mino/zith the next with flagyl, then it's mino/septra with flagyl, and then septra/zith with flagyl.

and info from the drug insert from Glaxo the manufacturer of Mepron.

"Administering atovaquone with food enhances its absorption by approximately two- fold. In one study, 16 healthy volunteers received a single dose of 750 mg MEPRON Suspension after an overnight fast and following a standard breakfast (23 g fat: 610 kCal). The mean (�SD) area under the concentration- time curve (AUC) values were 324 � 115 and 801 � 320 hr� mcg/ mL under fasting and fed conditions, respectively, representing a 2.6 � 1.0- fold increase. The effect of food (23 g fat: 400 kCal) on plasma atovaquone concentrations was also evaluated in a multiple- dose, randomized, crossover study in 19 HIV- infected volunteers (CD4 <200 cells/ mm3 ) receiving daily doses of 500 mg MEPRON Suspension. AUC was 280 � 114 hr� mcg/ mL when atovaquone was administered with food as compared to 169 � 77 hr� mcg/ mL under fasting conditions. Maximum plasma atovaquone concentration (Cmax) was 15.1 � 6.1 and 8.8 � 3.7 mcg/ mL when atovaquone was administered with food and under fasting conditions, respectively. "

Also, remember you can use healthy fats such as fish oil and cocnut oil. No need to eata pint of sugar laden ice cream ..... unless your totally depressd and have to have a pint of ice cream as I sometimes do.

Also, be sure your not taking CoQ10 while you're on Mepron. It blocks the absorption of Mepron.

Hope this helps,
robi

I've been on zith and mepron for about three weeks now, am tolerating the mepron well without any of the side effects others have experienced, but had one hello of a herx for the first two weeks.

I was advised to take 10 grams of fat with each tsp. mepron dose, either from the meal or with supplement to make up the difference. You can read the label on your fat source of choice to see how much this is.

I use peanut butter (one of my major food groups) or coconut oil depending on the meal.

Regrding length of treatment, recall that RBC's are completely replaced about every 120 days (4 months) and that is the minimum duration of treatment I was told to expect.

However, there is that nagging question of whether the babs infects marrow and stem cells that could impact a longer treatment period.

FWIW

I heard/read/received through the grapevine that you have to take mepron with either ketek or zith to minimize babesia tolerance. Most Lymenet people who discuss their experiences with mepron seem to mention being on it for a while, sometimes as long as a year (yuck). If you do some googling, you'll see that mepron, although still an effective drug, is also being replaced by artemisinin in the developing world as a malaria treatment.

I take a high dose of mepron (10ml/2x day) with artemisinin 300mg/day. It took about six months for the babesia to die down to the point where I only experienced occasional flares. Now I get them once a month, and they go away in two days.