Self treating bart, need advice please

You might want to read this thread for some suggestions on how to kill bartonella

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=4315526

In particular, there is a risk of bartonella being resistant to rifampin. I had this problem, and rifampin didn't work.

These videos also suggest some treatment protocols for bartonella:

https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=4329145

i am in the UK also - and also self treating

my UK NHS lyme tests ELISA and Immunoblot were all negative - as were the bartonella tests
but my Armin labs tests were positive IgG and IgM for lyme (Tickplex test basic)

i have since been able to diagnose bartonella definitively via microscopy - see the thread link in my signature for more on that

where were you tested for lyme and bartonella ?

your options for dealing with suspected lyme are as follows
1, just assume its there and treat accordingly - there is some overlap between abx for Lyme and bartonella so this is a possible approach without too dramatic negative consequences

2, attempt to diagnose the presence of lyme via symptoms patterns and history
symptom patterns do overlap to a fair degree between lyme and bartonella - but typically bartonella has some more prominent symptoms - pain, gut issues/food sensitivities, psychological issues (esp in younger persons) - the most closely correlated diagnostic symptom assorted with Lyme in scientific studies is pain that comes and goes or appears to move around the body - eg a painful knee for a few days or week or so then an ankle or neck or shoulder for a week etc
Richard Horowitz MD has a published MSIDS questionnaire which is designed to answer the question - how likely is it that i have Lyme disease -
there are also symptoms lists from reputable sources that might help here
eg invisible international
your history may also be very significant - ie if you have a known tick bite then the chances of you having Lyme disease are much higher - if you have ever had a bulls eye rash then Lyme is a near certainty. if you have spent a great deal of time in the outdoors - eg hiking, camping, mountain biking - then again your chances are higher

3, further testing is the other option
the UK NHS tests seem to miss a lot of cases - its not clear why - but their method of testing and reporting of results is less than transparent in many cases - eg will not report bands for immunoblots just "positive" or "negative".
its not just an issue with the NHS - all Lyme tests have issues with sensitivity ( false negative results ) - but one way to combat this is to test via several different types of test or tests of the same type but from different test manufacturers - and take a view in the round
Armin labs are accessible from the uk via AONM and offer a range of tests types ( they do not manufacture the tests they use in house but use recognised manufacturers test kits).
there are a couple of other labs in Europe and there is also Igenex in the USA which can be accessed from the UK.
a summary of the studies on the subject shows an asymmetry between the prevalence of false negative and false positive results such that false positives seem to be 5-8x more common than false negatives - and this must be born in mind when evaluating mixed results.
for instance if one had a single positive result and 2 negative results - on balance is still more likely that the positive result is a true positive for lyme - due to the asymmetry

often its a case of piecing together clues from many different sources

I found bartonella to be very resistant to certain drugs, and very susceptible to others.

I took clarithromycin and rifampin for six months, and made little to no progress. When I took some other stuff that bartonella was susceptible to, I got a severe herx very quickly.