HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

What antibiotics are known to suppress bone marrow on a long term use?

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 10/17/2021 10:51 AM (GMT 0)
If I have to take abx long term, I want to known how safe they will be. Conquering these chronic bacterial infections takes time. And since we now have covid around, it is better to be on the safer abx long term.

From what I know, b-lactams, such as penicillins and cephalosphorins, and bactrim, which belongs to sulfonamides, are able to suppress bone marrow.

However, do fluoroquinolones, rifampin (rifabutin), doxycycline (minocycline) and azithromycin (clarithromycin) suppress bone marrow? And even if they do, I assume it has to do with taking higher than usual dosages?
Posted 10/18/2021 2:07 AM (GMT 0)
I took most of those antibiotics and never had any problems with red blood cell production or other obvious bone marrow effects. However, minocycline did suppress my immune system. It's not specifically a bone marrow effect but it definitely made me more susceptible to viral infections, including covid.

I took the minocycline anyway because it was one of the few things that was effective against bartonella. Bactrim was also effective against bart, but it messed with my kidney function too much.

I did get covid repeatedly, and it became quite a problem. I eventually got rid of it with a combination of atovaquone, ivermectin, and fluvoxamine.
Posted 10/18/2021 7:51 AM (GMT 0)
Did you have CBC test to see that minocycline lowered white blood cells? And bactrim causing kidney problems, did you do a creatinine and BUN test to confirm that?

Your repeated covid illness was confirmed with a pcr swab or not? All these questions are important.
Posted 10/18/2021 12:12 PM (GMT 0)
Bactrim seemed to mess with my kidney numbers a bit but not terribly. Creatinine/BUN stayed in range.
Have been on multiple ABX including Minocycline, and my white blood cell count fluctuates from upper 4s to over 6.
Posted 10/18/2021 12:58 PM (GMT 0)
Bactrim caused my creatinine to be high on a blood test, yes. It also caused my sodium and potassium to be a bit more variable. I seem to have kinda poor adrenal function, so anything that messes with that caused me to alternately pee a lot and then feel bloated. I had this problem with several different meds, but bactrim and rifampin were among the more problematic.

Minocycline didn't affect my white blood cell counts much, but had a noticeable anti-inflammatory effect where it would suppress herxing for a day or two. Once the minocycline wore off, the herx symptoms would come back.

Covid caused the usual symptoms, making it difficult to breathe, peeling skin on fingers and toes, headaches, itchy eyes. I didn't bother with the PCR test as it was extremely obvious what it was. Mepron worked pretty quickly, stopping the virus within a few hours. The problem is that this didn't get rid of the virus, and it would just come back when I stopped the mepron. So eventually I reduced the mepron and took fluvoxamine to try to boost my immune response. This seemed to work, but it took a long time to get rid of the covid infection.
Posted 10/18/2021 2:20 PM (GMT 0)

Quin said...
Bactrim caused my creatinine to be high on a blood test, yes. It also caused my sodium and potassium to be a bit more variable. I seem to have kinda poor adrenal function, so anything that messes with that caused me to alternately pee a lot and then feel bloated. I had this problem with several different meds, but bactrim and rifampin were among the more problematic.

Minocycline didn't affect my white blood cell counts much, but had a noticeable anti-inflammatory effect where it would suppress herxing for a day or two. Once the minocycline wore off, the herx symptoms would come back.

Covid caused the usual symptoms, making it difficult to breathe, peeling skin on fingers and toes, headaches, itchy eyes. I didn't bother with the PCR test as it was extremely obvious what it was. Mepron worked pretty quickly, stopping the virus within a few hours. The problem is that this didn't get rid of the virus, and it would just come back when I stopped the mepron. So eventually I reduced the mepron and took fluvoxamine to try to boost my immune response. This seemed to work, but it took a long time to get rid of the covid infection.

How long did you take bactrim and rifampin before you stopped. I'm taking rifampin now and it definitely puts a strain on my kidneys. Did you take rifampin, then do a creatinine/BUN test later and see that they're elevated and then quit rifampin?
Posted 10/18/2021 2:36 PM (GMT 0)
The creatinine problem didn't show up with rifampin, just bactrim.

Rifampin was majorly stressing my adrenals. I was peeing a lot, losing salt and getting headaches. I managed to eat enough extra salt that sodium came up in the normal range on the blood test, but all the adrenal stress elevated my homocysteine (an unwanted byproduct of adrenaline production). It also messed with my bowel function and sleep. On top of that, the rifampin stained my teeth and bartonella became resistant to it, so I quit taking it.
Posted 10/18/2021 3:31 PM (GMT 0)

Quin said...
The creatinine problem didn't show up with rifampin, just bactrim.

Rifampin was majorly stressing my adrenals. I was peeing a lot, losing salt and getting headaches. I managed to eat enough extra salt that sodium came up in the normal range on the blood test, but all the adrenal stress elevated my homocysteine (an unwanted byproduct of adrenaline production). It also messed with my bowel function and sleep. On top of that, the rifampin stained my teeth and bartonella became resistant to it, so I quit taking it.

Yeah, rifampin is a harsh drug. It messes with my bowel function too. I'm not sure if it is the adrenal that I feel being strained by rifampin, but when I take 600 mg all at once instead of 300x2 a day, I get more kidney (adrenal glands?) pain. Like they get achy. Are kidney supposed to hurt when they are being damaged? I know the liver doesn't hurt if you have high ALT/AST which shows liver damage, however I have no idea if that applies to kidneys as well.
Posted 10/18/2021 3:42 PM (GMT 0)
No, kidneys aren't supposed to hurt. That's a little concerning as it could be a sign of kidney stones.

Rifampin made me pee more and made my pee orange, but didn't cause kidney pain.
Posted 10/18/2021 4:17 PM (GMT 0)

Quin said...
No, kidneys aren't supposed to hurt. That's a little concerning as it could be a sign of kidney stones.

Rifampin made me pee more and made my pee orange, but didn't cause kidney pain.

You might be right. I may have kidney stones. I've not figured this out, however I've been taking 4000-5000 iu of vitamin d as s prevention for covid and respiratory viruses, might have accumulated to much calcium, plus I drink milk and kefir for probiotics, who knows. I'll check it.
Posted 10/20/2021 12:00 AM (GMT 0)
If so, you wouldn't be the first person to find out the hard way that vitamin D is toxic in excess, especially if you take excess calcium too. Many people on this forum have reported problems with this.

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=4168861
https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=4229561
https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=4248334
https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=4268000
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply