Tell me about rifampin- the good, bad and ugly

I've gotten so much useful info from all of you. Thank you! I'm starting Rifampin tomorrow. I'd like to hear what I can expect. I will be adding it to doxy, Ceftin, and Alinia.

Anyone have liver issues? I just read about it and side effects sound like a nightmare. Thanks for any feedback.

Imo if you read the complete list of all drug side effects they all sound like a nightmare.

With Rifampin you need to monitor your blood for changes in your liver enzymes. If they change there are many supplements you can take that will aide your liver in detoxing and get your numbers back to normal ranges.

It's effective, bottom line.

It can be ruff but effective ...pair it ...its can be pulsed per dr h ...and it does burn cortisol 2x as fast ...love hate relationship

spaceinthesky said...
What do you mean it burns cortisol?

I am feeling like I might gain weight on this.

I like my body as is. It is the best (and worst) part of this hideous disease to look good still.

Is that something I should be mindful of?

I just watched the webinar on Bart again (Dr.B and Dr.M - Bart guru)
he mentioned adrenal fatigue often accompanies bartonella and when you add Rifampin - it depletes the cortisone - so a double whammy.

Thanks for the input everybody! I too just filled an RX for 600 mgs / day of Rifampin and am a bit hesitant to begin using it as I already have high liver enzymes (alt 130/ast 50) However I just read a journal where Dr Breischwerdt (mentioned above by Girlie) was able to actually lower someones persistently high liver enzymes using rifampin and doxy after trying many other combos with no success. My llmd and I are assuming bart eventhough I test negative, because my cat has tested positive for 3 different strains and I have heavy tick bite history. (Bart has been found in ticks but CDC hasnt proven tick transmission however many people test positive after tick exposure and some researchers have concluded it can be passed through ticks)

I'm kind of taking a leap of faith here tackling the bart, as I did test pos for lyme only thru igenix (I could have both) but my doc says bart tends to go after the liver more so than lyme, and I have more neuro issues and not too much joint pain or other 'classic' lyme symptoms which burrascano says indicates bart.

So im going to take the plunge and try it in hopes that it will finally lower my liver enzymes after having them elevated for over a year. I also have elevated ferritin (over 800) so hopefully the rifampin can address that too, as ferritin can result from infection / inflamation and if I can address the infection the ferritin should go down as well.

So now I need to decide what to pair the Rifampin with. Minocycline or clarithromycin. I will go with tindamax and possibly ceftin with either combo.

I hear good things about rifampin overall. One word I've heard a few times now is the way jrpsf described it "effective, bottum line" thats exactly what I want to hear. Any other experiences with Rifampin good or bad that anyone could offer up would definitely be appreciated, as would other things like how long used and how effective, what symptoms it help with exetera.......in other words....... thread BUMP!

blueberrymuffin said...
jenny what are Mauro symptoms?

losmoss best of luck with the treatment

i'm thinking she meant to type Neuro symptoms?

Girlie, the "Understanding Bartonella" webinar should be added to the "New to Lyme" sticky, though it might get lost in the deluge. The simple fact that neither a tick bite nor a cat scratch is necessary to get it may be important for people to learn. Also that it is as difficult to get a positive lab result as Lyme. My brother did get it from a cat scratch and was misdiagnosed by a pa for a month. He recovered after a month's treatment but it took 6 months before he was back to "normal".

Huddie shin pain anxiety stretch marks other skin stuff cysts rage bart has many faces ...im sure there is a syptom list somewhere

On rifampin it can crash the adrenals re burning corisol so be careful not everything is a herx

I've been on Rifampin from the start and other than the herxing I haven't had any problems. Liver enzymes continue to be good. I had a little trouble sleeping but I think that was treatment start in general. Pharmacist did note that soft contacts could stain as well as teeth.