Any of you used zithromax? And for HOW LONG?

I am using it right now.

I think it is among the least toxic antibiotics to use of all of them at our disposal. It's safe for kids and pregnant women as well. For me it is relatively mild on the digestive tract, I guess as long as you keep up with the probiotics.

It also has an unusually long half life in the body, and if you want you can conveniently dose it just once per day. I.e... 500 mg just once per day on an empty stomach. Even though it is claimed to have a long half life in the body... I have found lyme/bart symptoms to come back on a day or two after my last dose if I miss the next dose of zithromax. So I just keep taking it 500 mg a day anyways.

But to be honest when it comes to lyme it's one of the milder antibiotics... There are many abx out there that are just much more effective at killing lyme. Dr .B said the results with Zithromax with lyme show it's not very effective and I think he was actually dosing it at 1000 mg per day which seems high to me.

I think it's working for me though... Right now... No symptoms! And it worked for my bartonella too.

i start it tomorrow. my llmd has me on it only Monday Wednesday and Fridays along with doxy 100mg twice a day and tindazole 500mg 4 days a week 3 days off

Simela - I just got a prescription for 5 weeks worth of zithro - in a pill bottle - the regular ones you usually get antibiotics in. Not a Z-pack.
It's often combined with a tetracycline to treat lyme.
..or with rifampin to treat bartonella.
..or with Mepron to treat babesia.

Thanks LP - I've been on biaxin for many months, so thinking of finishing my zithro instead.

my son was on azithromycin for 10 weeks. That and amoxicillin at the same time; these both brought him to a really good place, and he tolerated them well. He was 4 at the time.
I hope it goes well for you!

Azithromycin (Zithromax) doesn't only come in Z-packs. It comes in whatever quantity the doctors orders it in.

Thank you! A lot of good info!

LymePickle:
What else are you taking with the Zithromax?

My sister and my mom took zitro with no problems. My husband, too. But only short courses. Sometimes that did the trick but most of the time they needed extra abx after the short course of zitro which wasn't enough most of the time for non Lyme related problems--or maybe is Lyme and they don't know. Maybe we all have a strain of it.

Ok so cefdin is good for Lyme. I read about dr B and cefdin. But it's toxic--kills red cells etc. maybe the reason it works is because it kills (I think) both the red and white cells and when the bacteria leaves in the cells, it dies when the cells are killed. What a trade off! Lol

Rimfapin scares me a little. We never took it. My son was on cefdin for only 10 days for a brutal ear infection. I think is a good drug for Lyme--his symptoms really improved even on such a short doze. He is on bactrim and amox now. It doesn't improve much. Except, he had a stomach virus for a few days and we stopped abx and his crushing migraines returned.

So, does bactrim work for babesia too or only for barto? Still not sure what is causing those aweful migraines that are too much to handle for an 11 yr old. I suspect babesia because he has some of the symptoms.

Thanks so much for all your responses. This is really helpful. We have an appointment in a few days. I think I should ask the doc to switch him on something else than bactrim. His most severe remaining symptoms are neck and lower back pain that don't go away no matter what we try. Thanks again!

Simela,

Bactrim can treat Babesia and Bartonella. However, I had a non-stop headache and stiff neck. I think it was die off that I never got through. It might have cleared at some point, but I gave up on it for now. I might go back to it later.

I have not tried Zith.

I hope you find the right meds.

LG:
Thank you! Yes the migraines stopped with bactrim but returned when he stopped taking it. The neck pain was present even prior to starting bactrim. So the bactrim prevents the migraines but neither the bactrim nor the amox solved the neck or lower back pain.