Over a week of Diflucan for possible yeast in throat

I've had a chronic sore throat since I contracted Lyme and Babesia 10 months ago (confirmed by Igenex tests). LLMD originally thought the head and throat symptoms were related but my head has been getting better on current medicine regimen (Omnicef/Tindamax/A-BAB) but not the throat so he referred me to an LLMD ENT specialist.

LLMD ENT stuck a camera down my throat and thinks he sees yeast so I've been put on Diflucan 1 pill a day for 30 days. 8 days in and I've had no change in symptoms. I'm wondering should I be seeing some improvement after this time or is this a false diagnosis?

My LLMD suspects it could also be bartonella so he put me on A-BART a few weeks ago which hasn't done anything. To add to the mix I've been on Cipro for 14 days (low dose 2x a day) for an unrelated groin issue and that's done nothing either.

I'm quite confused now. Not sure if it's yeast or Bartonella causing my chronic sore throat. I can say when I first started treatment for Babesia I was on Omnicef/Zithro/Mepron and the throat got better for a bit before regressing. I've heard Zithro is effective against Bart so wondering if that was helping?

I want to give my doctor some direction from my perspective to consider in future treatment. Thanks for any feedback.

Hi Rikky,

I'm inclined to believe the sore throat is caused by Lyme or a co-infection, rather than yeast. Because I do think if it was yeast related, there would have been a change. Also, because you felt improvement in the throat on the first antibiotic regimen, that seems to go with the fact that the throat pain is infection related.

Hi Rikky

Sorry about the sore throat — that is no fun at mealtime, taking medication, drinking anything…

If it is yeast, you'd be much better off with pure nystatin powder, which you put into a little water, swish around your mouth and swallow—it coats all the crevices of your mouth, throat and digestive track, which no pill can do. The nystatin powder is pure, not like the other forms of nystatin that are much more expensive and include fillers and even sugar.

The Diflucan is a systemic antifungal, so it's designed to do nothing until it hits your stomach, then it is supposed to penetrate the mucosal lining of the intestines, seep into your bloodstream and then it's taken throughout your body. That's a long way around to reach your throat. And I've read and known people not to respond to antifungals unless it's coating the throat. Not sure why but sometimes the Diflucan just doesn't work. I kind of agree that you should have had some reaction by now but also, the throat is a tough area and it's also possible it's not effective with whatever yeast you have.

Have you had any signs of die off?

I had chronic sinusitis, bronchitis, ear and throat aches, eye problems, skin problems—all due to yeast/fungal overgrowth that all MDs were treating as bacterial infections. But once I started the antifungals I did have some relief.

The other posts about the Bart are good—and I agree that you should suspect that it's part of the lyme or bart infection. I'm not sure what dose of the BW formulas you're taking, but the great thing about them, at the right doses, they also coat your throat on the way down. You might experiment with those a bit more. I'm one of those people who has a significant reaction to them but only at a pretty high dose.

If you're not already, in general you need to be taking high doses of probiotics and an anti fungal while you're on abx. The anti fungal can be natural as long as you don't already have a yeast/fungal issue, which you might.

Here is more info about the pure powder and antifungals, in general:
goo.gl/d8iLwe

Hope this helps-

-p