Thoughts on treatment options

Many patients will give you different answers regarding herbals, abx, alt stuff, etc. There was a big survey of chronic lyme patients a couple years ago about all the therapies out there. Abx were reported most effective and then herbals. I always think its best to try to determine which infection is giving you most trouble and treating that. There seems to be an emerging consensus that bartonella is the hardest to wipe out if it is chronic and disseminated - sometimes requiring several years of targeted antibiotic treatment. Lyme persister protocols like DSF and Dapsone would be what I would be trying if I thought Lyme was main issue (neither are harsh on the microbiome). Babesia seems least problematic for most - I would do combination antimalarials with cryptoleptis, also tafenoquin is also an emerging babesia therapy that might be by far the most potent but also has bad side effect profile. Also, fluconazole is a potent anti-candida treatment that is also used by a prominent LLMD to treat lyme and bart usually i combo with a tetracycline.

I have a bad case of bartonella. My personal philosophy is that I am going to try to eradicate this infection at all costs. I don't believe in this whole - live with the microbe symbiotically again thing. I believe antibiotics (bactrim, minocycline, macrolides, rifabutin, houtuynia - new therapies on the horizon too) in combination with herbs are the best way to do it.

Here's the Rawls list of common treatments, just to help provide some perspective about how many options you have, if you decide not to continue with pharmaceutical antibiotics. https://rawlsmd.com/treatment-guide

Seems very odd to me that your doctor isn't concerned about recurrent yeast issues and gut issues. Are you on protocols to deal with yeast and gut health as well? People do get better with pharmaceutical antibiotics, but not usually exclusively; most LLMDs address the gut, immune health, nervous system, diet, and other angles as well.

I hope you find the best path for you soon!

Thanks guys@ jason2233 thank you, I will have to look deeper into some of your suggestions. I am taking several of those herbs and antibiotics so maybe I’m on the right track. I believe babesia is the worse one for me right now but I usually go back and forth between babesia and bartonella.

@saraeli thank you I’ll look into that list. I thought so too. I’m at a trusted clinic it’s actually Dr. J clinic but I’m seeing one of the NP’s there. But I am concerned bc the one I see I really like her but she’s going on leave not sure how long and I’ll be seeing another NP that was available which I’m not thrilled about. They did spend several months working on stabilizing me before starting antibiotics which did include probiotics but I did tell her I was continuing to have recurrent thrush off and on and other yeast. But I’ve been trying to be even stricter with my diet and it helps some but I worry if the antibiotics will just further ruin my gut. I was very strict no gluten, sugar, dairy for many years but I was still very symptomatic however I felt the flare up so it was easier to force myself to avoid them. I did later use maple syrup and honey but I avoid any processed foods and gluten. I started juicing and cut out all sugars right now it seems this week better under control. Do you have any suggestions for gut health protocol?

@bailey thanks totally get where your coming from. It is so frustrating how expensive treatments are and insurance doesn’t usually cover the best ones. I think to it’s hard not to know if your being overcharged and overpromised. It’s a hard balance and right now.

Sarahjane09 said...
I discussed with my dr in beginning about having gut issues including frequent thrush and staph-yeast infection underarms

I don't recommend the Jemsek Clinic for this reason, they don't understand the importance of nutrition and methylation, and will throw your body into the pharmaceutical meat grinder regardless of whether it is safe. I had the same problem there with thrush in my armpits, they did rx nystatin cream, which helped, but it was treating a symptom caused by under-methylation.

An analysis of my SNPs revealed I have low antioxidant production and impaired detox pathways, this can throw the body into a feedback loop of inflammation that has no connection to Lyme, and antibiotics will worsen it. I gave them the report during my first appointment and told them about my problems with methylation, they didn't address it, and at the time I didn't understand how important it was. I've spent $15k trying to recover from their IV treatment, which itself was very expensive. It's a red flag when they ignore your symptoms, go elsewhere to have the fundamentals addressed before you do antibiotics.

This video explains how complex the effects of your SNPs are and why supplementation is necessary to support them. When a doctor throws folate at you and calls it methylation support, they don't know what they are doing, that should be the last step in a multi-tiered approach. Tree of Life has several practitioners available, the owner is a member of ILADS and has done a lot of research into how SNPs lead to patients like me who don't recover on antibiotics.

acarined- Oh Thank you for this info it sounds very similar to me….my foggy brain isn’t understanding all of it completely right now lol but it sounded like a lot of my concerns. Going to reread later but appreciate you sharing this with me.

Girlie-I agree it was a strange list, seemed he added a lot of detox methods onto the treatment list

Bluelyme- interesting about the licorice might have to try that. That’s interesting to see the infected cells. Is that something your able to do yourself or by someone else? I’m going to think on it try the antibiotics a little longer and look into other options.