Alternatives to rifampin?

Hi all,

Are there any alternatives to Rifampin to treat Bartonella? I have been symptom free for over 4-5 months but either Lyme or Bart May be creeping back in. I did 2 months of minocycline/rif in April/May and then did weekly bicillin shots after that which got me to the promised land (prior to this was 7-8 months with a quack LLMD who treated me for Lyme but misdiagnosed me with Babs, don’t really feel like going into it at the moment lol).

It wasn’t until i switched to mino and then finally Rifampin that I finally started to feel better. I have been weening off the bicillin (going from weekly shots, to 10 days, then 14) and began to notice a return of significant fatigue over the last 3 weeks. I’m hoping that if it is something that it’s just Lyme. I tested negative for mono this week to rule that out.

I had to abdandon Rifmapin after 2 months when i was taking it last year because I could no longer tolerate it. All my igenix, MDL labs were negative for Bart in Sept when I was last tested. So, I’m
Wondering what other meds or effective combos are out there for bart that don’t include rifampin just in case. I see my LLMD on Tuesday. Thanks!

Girlie said...
What was happening with the Rifampin? ie - tolerating it.

Rifabutin is good - but it is 'stronger' than the Rifampin IMO.
So,maybe not a good choice for you.

You could do Bactrim DS combined with another antibiotic. It isn't as effective as the Rifampin...but it's worth a try.

What did you take for Babesia?

I felt like I was going to faint, very weak, light headed. This didn’t start till around the 7-8 week mark. My LLMD tried altering the dosage to 2 pills 1 day then 1 pill the other and still the same result.

I never had babesia, but was being treated for it due to an igenix test result that was “equivocal”, I never had any of the typical symptoms associates with babs, it was Bart the whole time. I was given Mepron, zith, and doxy if I remember correctly. Worst experience of my life taking Mepron.

When I changed LLMDs and got the Bartonella diagnosis I was given Mino and Rif and after 4-6 weeks began to feel very good. He wanted me to finish 3 months but my body couldn’t take it past 8 weeks. Switched to bicillin LA for any lingering Lyme and was symptom free from about August until 3 weeks ago.