Alternatives to Mepron for treating Babesia Dunanci

Hello all,

(A little background info on my story which I've told before, otherwise you can just scroll to the bottom)

After treating Lyme with Doxy 200mg 2x/day, Azithromyicin 500mg 1x/day, and Tindamax 500mg 2x/day 3 days on/4 days off for a little over 3 months, I achieved about an 85% improvement in symptoms, most of that gained in the first 3-4 weeks. I received an equivocal score of 20 for Babesia Duncani via igenex testing and on Jan 19th began treatment for Babs with Mepron 750ml 2x/day and Azithromyicin 500mg 1x/day, plus Tetracycline 500mg 3x/day (to switch up from the doxy). I took my first dose on a Friday night and by Saturday afternoon I had a 2-3hr period of significant depression that came and went but scared me, and I also spent that weekend on the couch due to dizziness and light-headedness. After that, I was able to tolerate things fairly well, I went to work on Monday and other than some increased anxiety over my baseline here and there, I had no major problems.

As detailed in my previous thread here: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=3968709 around week 3 I noticed a significant uptick in anxiety that my Klonapin .25mg 3x/day was not touching, and by the end of the week 4 I had to stop everything, l had bad headaches especially near my temples, light headedness, fatigue, severe crushing anxiety and the feeling like I was weak and may faint. It is exactly what I imagine hell to be like. Chalking this up as the dreaded babs herx.

After a week of being off Mepron and the other Abx (except for mon and tues when I restarted the Zith and low dose of doxy 100mg 2x/day) which was absolute hell and focusing on detoxing via Alka Seltzer gold, drinking a lot of water, an Epsom salt bath, etc, when I woke up on Thursday I felt like my normal self. However, I started to get a weird sensation around the front of my forehead around lunchtime and about an hour later while driving home had a near-fainting episode where I barely made it into the parking lot. I talked to my LLMD and he advised me to go home and start taking the Mepron and Zith again rather than go to the ER but I decided to go to ER anyways just to be safe. Bloodwork was fine except my sodium was slightly low at 129, EKG fine, and CT scan of head fine. The same near fainting episode in September before I had found out I had lyme is what triggered everything and led me here on this journey. (I had MRI, CT scan, bloodwork, EEG, Echocardiogram all after that to rule out anything else).


I basically feel like I did prior to beginning treatment (severe anxiety to the point my body almost convulses, irritability, fear of leaving the house), except now for the last 2 weeks I've added poor appetite and, worst of all, feeling like my brain/personality have been altered to the point where I find that I have to fight like heck to act normal. Pressure in the head comes and goes, too. I restarted Mepron and Zith Thursday night after getting back from the ER, but I didn't take the Friday morning dose as I wanted to ease my way back in for fear of depression, herxing, etc. Last night scared the living crap out of me, as a wave of depression hit me in the evening and I felt like as was about to lose control of myself. I slept it off and vowed never to take the Mepron again (and now try to plow through like I did initially) as it is just too much to handle. I sit here feeling worse than before I started treatment as I think the medicine basically stirred up the babs that was basically dormant (I had no night sweats, air hunger, etc, but now I am starting to see those) with my biggest concern being the continued affects of my personality as well as crippling anxiety

Now then, what other options are there for treatment? I see my LLMD on Tuesday. I know the next antibiotic is Malarone, which I would be willing to try. Are there IV drugs or other combinations of oral ABX that have worked for anyone? I haven't tried the herbal route yet. Injections? (my buddy who had lyme and babs was getting Bicilin injections, I think). I have been able to work and tolerate everything up until this past week. I am most concerned about getting my mind back, I can deal with air hunger and night sweats. I almost regret trying to treat this nasty bugger at this point. In the meantime, I am going to continue with the Doxy (will up to the 200mg 2x/day dose tomorrow) and Zith and keep up with some of the supplements of B vitamin complex, omega 3, magnesium, turmeric, L theanine, Alka Seltzer gold, and probiotic.

Please help!

Girlie said...
So it was after 3 weeks of taking the Mepron plus tetracycline and azithro that you had the really bad herx? And then at 4 weeks stopped?

Well...I have to say you made it quite far.

Mepron is hard on the head. I didn't get headaches....I got extreme head pressure (which was a symptom already...that Mepron increased) But, it did get a lot better as I continued with the treatment.

Malarone has less atovaquone so you may be able to tolerate it better.

Or, maybe you could try the Mepron again...after awhile...but put in some planned days off after several days on it before it gets to a debilitating herx.

I don't know of any IV abx that target Babesia.

The depression that I felt last night (even though it was only for a few hours) and mood/personality changes that the Mepron has given me (I honestly think I still may be herxing 9-10 days later, is that possible?) have me swearing off taking it ever again. Is it possible that the Mepron also releases some Lyme spirochetes since it’s a cyst buster? This morning I returned to the 200mg dose of doxy and I actually noted some improvement/relief of my mood issues with that dose, I can feel it slowly wearing off now. Dunno if that’s because it’s killing Lyme or if it’s providing some anti-inflammatory benefit for the parts of my brain that are inflamed from the babesia treatments.

Sorry if I missed this, but did you try a smaller dose of the Mepron? It has strong effects on mood/anxiety for me too, though not as strong as for you. After a bad first day on it, I found that have to start with half a dose each time I've been off it for awhile. I work up to the full dose and then I'm ok.

I switched from a Mepron to Malarone because yes, it gave me geat Depression and anxiety. It contains xanthan gum and flavoring that are probably derived from corn, and I know corn gives me mood swings. Babesia also causes mood issues, so I wanted to lessen them as much as possible.

Grapefruit Seed Extract hits Babs, but as I just mentioned on another thread, it hit HARD. It brought out a lot of anxiety and panic.

I’ll be adding Coartem to my Malarone and Biaxin. That’s Rx, but you can get Artemisinin online. I don’t know if it works alone, I’m using it with atovaquone.

Incidentally, I've been off the Mepron for a week break and the anxiety is ok, but depression is still strong. Ugh.

Rikky1 said...
Malarone is easier on most folks than Mepron. My wife does Malarone I've been doing Mepron.

I must warn you Babesia Duncani is VERY HARD to get rid of. It takes persistence and time. I did on and off treatment for 9 months and couldn't shake it. I just finished a straight year of treatment and I've finally gotten it beaten down enough I can go on a maintenance protocol so it doesn't think about making a comeback.

Dr. J in DC knows Babs well and hits it first because he knows its hard to get rid of and can block progress on other infections. He says 4-6 months for most folks some outliers like me and those who have the Duncani strain can take twice as long.

This particular parasite can't be assumed to be eradicated by symptoms. You have to check the inflammation of your liver and spleen. You need a good LLMD to do this.

By very hard, are you referring to the time required, or by the amount or intensity of herxes you had? What did you treat with besides Mepron? What would a maintenance protocol entail?

Dahlias said...
Sorry if I missed this, but did you try a smaller dose of the Mepron? It has strong effects on mood/anxiety for me too, though not as strong as for you. After a bad first day on it, I found that have to start with half a dose each time I've been off it for awhile. I work up to the full dose and then I'm ok.

I haven’t tried it like that. I took a full dose Thursday night and skipped the morning dose altogether and still got walloped by an episode of severe mood changes. I am just so fearful of that and herxing again that I don’t think I can tolerate even my llmds 3 days on/ 4 days off recommendation. I will ask him Tuesday what to do next. All I feel like the 4 weeks of Mepron did was ruin my life for over a week with a herx plus wake up a pretty dormant case. I know have the air hunger, memory issues, occasional night sweats, and other things I didn’t have before, plus horrendous anxiety and some instances of depression! The symptoms all come and go except the anxiety.

Solaris719 said...


How long did you take Mepron before switching? What was the switch to malarone like for you? Any side effects? How long taking it before you noticed improvement? The mood issues are my #1 concern as well.

I used Mepron for almost a year, but on-and-off. maybe 3 or 4 groups of weeks/months with some breaks in between. I think my issues are just compounding, plus we doubled my mepron to 2 tsp b.i.d. What really messed me up was doxycycline destroying my gut, and a surprise reaction from GSE. So I just kind of decided I needed to overhaul the whole protocol.

I've only been doing malarone about a week, and I started with 1 tablet in the AM with biaxin. I've now raised it to 2 tablets in the AM. So far I don't feel much but overall weakness in the mornings random times throughout the day.

I'm a little depressed, but also have some moments of great joy and energy. I'm battling serious insomnia, so that's not helping. I think other issues are my main problem - maybe glutamate, ammonia, or high cortisol.. we're peeling back those layers. I don't think malarone is the cause - these issues started before malarone.

Well I’ve always fought with depression. It flares up when I’m on Mepron, and dissipates when I take a break. Also flares when I eat something I shouldn’t.

Girlie said...

Solaris719 said...

Rikky1 said...
Malarone is easier on most folks than Mepron. My wife does Malarone I've been doing Mepron.

I must warn you Babesia Duncani is VERY HARD to get rid of. It takes persistence and time. I did on and off treatment for 9 months and couldn't shake it. I just finished a straight year of treatment and I've finally gotten it beaten down enough I can go on a maintenance protocol so it doesn't think about making a comeback.

Dr. J in DC knows Babs well and hits it first because he knows its hard to get rid of and can block progress on other infections. He says 4-6 months for most folks some outliers like me and those who have the Duncani strain can take twice as long.

This particular parasite can't be assumed to be eradicated by symptoms. You have to check the inflammation of your liver and spleen. You need a good LLMD to do this.

By very hard, are you referring to the time required, or by the amount or intensity of herxes you had? What did you treat with besides Mepron? What would a maintenance protocol entail?

I think he means it's hard to get into remission - stubborn infection. So may take a long time and may need high doses of Antimalarials.

I'm about to start my protocol tomorrow and it's 2 tsp twice daily of Mepron. That's a high dose.
Paired with it is two abx plus Artemisinin.

Wow, that’s a high dose of Mepron! What abx are you pairing with it? I would be worried about having a huge herx of off that!

Girlie said...

Solaris719 said...

Girlie said...

Solaris719 said...

Rikky1 said...
Malarone is easier on most folks than Mepron. My wife does Malarone I've been doing Mepron.

I must warn you Babesia Duncani is VERY HARD to get rid of. It takes persistence and time. I did on and off treatment for 9 months and couldn't shake it. I just finished a straight year of treatment and I've finally gotten it beaten down enough I can go on a maintenance protocol so it doesn't think about making a comeback.

Dr. J in DC knows Babs well and hits it first because he knows its hard to get rid of and can block progress on other infections. He says 4-6 months for most folks some outliers like me and those who have the Duncani strain can take twice as long.

This particular parasite can't be assumed to be eradicated by symptoms. You have to check the inflammation of your liver and spleen. You need a good LLMD to do this.

By very hard, are you referring to the time required, or by the amount or intensity of herxes you had? What did you treat with besides Mepron? What would a maintenance protocol entail?

I think he means it's hard to get into remission - stubborn infection. So may take a long time and may need high doses of Antimalarials.

I'm about to start my protocol tomorrow and it's 2 tsp twice daily of Mepron. That's a high dose.
Paired with it is two abx plus Artemisinin.

Wow, that’s a high dose of Mepron! What abx are you pairing with it? I would be worried about having a huge herx of off that!

I'm hoping that my seven months of Mepron at 1 tsp twice daily has reduced the load so that the double dose doesn't cause too much suffering.
I'm a bit concerned because I got bad head pressure on the previous dose that was kind of scarey for awhile.

I'm taking Ceftin and Bactrim with it.

I tried Bactrim once before and it gave me bad burning pain in my back. I usually have back pain but not quite like that.

Good luck with your treatment. Right now I am scared and sorry that I ever started treating this nasty thing. All my treatment for nearly 4 weeks seems to have done is unlock all these terrible symptoms of crippling anxiety, constant fear, brief episodes of depression and irritability, occipital tightness and head pressure, plus the usual (but completely manageable) night sweats and air hunger, none of these things which were really a problem for me except the anxiety previously (and which resolved treating Lyme when that’s all I thought I had). Oh, and I had an over week long herx which felt like living in hell. I’ve just been taking doxy and Azithromyicin since Friday and will either see my LLmD Tuesday or today if I can beg them to squeeze me in. 4 weeks ago I was pretty much fine. How long can a babs flare up or herx last? I’m on day 11. Are there any ways to calm the flare ups besides abx? I’ve only had that one dose of Mepron on Thursday night since last Thursday when this began. I am feeling like I won’t be able continue working for the first time since my disgnosis back in Oct.

NicHostetler said...
Like others have said, Babesia is nasty and does really affect your mood and your head physically and psychologically.

I have read a lot of people say that Mepron can cause this terrible depression like you describle where you feel like you're losing control. Most people say after a few days break they can resume and it goes away. I personally haven't had that happen yet, (knock on wood) but I have gotten really down and feel like I will never get better.. I think that is "normal" with us though.

I have herxed on mepron and zith but not this severe but I think its because I took herbs for 4-5 months before taking antibiotics. I was taking a long list of herbals but specifically CSA that targets babesia (and bartonella a little).

Maybe you could try herbals for awhile.. it makes it easy to control how quickly you move up or down. You can start with just a drop or two a day and slowly work your way up. Once you get your bacteria load down then maybe you can try that mepron and zithromax again.

Just an idea.. hang in there!

Thank you Nic, good to hear from you again. I will ask my LLMD this evening when I see him about Herbals. I suspect he will suggest Malarone as one of the options. I can deal with air hunger, night sweats, etc, I just need to control the anxiety/depression and be able to drive and keep working without worrying about fainting. Has anyone ever gone on an SSRI while battling this horrible bug? Anyone have appetite issues? I had my wife stock up on ensure this weekend as my appetite has been absent for 3 weeks which im sure hasn’t helped my cause.

Solaris719 said...
So I saw my LLMD, and this is what he recommended. Thoughts?

Prescriptions:

Coartem 3 days on/4 days off
Azithromyicin 4 days on/ 3 days off
Doxycycline 200mg 2x/day
Cortef (1/2 pill) 2x/day (to address adrenal issues)

Supplements:

artemisinin 100mg 2x/day
Magnesium (already taking)
Glutathione
NAC 900mg 2x/day
Omega 3 (already taking)
B vitamin complex (already taking)


I’m not too familiar with Coartem, cortef (though I know what hydrocortisone is), NAC, or artemisinin. Any thoughts?

This is about my same protocol, except I do not take cortef or glutathione, and I have different antibiotics (but I used to take the ones you are on). I haven't started the NAC or Coartem yet - I'm working up to them. I will wait for my adrenal test to come back before addressing the cortisol issue.