posted
My western blot from Igenex came back positive for Lyme (four specific IgM bands positive and two IgG) and my CD-57 count is 36. My symptoms are mostly neurological. I'm seeing Dr. P in Connecticut, and he is about to start me on Tetracycline 750mg x2 daily. I began with 200mg of doxy for 2 weeks, 300mg for 2 weeks, and now 400mg for 3 weeks, because my WBC has been low at 3.5 and tetracycline might have been too strong initially and dropped my WBC further during strong herx's.
After a few weeks if tetracycline is tolerated well he would like to add a second drug, and mentioned biaxin and diflucan as options. I understand biaxin is a pretty standard anti-Lyme macrolide antibiotic, but how effective is it, especially for neurological Lyme? I raised my eyebrows at diflucan, as I was only aware that it treated yeast. He says it was discovered accidently and pretty recently that it does treat Lyme, and that it has very good penetration into the brain. I was able to find a single study to back this up (this is the only published research I could find linking diflucan to lyme):
quote:Eur J Med Res. 2004 Jul 30;9(7):334-6.Links Clinical effects of fluconazole in patients with neuroborreliosis. Schardt FW.
Eleven patients with neuro-borreliosis had been treated with 200 mg fluconazole daily for 25 days after an unsuccessful therapy with antibiotics. At the end of treatment eight patients had no borreliosis symptoms and remained free of relapse in a follow-up examination one year later. In the remaining four patients, symptoms were considerably improved. At the end of therapy immune reactivity (IgM+) disappeared in three patients. Since borrelia spp. are almost exclusively localised intracellular, they may depend on certain metabolites of their eucaryotic host cell. Inhibition of P450 and other cytochromes by fluconazole may incapacitate Borrelia upon longterm exposure.
I'm a little hesitant to try biaxin because I have had heart palpitations at times due to Lyme and I understand macrolides can interfere with electrical activity in the heart. Has anyone heard of real life successes with diflucan vs. Lyme and think its a good alternative?
[ 14. August 2008, 03:53 PM: Message edited by: FunkOdyssey ]
Posts: 195 | From Manchester, CT | Registered: Jun 2008
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
I take Diflucan once a week to help ward off Fungus and yeast problems caused by antibiotics. I also take Zith and next month will go to Biaxin and I had heart palps years before I became ill and I don't notice them being any worse on the zith which is also a macrolide. Not sure about Diflucan treating LD. I read about it, but my LLMD should know and he hasn't mentioned it. I think Diflucan is very hard on the liver. My LLMD won't give it more than 2x a week.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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posted
I think the Diflucan is worth a try. It seems to help many who THOUGHT they didn't have yeast issues. However, it may actually work against lyme, so you have two reasons to try it.
Biaxin was great for me. But I can't tolerate it now because of the QT thing with the heart.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I was on doxy started it mid june because I started levaquin begining of June and the pain was too great. The doxy helps with the pain, however after 3 weeks we had to stop all meds. My herxes set me back and I became very sick.
Symptoms that I forgot I had came back. I started Rocephin IM, but after two weeks my doctor had to pull me off due to positive lyme test, low CD less than 40, low thyroid, became anemic blahblah. She put me on Diflucan (never been on it) I am one of those who's not had "typical" yeast issues. I don't bread or pasta and I do eat lots and lots of garlic..but now I guess it's been 3 or 4 weeks on this and I finally feel a little better. I am working full time-and definately exhausted ALL the time, but I can make it through.
This week I added working out back into my routine which I haven't done in 4 months probably. I am definately in a lot of pain and it's really really tough but I got fat so I have to take the weight off.
I would say I am improving very very slowly on diflucan (200mg a day) however I also am pretty confident that if I started doxy or levaquin or flagyl I would get knocked back down on my a$$.
Is there a cure or just a constant cycle (4yrs deep in treatment)
Posts: 484 | From Burlingame, Ca | Registered: Sep 2005
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