Anyone with Malarone expierence? I got questions.

My Lyme doctor just put me on Malarone for Babesia. I've also gotta get bloodwork done each month now while I'm on it. I've read Malarone can deplete folate / B12. Is that correct? My doctor didn't give me much info on supplementation while on Malarone. Can someone tell me what I should be taking while on this drug. Should I be taking daily supplementation of folate and b12? If so how much and what kind? Or anything else important I should know about Malarone before starting it? Its kinda freaking me out. Any help is much appreciated.

I hadn’t heard that malarone depletes b12 and folate.
Have you read this online - and can you share it with us?

I was on it for a couple months.
But didn’t test b12/folate.

I did test for them about a year later and my levels were fine at that time.

It did deplete my folate. I was taking methyl folate supplements, but still had problems. I felt fatigue and nervousness after about a week on malarone, and went for lab tests which revealed the low folate. I switched to mepron and haven't had any problems with that.

Malarone is a very easy drug to tolerate. I would just continue with your basic supplementation to support your immune system as there is no risk of depletion Of b12 or folate that I am aware of.

Actually b12+folate depletion can be good:

Are antivitamins the new antibiotics?
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200824131805.htm

Antibiotics are among the most important discoveries of modern medicine and have saved millions of lives since the discovery of penicillin almost 100 years ago. However, bacteria can develop resistance to antibiotics which then leaves doctors struggling to find effective treatments. Researchers have now described a promising new approach involving 'antivitamins' to develop new classes of antibiotics.

Antivitamins are substances that inhibit the biological function of a genuine vitamin. Some antivitamins have a similar chemical structure to those of the actual vitamin whose action they block or restrict. For this study, Professor Kai Tittmann's team from the Göttingen Center for Molecular Biosciences at the University of Göttingen worked together with Professor Bert de Groot's group from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry Göttingen and Professor Tadgh Begley from Texas A&M University (USA). Together they investigated the mechanism of action at the atomic level of a naturally occurring antivitamin of vitamin B1. Some bacteria are able to produce a toxic form of this vital vitamin B1 to kill competing bacteria. This particular antivitamin has only a single atom in addition to the natural vitamin in a seemingly unimportant place and the exciting research question was why the action of the vitamin was still prevented or "poisoned."

Tittmann's team used high-resolution protein crystallography to investigate how the antivitamin inhibits an important protein from the central metabolism of bacteria. The researchers found that the "dance of the protons," which can normally be observed in functioning proteins, almost completely ceases to function and the protein no longer works. "Just one extra atom in the antivitamin acts like a grain of sand in a complex gear system by blocking its finely tuned mechanics," explains Tittmann. It is interesting to note that human proteins are able to cope relatively well with the antivitamin and continue working. The chemist de Groot and his team used computer simulations to find out why this is so. "The human proteins either do not bind to the antivitamin at all or in such a way that they are not 'poisoned'," says the Max Planck researcher. The difference between the effects of the antivitamin on bacteria and on human proteins opens up the possibility of using it as an antibiotic in the future and thus creating new therapeutic alternatives.

Methylfolate Trap Promotes Bacterial Thymineless Death by Sulfa Drugs.
https://scholars.duke.edu/display/pub1157649
The methylfolate trap, a metabolic blockage associated with anemia, neural tube defects, Alzheimer's dementia, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer, was discovered in the 1960s, linking the metabolism of folate, vitamin B12, methionine and homocysteine. However, the existence or physiological significance of this phenomenon has been unknown in bacteria, which synthesize folate de novo. Here we identify the methylfolate trap as a novel determinant of the bacterial intrinsic death by sulfonamides, antibiotics that block de novo folate synthesis. Genetic mutagenesis, chemical complementation, and metabolomic profiling revealed trap-mediated metabolic imbalances, which induced thymineless death, a phenomenon in which rapidly growing cells succumb to thymine starvation. Restriction of B12 bioavailability, required for preventing trap formation, using an "antivitamin B12" molecule, sensitized intracellular bacteria to sulfonamides. Since boosting the bactericidal activity of sulfonamides through methylfolate trap induction can be achieved in Gram-negative bacteria and mycobacteria, it represents a novel strategy to render these pathogens more susceptible to existing sulfonamides.

Cignet said...
Girlie, what dose of Malarone and how many times a day were you taking it, when you were treating babesia? I'm planning on giving it a go.

I've sent you another email, look forward to hearing from you.

I took Malarone prior to the J clinic - when I was self treating.
I don’t recall if I took the standard dose of 1 pill twice daily (after a few days of two pills twice daily) or what Dr J prescribes.

I believe his protocol is 2 pills twice daily or maybe even 4 pills twice a day...

I took Mepron when I was treated at the J Clinic.

I read what LLMD MR prescribes - 2 pills twice daily for a few days and then 1 pill twice daily.