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How long should you stay on a particular abx regimen?

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Posted 1/13/2015 6:04 PM (GMT 0)
I have a LLMD appt on Thursday. I was wondering how long to stay on my current abx? How often should things be switched up? Are there any other abx that I should ask to try?

My symptoms have not improved at all. I haven't really herxed either. I did have increased anxiety attacks and some hot flashes. Maybe those were herxes?

September 24............ 100 mino twice a day
December 3............... 300 rifampin
December 15 ............. 500 tindamax twice a day

Should I stick with this for another month or two? Or do I ask to change things up? And if I should change, what should I ask for?

.....
Posted 1/13/2015 6:25 PM (GMT 0)
Maybe swop out mino for doxy for the next two months. Doxy works a bit different than mino and this is best time of year to be on it for sun sensitivity. Might want to first check on cost since generic doxy has skyrocketed in past six months. Give Rif and Tini another two months min.
Posted 1/13/2015 8:58 PM (GMT 0)
I agree with tickbite, give doxy a try!! in any case, no matter what I would switch mino to something else. my dr switched my therapy every time I was at a standstill (which was an average of every 4-5 weeks) - but this was not necessarily switching meds, just either increasing the doses or adding to the regimen. since you are at a standstill, I don't think the current regimen is working!! were you on anything else before this? are you on any herbs at all?? I would definitely ask about teasel root - that stuff is awesome. it pulls the lyme out of the joints and then the antibiotics kill it. it really works. anyway, Definitely try to replace the mino with doxy!! good luck! keep us posted! and ask more questions! =)
Posted 1/13/2015 9:02 PM (GMT 0)
forgot to mention - I don't have much of an opinion about the other two - rif and tind. I am not a fan of tindamax bc of the cancer risks, and I am also not a fan of being on too many things at one time, but I have heard that rifampin does do a good job! I just don't remember which abx rifampin is good to be in combination with. do you have any coinfections? you were suspecting bartonella rt?
Posted 1/13/2015 9:09 PM (GMT 0)
I believe Rifampin can be combined with either a tetracycline or a macrolide - so either doxy/mino works.
But, according to Dr. R. (LLMD in Seattle), rifampin can reduce the effectiveness of doxy.

So Chapelle mentioned tindamax and cancer risks. I was wondering why I was hesitating to add tindamax...so that must be the reason (I just forgot).
Posted 1/13/2015 9:29 PM (GMT 0)
I'm not worried about cancer. I'm willing to give the tindamax a fair shot. I've only been on the full dose for 2 weeks. I'd like to give it another month or 2 before I pull the plug.

My LLMD feels that I may have erlichia. However, all of my coinfection labs came back negative.

I did try doxy with flagyl for about 3 weeks. I had terrible psych issues on it so I had to stop. Not sure if it was the doxy or flagyl.

I don't have any pain of any kind. Just weakness.

I was on a bunch of herbal tinctures, but had to stop due to the alcohol in them. Can't mix alcohol with tindamax. None of the herbals made a difference anyway.

It just is frustrating that my body does not respond to any of these meds!!

I wonder if drugs like omnicef, bicillan, and others..... Might work better?

....
Posted 1/13/2015 9:39 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah, don't be worried about Tindamax causing cancer. The study was performed with a different (similar) drug and from what I gather very high and prolonged doses. Plus, these were lab rats.
I am sure you are more likely to get cancer from smoking or eating processed food and drink.
Posted 1/14/2015 1:41 AM (GMT 0)
Utahgal, I had the increase in anxiety too, it also felt like a fire going on in my body, but I had Bartonella too.

So no improvement? It could be the spirochetes are just in a kind of stale mate, their growth is being inhibited but they aren't really dieing.

You can switch to doxy, my LLMD actually told me mino is the better drug between the two though as it is far more lipophilic and passes into the brain and nerves much better than doxy does. The two actually affect lyme exactly the same, but mino dissolves into the spirochete better than doxy does as well. But that being said I haven't actually tried the doxy myself. Doxy is better for blood infections and since it is not as lipophilic it stays in the blood a bit longer. For initial tickbites or just starting treatment, doxy is better. But for more advanced infections I think mino is better.

It took me 6 weeks on a combo of mino + Septra DS + Plaquenil + tinidazole. And I was noticeably better. To be honest I was probably about 90% then! But getting from 90% to 100% as I have been doing has literally been 90% of the battle!

Do you have bart as well? I actually question if rifampin works on Lyme, many LLMDs say it does but I can't find any scientific articles backing that up, all I can find is it has no effect on them or any of the spirochetes for that matter. But it works for bart, Erlichia, and Anaplasma though. LLMDs say it works on the cyst form but again I can't find any studies backing this up so maybe I am missing something.

Omnicef is a good one as well... Also passes into the brain and kills when they are not even reproducing or in their growth phase! But the tetracycline class including doxy and mino are real killers when they grow. Your symptoms aren't getting any worse though are they? I would say the doxy isn't going to help much, I personally would go for the omnicef next.
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