Topic: Babesia labwork back... still there...groan...
Dawn in VA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9693
posted
I was on Mepron/zith combo for 9 months. Just went off to begin bart treatment.
I was positive for WA-1 via regular Quest Labs before initial babs treatment began. My doc wanted to test me via Igenex to see if babs was still active. Results:
Fish test (blood smear) + IgG + IgM -
I'm a little confused though. Isn't IgM "first immune response" and IgG "secondary"? If the bugs are still able to be seen in a blood smear (active infection), why is the IgM negative? Can someone please explain this to my brain?
(edited to add: Wait a sec, I'm very mixed-up about the FISH test. Igenex says it detects the RNA of the bugs themselves but I remember hearing elswhere that it tests antibodies. Which is correct?)
Icarumba.
-------------------- (The ole disclaimer: I'm not a doctor.) Posts: 1349 | From VA | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
FISH looks at chunks of RNA from the babesia organism (so that means the live organism is still there).... Which freaks me out because I have WA-1 too and this stuff just won't budge. 9 months? did you do double dose mepron by any chance? That's what I'm on. 2tsp twice daily.
Posts: 499 | From Indiana | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
makes 3 of us, I also have the WA-1 strain. I was on mepron/zith for 5 months then changed to malarone for the past 5 months. I retest for babs this friday, but I can tell its still there.
Daily sweating for no reason, and air hunger on occasion. Mind you its better than a year ago, but from what I understand it's a long road.
Hope we get rid of this thing soon. Its going to bankrupt me. Posts: 158 | From Santa Monica | Registered: May 2007
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Dawn in VA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9693
posted
No, pryorka, I have never a double dosed the Mepron...think I will inquire about that next appt.
h8lyme, I agree! These bugs are sure persistant. I knew I wasn't clear of the babs yet b/c I still have daily sweats too, but yet I was still feeling absurdly hopeful... I was trying to chalk sweating up to anything else I could pin it on. Nuts.
Have you noticed any difference since you've switched from mepron to malarone? Some people think malarone is more effective because of the combined ingredients and some don't. Could I get your take on it having done them both?
Hey fellow babs buddies, sending healing thoughts out to all of you.
-------------------- (The ole disclaimer: I'm not a doctor.) Posts: 1349 | From VA | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
I'll start off by saying I have lyme, bart and babs. I started off treating just the lyme and babs with doxy, mepron and zith. When I was on that combo the bart ran rampant in my system. My doc explains it like this: there can only be 1 major bug at a time. So even if you are infected by all 3 you may only feel the symptoms of 1 or 2. In my case I didn't feel the bart due to the overwhelming pain caused by the lyme and babs. When I successfully started treating the lyme and babs the bart symptoms came on with a vengence. I told my doc and he took me off the mepron/zith and put me on malarone due to the drug interaction caused by mepron and levaquin.
After 5 months of doxy, malarone, levaquin I feel much much better. I would say most of my lyme symptoms are gone, most of my bart symptoms are gone, just some babs symptoms remain. I'm still taking the doxy, malarone, and have added flagyl to the mix.
I see my doc again in a few weeks, at that time he may swtich me up again.
I know I didn't directly answer your question, but it is hard for me to tell if the mepron/zith was more effective than the malarone. Since when I started getting better from babs my bart flared up.
Hope that helps, I'm not sure that it did. I wish I had a better answer for you.
Posts: 158 | From Santa Monica | Registered: May 2007
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Dawn in VA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9693
posted
Thanks for your comments and info, h8lyme.
One question though- one of malarone's components is atovaquone, which is what mepron is. I'm concerned about your LLMD prescribing it with levaquin while saying that mepron and levaquin don't mix. You might want to ask him/her about that.
-------------------- (The ole disclaimer: I'm not a doctor.) Posts: 1349 | From VA | Registered: Jul 2006
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lpkayak
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5230
posted
can anyone tell me how much the fish test is?
a bartonella test from them?
thanks
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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