Not much response... Bartonella?

Hi everyone,

So I've been on doxy + clarithromycin + malarone + plaquenil for a few months now, with no noticeable improvement in my symptoms. I'm wondering if you guys think they might be bart, or perhaps something else entirely? I ask because my LLMD appointment is approaching in a few days and I may ask for a more bart oriented protocol. Would a bart test from galaxy dx be worth it, or should I just dive into treatment?

Symptoms:
- PRIMARY SYMPTOM: Pain in both arms, hands, and shoulders. Feels like pain in the muscles and tendons, mostly when I do anything repetitive like typing, writing, driving. Not much pain at rest. Hands ache a bit in the morning.
- Pain in my left leg, on the side of the calf beside the shin
- Pain on the front of both ankles where they connect to the feet. This one comes and goes.
- Light dry cough and sometimes sore throat at night
- Body-wide muscle twitching
- Fairly persistent light tremors in hands
- Vibration feelings in arms and body at times
- Buzzing in my knee
- Persistent stiff and painful sternocleidomastoid (right side) muscle in my neck
- What seems like circulation changes in my hands, often go red and blotchy when at my sides
- Low platelets, low WBC (neutrophils)

As always, any insight at all is appreciated. Thanks and I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! :)

Thanks for the reply Girlie. That makes me feel a little more confident in the direction I'm heading in. I noticed a few days ago some lines on the side of my stomach that faded as the day went on, so I didn't think much of it. However, I just found another one on my arm. Could be a scratch, but I don't remember scraping it at all today. I heard these can be a symptom of bart as well. I'll take a photo and show the LLMD.

Anyway, thanks!

I also have had good luck with my Bart symptoms while on rifampin. Have been on for almost 1.5 months and have noticed dramatic improvement in the foot pain shin pain and even for me I have stretch mark rashes which have stopped moving although that have not gone away yet. It is indeed a nasty bug, very debillitating. Best of luck but I would pursue Bart from the sounds of it.

Hi saiyaex -

I just started treating for bart so I think the others have posted more relevant info on that than I can at this point--all good stuff.

There are several other abx combinations that can address the bart besides doxy and clarithromycin so you might need to experiment.

I did also want to suggest a few ideas regarding a comprehensive protocol. Your approach w/ abx for killing the bugs seems good but you didn't mention what you are doing to detox what you are killing and how you are supporting your body's functions as it supports your treatment. This is key in order to bring relief from symptoms--if we don't get the dead debris and toxins out of our bodies, sometimes they can trigger the same types of symptoms.

The meds are also tough on our bodies so the detoxing helps our bodies process the drugs, particularly in support of the lymphatic system (all the filtering of the blood through our organs and lymphs), circulatory system, and specifically our liver and kidneys.

There is a lot of good info on detox on the forum if you need ideas.

-p