I've been taking 400mg of Doxycycline for 8 days for Lyme. Some of my symptoms resemble babesia (chest pain, shortness of breath) so I'm looking at adding Lariam to my treatment, as it's been mentioned as an effective combo by Dr S, and it would mean I can stay on Doxy (of which I have a massive stockpile). I know some people react badly to Larium but I'm willing to take the risk for the sake of convenience.
With the risks in mind, I'm thinking about taking a weekly dose of 250mg Larium. Would that be enough to do any good?
Thanks,
Paul
Posts: 11 | From New York | Registered: Oct 2005
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minoucat
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5175
posted
All I can tell you is t hat my LLMD really resists prescribing it because it has been linked so often to severe psychosis, some ending in homicide or suicide.
According to MedWatch, Larium now comes with the following warning. (Since anxiety and depression are common in Lymies--and seizures are not uncommon--, and these sx tend to become acute during a herx, I think this is of especial concern for us):
``Use of Lariam is contraindicated in patients with a known hypersensitivity to mefloquine or related compounds (eg, quinine and quinidine). Lariam should not be prescribed for prophylaxis in patients with active depression, a recent history of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, psychosis, or schizophrenia or other major psychiatric disorders, or with a history of convulsions.''
So I dunno. I don't know if there are sufficient indicators of impending psychosis to allow you to stop the meds in time. I also don't know how long the psychotic effects, if induced, last. Also no idea about dosing and whether it would do any good -- or if you'd just build up resistance -- on a low dose. Babesia seems to require long-term, high-dose tx with several repeats.
I understand trying to stretch your meds, I really do. Just be extremely careful with this. Has it been used successfully on other people with LD, do you know?
-------------------- ********************* RECIDITE, PLEBES! Gero rem imperialem! (Stand aside plebians! I am on imperial business.)
posted
There's like one hundred other antibiotics you can use first, and many of them can be taken with doxy. You actually haven't been on it that long, and you're on a high dose, so it may work for you by itself.
You can definitely take artemisinin, a cheapo herb, with doxy. Artemisinin is often used as an unofficial test to see if one has babesia. If you experience a herx, you probably have babesia, and have more reason to request an expensive drug like mepron.
Also, many have said that ketek, one of the best Lyme antibiotics, helps with babesia. Though I've never heard of anyone taking ketek with doxy, simply because it hasn't been around that long, it's almost certainly possible. Once people have advanced Lyme, they tend to use doxy not as their main drug, but as a companion to the strongest Lyme and co-infection drugs, like omnicef, mepron, rifampin and levaquin, which may interact with each other or overwhelm your system.
You should always take all this stuff with liver support, supplements like milk thistle, schisandra, gelatin CoQ10, phosphatidylcholine, N-acetyl choline, and alpha lipoic acid. Otherwise, these drugs can send your liver enzyme levels through the roof, which will cause your doctor to suspend all Lyme treatment for weeks or months.
Here's a preliminary list of antibiotics that you may, as a newbie, want to check out. There's lots more where these came from, but these are really the big guns.
Also, please check out Dr. Burrascano's (i.e. Dr. B) 2005 treatment guidelines. They're around here somewhere, just do a search.
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beachcomber
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5320
posted
Just an FYI: Some of the things on the list are not antibiotics. For instance, Mepron and Malarone are anti-protazoals. You will most likely need one of these or similar, along with an antibiotic for Babesiosis. Larium is similar to the other anti-protazoal drugs. I have also heard it can be tough to handle.
Posts: 1452 | Registered: Feb 2004
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