robi
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5547
posted
Does anyone know how many grams of fat are needed with each Malarone / Mepron dose.
It is a great excuse to have a tablespoon of peant butter but I would end up being quite large.
thanks
-------------------- Now, since I put reality on the back burner, my days are jam-packed and fun-filled. ..........lily tomlin as 'trudy' Posts: 2503 | From here | Registered: Apr 2004
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Melanie Reber
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 3707
posted
Hey you,
It seems to me that when I asked this question a couple of years ago...
I was told about 20g of fat. I know that is a LOT (notice the spelling- hahaha)...but the source was reliable.
BTW, a tablespoon of peanut butter is usually what I had too.
Sorry I missed your call, much love, M
Posts: 7052 | From Colorado | Registered: Mar 2003
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
My LLMD said a piece of cheese or peanut butter, or
A glass of milk.
Sometimes I cheated with a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.
It just made me feel better.
I didn't gain any weight on babesia therapy despite the extra fat intake.
It wasn't until I was put on florinef that I broke 100lbs again.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
Johnny, do you just like to suffer????? OMGosh! I totally used Mepron as an excuse to eat fatty foods! Cod liver oil was not on my list of favorites!
I made fudge from almond butter, coconut oil, agave syrup, cacao beans, vanilla ... I ate it with the Mepron in the morning ... so I had a piece of fudge and a smoothie for breakfast.
For dinner, I'd just slather coconut oil or butter on whatever I was eating.
I also heard around 20 gm. The lowest I've heard is 14 gm.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
I heard the study number was "17" grams.
But three more ice cream grams of fat won't hurt MY feelings!
posted
I was being treated with Malarone a few months ago. I stayed on it for 60 days but my foot pain did not get any better. My doc thought it might be Bart and took me off of it although I had a Babesia positive. I took it at night with a glass of water and a container of yogurt (almost no fat in the yogurt). Do you think this is why my symptoms did not go away? Would it have that great of an impact?
Posts: 183 | From Texas | Registered: Nov 2007
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sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
Well, it has to have fat to be absorbed, so you most likely weren't getting full benefits from it. It's a fat soluble medicine.
You might ask the pharmacist or doctor to see how much it would affect it.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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minoucat
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5175
posted
There aren't many real studies done on it.
What's known is that mepron is lipophilic, and taking it with food/fat radically increases the absorption of Mepron.
In one small study they compared absorption while fasting to absorption when eating a full meal with 23 g of fat. The full fat meal eaters had double the absorption of the fasters.
Do NOT take rifampin and mepron at the same time, or CoQ and mepron, since they compete for the same receptors.
The monographs note that people with messed up GI tracts have difficulty absorbing Mepron (possibly because they have difficulty absorbing fat).
As a personal anecdote -- I had very few GI problems when I was taking Mepron. It was successful for me -- I had a brief babs relapse 5 mo after doing mepron, did 6 weeks of malarone, and have had no babs sx in 3 years. The hubby had major GI problems, and relapsed very quickly after going off mepron. So go figure.
Also, most of the mepron uptake occurs over time in the liver, so anything that speeds up liver function -- like milk thistle -- might reduce residence time of the Mepron and thus reduce absorption rates. Difficult tight-rope to walk when you're watching your liver enzymes....
The problem with absorption is threefold. First - Mepron needs to bind to fat to get absorbed at all, which means you need to make sure you have enough fat in your diet. Burroughs Wellcome originally suggested taking the drug with a high fat diet, which they define as at least 23 grams of fat per meal (2- 3 tablespoons plus of butter).
Recently, the Burroughs Wellcome team changed their tune to say that an "average" diet probably provides enough fat for absorbing Mepron, apparently worried that the "high fat diet" requirement was scaring people away. The weighty PR questions aside, if you are taking Mepron, head for the Haagen Daz (or the more politically correct Ben and Jerry's) and don't hesitate to load up on butter. It could save your life.
But - second problem: there is no guarantee that a high fat diet will do the trick. For unknown reasons, some people still don't seem to absorb adequate levels of the drug. Who are these people and how do you know whether you're one of them? Right now, it's hard to say.
Burroughs Wellcome has no answers, but has noted that patients with severe diarrhea don't do so well. Can you tell once you're taking Mepron if you're absorbing it well? No. Burroughs Wellcome has offered no tests for you or your doc by which to monitor your blood levels of Mepron once you're taking the drug.
Asked if there were even any indirect tests, like elevated enzymes of some sort, that would indicate absorption - Burroughs Wellcome says no. If you take Mepron, monitor your symptoms closely. If you're using it for prophylaxis - don't ignore any dry coughs.
Problem #3 - Mepron gets absorbed over time. Some of the drug is absorbed shortly after you take it, but the bulk of the dose gets released by your liver later. This second release can happen any time from one to four days after you take the first pill.
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