posted
Is anyone here able to give me some information on Atovaquone?
I know it's very expensive but I'd like to know if it's used for Bartonella or Babesiosis or both?
Same for Azithromycin?
What sort of sie effects would one expect from these drugs?
Thanks, these are not known to me and I'd like to know more about their usage with co-infections.
Have a great one all!
[ 14. June 2006, 06:44 PM: Message edited by: 1981Z28 ]
Posts: 302 | From Kamloops, B.C., Canada | Registered: Dec 2002
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janet thomas
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7122
posted
Mepron (atq) and zithromax are used to treat Babesia but not bartonella.
-------------------- I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice but only my personal experience and opinion. Posts: 2001 | From NJ | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Atovaquone (Mepron) does not work on Bart. You can also get it in a tablet form called Malarone. Usually Mepron dose is 1 tsp (750 mg) Bid + 500 mg Zith (at Least) once a day + Artemisinin
Zithro is one of the better drugs for Bart, but it needs to be taken in combo with another drug like Rifampin, Doxy, or Levaquin/Cipro. What's up, do you suspect that you have one of them?
-------------------- You're only a failure when you stop trying. Posts: 945 | From U.S | Registered: Oct 2004
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posted
Well, I wasn't gonna say anything but I think that I have unaddressed co-infections. I have a lot of symptoms that all this time I attributed to pre-menopausal or menopausal/hormonal/thyroid issues that I've been dealing with using natural products and I think it helped a bit but when the bottoms of my feet started to get really sore I became concerned.
I've started on the two drugs mentioned and I've come to the understanding that I'm mainly being treated for Babs but that this combo also treats other co-infections as well so now I have a new question.
Is it typical to treat babs first and then bart?
Other than the symptoms in general I've mentioned I'm still doing pretty good but now I really want to know way more about co-infections as I help many people as well and this is an area I really haven't had anything to do with.
Posts: 302 | From Kamloops, B.C., Canada | Registered: Dec 2002
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posted
Sorry to hear that! So your Dr is treating you for Babs with Mep/Zith, but the sore soles is a Sx of Bart according to Dr B. Good luck with your Tx!
"SYMPTOMS Clues to the presence of Babesiosis include a more acute initial illness- patients often recall a high fever andchills at the onset of their Lyme. Over time, they can note night sweats, air hunger, an occasional cough, persistent migraine-like headache, a vague sense of imbalance without true vertigo, ncephalopathy andfatigue. The fulminant presentations are seen in those who are immunosuppressed, especially if asplenic,and in advanced ages. They include high fevers, shaking chills and hemolysis, and can be fatal."
"Batonella Like Organisms Indicators of BLO infection include CNS symptoms out of proportion to the other systemic symptoms ofchronic Lyme. There seems to be an increased irritability to the CNS, with agitation, anxiety, insomnia, andeven seizures, in addition to other unusually strong symptoms of encephalitis, such as cognitive deficits and confusion. Other key symptoms may include gastritis, lower abdominal pain (mesenteric adenitis), sore soles,especially in the AM, tender subcutaneous nodules along the extremities, and red rashes. These rashes may have the appearance of red streaks like stretch marks that do not follow skin planes, spider veins, or redpapular eruptions. Lymph nodes may be enlarged and the throat can be sore. Because standard Bartonella testing, either by serology or PCR, may not pick up this BLO, the blood test"
posted
Yup, I did manage to find this all and we're currently going after babs first as I seem to fit into both the babs and bart tx.
I so appreciate your sharing this info with me as it coincides with mine.
Is it common for co-infections to make their presence more obvious after a long treatment for Lyme? I was off all abx for over a year and a half and doing great. I'm still doing well in comparison to when I was at my worst. I can still function and do the things I need to/want to do so I'm not bad off here but I am rather stunned that this is happening.
Some insight as to "why now" would be awesome if anyone can give that to me.
Thanks for your support!
Posts: 302 | From Kamloops, B.C., Canada | Registered: Dec 2002
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quote:Originally posted by 1981Z28: Is it common for co-infections to make their presence more obvious after a long treatment for Lyme? -----------------------
Some insight as to "why now" would be awesome if anyone can give that to me.
My pea-sized Lyme brain can't recall the REASON this happens, but I know it does.
You can do a search here by clicking on the word "search" above. Type in babesia or babesiosis and you'll get tons of links.
Good to see you again....NOT!! Wish it was just that you were stopping by to say hello and that you were doing GREAT!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
"Is it common for co-infections to make their presence more obvious after a long treatment for Lyme?"
It Can happen. Is it always a latent coinfection...no. It's possible that it could be a whole new lyme infection. Could have been from a mosquito...maybe a cat scratched you and it's just Bart. Who knows for sure what it is. I do wish you continued success tho!
Posts: 134 | Registered: Feb 2005
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liz28
Unregistered
posted
Atovaquone is an excellent malaria preventative. When taken as Malarone, which is basically just a lower dosage version of mepron, it can prevent malaria from developing if you get bitten by an infected mosquito.
Azithromycin is often prescribed with mepron to slow down the development of drug resistance. It is a member of the macrolide family of antibiotics.
Neither of them work on bartonella, as many other people said.
Both drugs are pretty mild at lower doses. When you start taking longterm mepron, though, you have to protect your liver. Most malaria drugs cause temporary blurred vision and distorted depth perception. So be careful--my first two weeks on this drug, I was falling off street curbs and putting hot coffee cups on empty air because I couldn't see glass tabletops.
As you have probably noticed, this is a hot topic on Lymenet, because chronic Lyme patients frequently have babesia co-infections, and a lot of these people are not finding babesia easy to get rid of. For this reason, you are much better off going after the bartonella first. It will take some time to learn whether rifampin or levaquin is the better bart drug for you, but once people figure out which one to use, they recover from this disease quickly.
My personal experience with mepron is that it is lifesaving in the short term, because it temporarily controls babesia. In the longer term, it was only a temporary measure. So I have a lot of gratitude for it, but if babesia is your co-infection, there may be more targeted drugs available to you. And malarone is not the best treatment. If you research quinine, Fansidar, chloroquine, primaquine, artemisinin, Riamet, and even doxycycline, these are the real malaria treatments.
A lot of LLMDs are experimenting with lariam (also called mefluquine), a cheap, powerful malaria preventative normally taken once a week. It is widely prescribed because it only requires one dose a week, it's much more affordable than malarone for people in poor countries, and it does work. But it is not really used as a treatment.
This is in part because a malaria drug has to work right away to be useful, and to be promoted by worldwide health organizations who are putting their reputations on the line. Malaria kills within hours. The great excitement around the herb artemisinin is that it immediately and temporarily lowers the level of malaria in the bloodstream, giving a second malaria drug like chloroquine or quinine a chance to kick in, and saving your life if you happen to get sick in some remote area without an airlift handy.
A better reason, however, is that the side effects are horrific. If it were our only option, it would be worth the risk. But why take it if you don't have to?
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posted
Man, I tell you, the support a person gets here is worth so much, thank you all!
I really am still doing well. I'm performing in a fairly popular local band, I can work at full pace again and do all the things I love to do like gardening, walking, you name it.
I have been doing a lot of "searching" here trying to find out the "why's" of it all. Yes, it could be a whole new lyme case but I'm feeling like it is co-infections that also came up negative in our local labs. My body is telling me it's babs and bart, bart being the bigger of the two offenders right now and my LLMD wants to go after the babs first. I'm not sure why he's doing it that way but I trust him completely as he's brought me from the brinks of death to being able to do all that I do.
Not only am I a contibuting member of society again, I can do charity fundraising with my band for other causes right now and it feels so good to give back.
Once I finish making our local community aware that we have a tick borne problem here I will have our band do a dinner/dance fund raiser for our Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation. They have already agreed, it's jut too soon.
I am not an expert on Lyme and other tick borne infections, but I do strive to learn on a daily basis. Even if I don't comment here, I am usually somewhere on a daily basis trying to learn something useful. Where I'm going with this is that the more I learn the more I see I need to learn and all the help I receive from everyone here is greatly appreciated. Thank you! Don't stop!
Posts: 302 | From Kamloops, B.C., Canada | Registered: Dec 2002
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