Bartonella help

Hi,

I never really post on to forums, but I’m in need of help. I have been going through hell for the past 6 years. It all started with panic attacks out of no where. I would get really dizzy and feel like I was going insane or going to die. Then I started to experience visual disturbances, dizziness, double vision, calf pain, head pressure, and depersonalization. Then I started to get very odd obsessive intrusive thoughts that would cause me a lot of panic. I’ve been to a neurologist, cardiologist, ent. None of which could really help. I went to a psychiatrist, who tried her best but I didn’t really feel improvement from the severe anxiety. Finally I came across lyme and it’s coinfections and I thought maybe I had the answer. I went to a llmd and got labs done. I tested positive for bartonella and anaplasma. They said I was positive for bart based off two iggs being in the “moderate” ranges. I’m just skeptical on the whole diagnosis. How can moderate be marked as positive? Also the llmds treatment plan includes a lot of herbs that I have not seen any research on. He sells them himself so i don’t know if he’s just trying to get me to buy them. He did prescribe doxycycline and cats claw which I know can help, but he has things like pau d’arco and coptis chinesis. I have no clue what those are.
Sorry for the long post, I just feel like I’m going insane and struggle with panic attacks and obsessive/intrusive thoughts so severely and want to get better. Basically what I’m asking is should I try this treatment for bartonella? Or am I wasting my time and money here? I would do anything to get better, but I’m a full time worker and student and most of my money goes to my bills and paying for school. Thanks for all your help.

Your symptoms do sound a lot like bartonella, and a lot like mine. I was diagnosed with bartonella because of all the bartonella rashes (stretch marks) I've had, but I've never tested positive, so it's possible to be infected and not have a strong positive.

Naturopaths and llmds love to give you long lists of herbs and supplements. Some of them don't have much research behind them on Lyme disease because the disease is so recent. I've had to try everything and weed out the ones that didn't help.

Pau d'arco I think has been used for killing parasites and bacteria and so has coptis chinensis (which I think is Chinese coptis). I never used pau d'arco, but I've though about trying it. I tried coptis chinensis tincture because it was recommended by my naturopath, and I discovered that it stains everything if you spill it, and I'm not sure if it helped me or not.

Thanks for the replies. I asked him to write me a prescription for rifampin like 5 minutes ago and he refused and claims it has too many side effects. He wants to try it as a last resort. The visual disturbances I get that no one can explain is that every night when I drive I see purple tracer lights from the cars driving by. I also get visual snow.

Barthelp said...
Thanks for the replies. I asked him to write me a prescription for rifampin like 5 minutes ago and he refused and claims it has too many side effects. He wants to try it as a last resort. The visual disturbances I get that no one can explain is that every night when I drive I see purple tracer lights from the cars driving by. I also get visual snow.

I didn't find Rifampin difficult to tolerate - other than having orange pee...I don't think I suffered from any side effects.


Rifabutin though....I'm trying to figure out if it's causing me the grief now...

Absolutely, panic attacks and anxiety can often be exacerbated when one is killing pathogen and creating die-off. This always happens for me when treating babesia. Are you doing a lot of detoxing? You may want to cut back on the amount of antimicrobials you are taking, or consider easing into them via pulsing (not taking everyday). Especially in the beginning, herxes can be very difficult to manage.

The pau d'arco and coptis are usually good herbs for these infections. Others that you may want to explore down the line include allicin, houttuynia, byron white formulas like A-bart (strong).

But for now just slowly ease into treatment, and it's ok if you have to cut back from even very low doses, some people can't tolerate 1 drop of antimicrobial tincture in the beginning, have to do like 1/4th of a drop (put one drop in glass and drink 1/4th of it).

In regards to the antibody tests, they have their various issues. Often they can signal infection may be in play, and then much comes down to clinical dx and also how does patient respond to therapies. If you herx to bart therapies it would indicate bart is in the mix.

You may also want to explore things to help with the anxiety. I found higher dose l-theanine helpful. And implementing various detox like epsom salt baths, infrared sauna, burbur, pinella, binders, etc. Lots of things to try. Some patients have MCAS issues related to the infections (mast cell activation syndrome), I think it's especially more common with patients who have stronger issues with herxing. In my case I've found comboing antihistamines to be helpful for tolerating therapies and flares. Could be worth exploring at some point, especially if you find that over time you have continued issues with herxing. https://www.lymedisease.org/lyme-sci-mcas-agony/

I've also always liked this overview from Wayne Anderson on the infections and various symptom manifestation: https://conniestrasheim.org/blog/2017/3/6/a-deep-look-at-the-symptoms-of-six-major-lyme-related-infections