Thoughts on future of zithro/mepron?

I've been taking Zithro/Mepron/Artimisiae for 2 months and while I haven't had more than a day or two with no symptoms its gotten me to a place where I can function at work, home, etc. most of the time. I see my LLMD in 2 1/2 weeks and he's going to ask me how I feel.

On one hand I feel that while I can function it feels like I'm just holding the symptoms back much of the time but not eradicating them. Month 1 compared to month 2 look pretty similar in terms of symptoms/frequency. The chest thing has taken a more front and center stage as well whereas before it wasn't as much of an issue.

I tried adding Bactrim but I have some aversion to Sulfa drugs so no go.

I've read that you should take them at least as long as a red blood cell cycle of 4 months to see where you stand. If I stop now I'll never know if the 4 months would've got me closer to where I want to be.

Another option I read is to double the mepron dose to 2 tsp 2x/day. When I first started this regimen 2 months ago I was taking malarone. That didn't go well I got really bad chest pains and couldn't handle it so I switched to mepron and that was more effective. Wondering if upping the mepron dose will provide further effectiveness.

My LLMD is fine switching regimens up after a month if they're not having the right effect. I can see him taking me in a different direction entirely meaning stopping zithro/mepron so really want to think this through first.

Thanks for any thoughts.

I agree with Girlie. From what I've read, Babesia needs to be treated for at least 4 months. I'm going longer with herbals just to play things safe.

Is it realistic to reinstate the Malarone? I don't know much about these drugs.

However, I do know there are way too many different strains of Babesia with new ones being discovered every few months that a multi-targeted approach just makes sense to me.

I think you know I always thought the chest pain you had on Malarone was a herx and *that* is effectiveness in my opinion.

Now that you've killed a few more parasites with your current regimen, maybe you can tolerate Malarone more.

Good luck with whatever you decide!

I'd stay on the same course for another couple months and try to incorporate light exercise if possible, especially with your shoulder and hip joints.