Babesia depression - any better with herbs vs abx?

This seems to be a big topic lately, so I'm sorry if everyone is repeating themselves on various threads, but I'm not sure if this specific question has been answered.

I have Babesia and was treating for months (almost a year total now) with Mepron and now Malarone. As I was getting moodier and moodier, I switched because I know I'm sensitive to corn-derived ingredients, and Mepron contains one or more. So far I've only gotten up to 2 Malarone in the AM with 1 Biaxin (500 mg).

The depression, anxiety, and mood swings have gotten very severe. It's taking me back to the days of SNRI withdrawal that were a living hell and I swore I would never ever ever put myself through again. So probably a little bit of PTSD going on there too.


I've started pulsing the abx, but regardless of skipping 1 day, or two days, the psychiatric episodes continue - slightly less severe on the off days. In addition to my Wellbutrin (for 2 years now) I'm taking 5-htp, GABA, Tyrosine, B-vitamins, NAC (all in their proprietary blends for best absorption). I had to start taking .25 mg of Ativan for the anxiety attacks and at first it worked, but now it seems to put a loose bandaid on it at best. So I'm tempted to start taking that 2 x a day, fueling my fears that I'm becoming addicted again. I understand its a super crazy LOW dose, but I've had such a traumatic experience with antidepressants, that I don't want to take it AT ALL.

My doc wanted to put me on Lamictal. I've read the great responses, but I've also read the horror stories of the deadly rash and, actually more worrisome to me, the withdrawal affects when trying to quit. I know when I go back complaining of severe depression, he's going to just tell me to stop worrying and just take it. He works almost exclusively allopathically, and I"ve been trying to balance his Lyme tx with a naturopath for everything else. I'm being torn in two.

I still have some naturopathic remedies I can try - CBD oil, arsenica album (homeopathy), increased dose of everything, but its getting expensive and causing... MORE ANXIETY. can anyone vouch for these specifically as a remedy to depression/anxiety caused by Babs tx?

So obviously I want the Hand of God to write on the wall and tell me exactly what to do before I drive myself and my spouse crazy (we're getting bad. real bad.)

But I also want some input about how herbs may handle this differently. I know that Babesia causes depression. I know that Babesia die-off causes depression. I know that Babesia medication side-effects cause depression. So are herbs any better at killing it gently and reducing the depression caused by side effects, if not from die-off?

I can't go much slower than I already am, or I won't be treating at all. I can't detox much more than I already am - lemon water is forbidden on low-histamine diet, and I have so many meds there is literally no time to take a binder, unless I get up in the middle of the night. Insomnia has been severe, so now that I've finally gotten back to sleeping well, I refuse to interrupt healing sleep.

In other words, what is the lesser of 3 evils: don't treat and die of Babesia; treat with abx and suffer die-off with side effects; treat with herbals and suffer die-off and... what side effects?

and mostly, I just need to know that I'm not alone. Too many "trust me, I'm a/I work with/I know a" doctors telling me its my own fault, my LLMD is a quack and I need to stop taking ALL my meds and reset. And with Lyme-brain that hurts and confuses me more than I care to let it.

"So obviously I want the Hand of God to write on the wall and tell me exactly what to do before I drive myself and my spouse crazy (we're getting bad. real bad.)"

I had to laugh!! I know exactly what you mean. I've only treated with herbs so I can't compare to Mepron or Malarone. Even with herbs, I can only take tiny doses and feel like I'm herxing most of the time anyway. With herbs, you can go as low and slow for as long as you need to without the adverse effects of abx. To me, that's one of the greatest advantages.

One thing that struck me when reading the first paragraph is that your increasing depression and anxiety may not be from babesia. It could be from bartonella instead. When you treat one for a while, the others seem to come out. Bartonella can cause significant psych symptoms. You could test it out with houttynia or Byron White's A-Bart. Personally, I'm terrified of Byron White formulas.

Can you take d-limonene? I'm about to try that. Take a look at the thread on this from Lapis about limonene and biofilm. Sounds like it can really help with detox.

Finally, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. I'm sorry for what you're going through. I go through stages every other week it seems like questioning everything and nearly driving myself crazy. No, indeed Babsbunny, you are not alone. Wish I could be of more help.

Post Edited (WalkingbyFaith) : 3/5/2018 11:08:50 AM (GMT-7)

Babs - Babesia is a bit-h .....

Treating Babesia with Mepron is wicked.


I am on my second go-round on Mepron (taking it with Bactrim and Ceftin)
In 2016 I took Bactrim for a week and it lit up my back pain - turning it into burning back pain.

So now I'm taking it again and anticipating the bad burning nerve pain will come back.

The Mepron has a half life of 2-3 days making it difficult to get a lot of relief if you take a couple days off, as it is building up in your blood stream.

The first go round the Mepron increased my had pressure immensely....and also the sweating coupled with some daily bouts of anxiety.
(Are we having fun yet?)

When I stopped the protocol, my head pressure greatly reduced as well as the sweating and anxiety.

I'm on week two of the protocol and so far and have not got the terrible head pressure - but have had some increase in sweating.
Its early in the game tho...so it's likely coming.
The burning nerve pain showed its nasty face today...so I guess I'm going to be dealing with that again..and of course the second guessing - the doubts...etc (you know what I mean)

I don't have any suggestions for you - other than backing off the treatment for a bit, and focussing on detoxing.
But, know that you're not alone...I'm suffering right along with you and hoping that we see that light at the end of the tunnel soon.


((Hugs))