Is Cipro a good abx for Lyme & Co-infections?

Hi Sickman,

I do not know of Cipro being used for Lyme. It is in the fluroquinoline class of antibiotics; that group includes levaquin which is used for Lyme.

This class of drugs increases the chances of tendonitis and tendon rupture. It is probably avoided for that reason.

Other issues with it are the fact that the patient can't use caffeine, and has to avoid exposure to sunlight.

There are plenty of other antibiotics to rotate into your protocol without using these, IMHO.

FYI: I take cripto as well as factive which are both supposed to cause tendonitis......If I would swing a tennis racket or throw a football or baseball I would only need to do 10 swings or throws and my arm would be shot for a full week to rest it because of the tendonitus.....Regardless I am a pretty serious weight lifter(bench 315, shrug 545, curl 60s, back around 250) im 22 years old. and as long as you are controlled it will not effect you at all so yeah its fine for lifting, plus i cant go in the sunlight so throwing a ball or swinging a racket is out of the question regardless...but yeah i WOULDNT just cancel crypto out... Dr. H in NY is my LLMD and he say theres a lot of progress with people on crypto....hopefully this helps about your decision!!! GOOD LUCK!

Post Edited By Moderator (achievinggrace) : 1/7/2012 9:09:53 PM (GMT-7)

Cipro is used more for Bartonella than for Lyme, but it can be used in combination with other abx for Lyme. But there are stronger, newer abx in the same class (fluoroquinolone) that are more effective against Lyme.

The risk of tendon rupture is real, but nutritional supplementation can help to offset this risk: Calcium, Magnesium and Vitamin C are all recommended by Integrative physicians for their patients taking Cipro or other fluoroquinolone abx.

I would not recommend it at all as well. I took only 2 doses of Levaquin (same antibiotic family) and had really bad side effects (hallucinations, insomnia, pain in my Achilles tendon just to name a few) for when I had pneumonia. They are plenty of other antibiotics out there to take which are better. Personally I do not take antibiotics at all - I use the Rife machine and nutritional supplements. I feel that if you have chronic Lyme it is more effective with very low if any side effects.