Girlie... Galaxy Diagnostics is actually the best lab in the world for bartonella testing. This is what they do best, just like igenex is great at lyme testing.
Yes and a thing that is not mentioned in the webinar is dosing... Maybe it's kind of taboo topic to post doses on the forum but people seem to do it here on healingwell with no issues.
I actually found this out from one of the patients Dr. M treats... Dr. M is a bartonella specialist... Basically specializing in bartonella, he's done all the work from testing liver enzymes in some patients, to checking bart antibodies through the coarse of treatment, to doing live blood analysis in his patients, to knowing symptoms (which he mentioned is different in different people with bart). He has even demonstrated that bartonella likes to get on collagen.
In case anyone is wondering the dosing... I will just post it...
500 mg clarithromycin to start twice a day (500mg BID) for the first month. Then add in rifampin at low dose to the clarithromycin (300 mg BID) for 1 month. And then double the rifampin in the 3rd month.
Even he is saying it is not clear how long therapy is needed. But it sounds like after the 3rd medication change, it needs to be for 6 months. He has an antibody chart of one of his patients, and different bartonella antibodies are made by the immune system depending on the time of treatment. It seems like the last of the reactive bartonella antibodies are released somewhere around the 6 month mark. After chatting with one of his patients... she is saying the treatment needs to be for 1 year minimum. Well past the drop of symptoms.
He avoids fluoroquinolones because he is saying they carry the risk of causing damage to telomeres... Other docs say they damage DNA, which in turn causes a shortening of the telomeres when the cells go and make repairs. In people, we generally live longer than animals do, so fluroquinolones are best avoided.