Babesia is an organism that is found in ticks and sometimes infects a person along with Lyme disease. Babesiosis causes an array of symptoms that change over time. You do not have to have all of the symptoms at once. Keep in mind, symptoms may change over time. In fact, symptoms of a Babesia infection could literally change every few minutes making you think you’re going crazy. It’s a stealth infection so you would not respond to a two week course of antibiotics like other typical infections. Babesiosis often requires 6 to 12 months of treatment, if not lifelong herbal antimicrobials (after the drugs) in order to keep it at bay. Treatment varies from doctor to doctor.
There is a Part I to this article which you can read by clicking here, and it is more in-depth.
In the meantime, I will quickly list some of the classic symptoms before moving on to testing and treatment:
* Sweats. You might just get forehead droplets, or you may drench your clothes. This is not a hot flash.
* Thermal dysregulation. You feel hot, clammy and cold all at once.
* Headaches. Often these occur in the frontal region, or behind one (or both) eyes and unfortunately, you’ll get diagnosed with a “sinus headache” but it’s not.
* Mood problems. These range from mood instability, insomnia, depression, anxiety and bipolar.
* Dysautonomia. You may have the feeling of disequilibrium, or you may have gait disturbances and walk into walls a lot. You may have tinnitus.
* Heart palpitations. Cardiac irregularities are pretty hallmark and some of you may have POTS (postural orthostatic hypotension).
* Air hunger. It may get diagnosed as “asthma” or “shortness of breath” but it’s neither. It may feel like you can’t catch your breath.
* Déjà vu. This one is pretty hallmark, and it’s the sensation that you’ve already experienced an event, situation or conversation when in reality it is being encountered for the first time.
Testing of Babesia
Ticks are by a mile the fastest way to catch Babesia, which comes with Lyme disease. It’s injected into you by one tick which almost always carries multiple organisms. Testing is hard I’ll be honest. There are only a couple of strains that are detectable from a blood test, so many physicians will diagnose you based upon clinical presentation, even if your blood test is negative.
Babesia FISH Assay
Igenex offers this test. You can find more complex information about this (in case you’re a doctor) at the Igenex website. This is for direct detection of Babesia species (B. microti, B. duncani) using blood sample. The test is looking for RNA directly from the organism by dropping a fluorescent dye on the little glass slide with your blood smear.
This is not an antibody (what I call a “shadow” test). The microscope magnifies the slide 1000 times using a specific filter for the selected dye to see if there is any RNA from the organism. Since, the rRNA (ribosomal RNA) is present in the organism, it causes the parasite to throw off a fluorescent signal. So if you have a FISH test, and if it’s positive then you have Babesia infection, whereas if it is negative you may still have Babesia because there are other species.
Babesia IgG/IgM (Babesia Microti or Babesia Duncani) IFA Test
This test is also offered by Igenex. It is for the detection of immunoglobulins of Babesia (specifically IgM and IgG antibodies). They use IFA or Immunofluorescent assay. It’s an indirect test. Red blood cells from hamsters infected with Babesia parasites, are fixed on a glass slide then your serum is added.
If Babesia-specific antibodies are present the slides will light up under the fluorescent-detecting microscope. Positive Babesiosis titers are generally 1:160 or higher. Early in disease the titers may rise 4-fold to 1:2560. Later in disease the titer falls. This is a test your physician has to order just like the FISH test.
Other Lab Findings
It’s not that any one of the following are indicative of Lyme, but taken together you may see results on labs indicating hemolytic anemia with reticulocytosis, thrombocytopenia, elevated bilirubin, elevated liver enzymes and/or reduced or absent haptoglobin. There could be proteinuria, and elevated BUN and creatinine in severe cases (where hemolysis is present).
Blood smears
Labs can can also look at hemolysis blood smears for diagnosis to specifically see the organism, it doesn’t work every time just sometimes. Multiple blood smears should be viewed. Babesia organisms are malaria-like protozoans that parasitize and reproduce within mammalian red blood cells that’s why they are sometimes seen in a blood smear. The ring-like forms of Babesia are sometimes mistakenly confused with another parasite called “Plasmodium falciparum” so make sure trained staff is reading your smear.
Treatment of Babesia
Do I have a cure for you? No. I’m sorry, I don’t have a cure, I don’t think anyone has a “cure” for Babesia based upon the fact that I cannot find one person who said “Dr So and So” cured me. I can’t find one physician who has a patient I can speak with that is “cured” although they have several patients that are doing better. There are treatments however, many treatments that can help improve quality of life.
I believe in a multi-faceted approach, one that is broad-based and holistic, at least in part. In other words, I believe in a combination of various herbs and prescription medications as well as a healthy diet.
Since there are many treatment options offered by doctors, and they are not identical doctor to doctor (they are all vastly different), I’d like to give you some tips about all these things. I’m going to focus on supplements, herbs and medications that address Babesia symptoms and offer you better quality of life by reducing parasitic load.
Keep in mind, these bugs are stealth, they hide and they come back after periods of remission. So maybe the “cure” is to keep them in remission for years at a time, instead of hours or days. Babesia is a parasite that is almost impossible to eradicate, but it is possible to feel a ton better and coexist.
Why is it almost impossible to eradicate? You have to kill the Babesia, but very carefully so you don’t kill yourself. It is a blood parasite. Imagine that every very time you kill an organism you blow up a red blood cell so you have to approach slowly and gently. No one I know can get this parasite load down to zero, maybe that’s why it’s hard to cure.
I don’t know one doctor who can, and trust me, I know the best doctors on the planet. Brilliant, caring and wise… even they do not have a complete cure for Babesia yet. My article today is not intended to treat, cure or diagnose anyone. If I had the answer to that I’d gladly give it to you because with all my heart I want you all to feel better. So right now I’ll offer you information about what I know that could help. I can’t list everything in this single article, but I will continue to write about Lyme (and clan) if you stay with me. As I research and learn, I promise I will write more articles.
Your GENES & SNPs
Ozone or “major autohemotherapy” is commonly used to treat Babesia, this is given by injection and it nudges your cells to produce higher amounts of superoxide dismutase or SOD. But what if you can’t do that? What if you are homozygous for an SOD snp?
It’s going to be bad news for you because you will spark all these free radicals from the ozone (that is the point) but you will not be able to quell them because you can’t make adequate amounts of SOD. So if you have SOD snps, I don’t think you should do ozone, or peroxide or high dose vitamin C, or anything that is considered an oxidative therapy.
You will raise your risk for cancer by taking these treatments if you don’t produce the SOD to neutralize the superoxide radicals spawned by the oxidative treatment. Now, what if you do not have a snp in the SOD producing enzyme? You might think you’re okay but I want you to think again. You see, the next compound made in that pathway is hydrogen peroxide. How do you know if you have enough catalase enzyme to break THAT down?! You will be making more and more peroxide and this is toxic to your cells.
This stuff is really hard to tease out so let me just say this: If you do any kind of oxidative treatment and let’s assume it is done properly (slowly and at low doses, gently ramping up) and you feel terrible afterward, and you feel tired or have other odd symptoms pop up, I would say to stop it.
This is your body’s way of telling you that you either have an SOD snp, or you do not have sufficient amounts of catalase on board. The catalase breaks down the peroxide and turns it into oxygen and water. Without enough catalase, you just build up peroxide which will ‘burn’ your insides (in my opinion).
I realize that other people feel completely different and some people try to cure Lyme using peroxide. Please be nice and remember, this is my article, and my opinion. With Lyme there are ENOUGH cytokines and pro-inflammatory molecules, some people cannot handle any more, they simply cannot handle the backlash of peroxide because they do not have the catalase to dilute it back to water and oxygen. So please be real careful about using oxidative treatments, they help some people for sure, but not everyone.
Your immune system has been hijacked. It doesn’t work like a regular uninfected person’s immune system. It over-reacts, it’s sensitive to everything, perfume, food, medicine, supplements… you should approach everything carefully and in low doses.
If you’re sensitive, you may want to dump out 75 % of a capsule for some of your vitamins because a full dose will cause an adverse reaction. Baby doses are best until you know how you will respond. Babesia infections know how to take over your immune system and turn it on you so you will have an assortment of autoimmune disorders, but the question is, “Are they all tied to Lyme or Babesia?”
The other question is, “Does the medicine you take improve your immune function or does it weaken it some more?” These are good questions to keep in mind as you undergo new treatments.
Herbal Antimicrobials for Babesia
Not everything listed here is right for you, in fact, with Babesia, it is all about trial and error. Your physician should be in charge of your protocol, so don’t mistake my list as advice, it’s not. It’s just to shine a flashlight in the basic treatment protocol in case you are not responding to what you’re taking… well then you can ask doc about something you’ve learned about here.
Just because it is over-the-counter, or natural doesn’t mean it won’t cause a herx or allergic reaction. Keep in mind, it’s really hard to kill Babesia, so interfering with life cycle with some of these herbs is ideal, the point is to slow, or stop their reproduction, then over time you feel better.
Cryptolepis.
This is an herb that one of my favorite Lyme experts, Stephen Harrod Buhner talks about. It’s known as “Cryptolepis sanguinoleta.” Another friend and colleague, Dr. Richard Horowitz (cangetbetter.com) described how Cryptolepis was highly effective for one woman diagnosed with Babesia who kept relapsing after 5 years of various medications and herbs with antiprotozoal activity.
Given that this herb is found in Ghana, demand for this herb often exceeds the supply in the USA. I buy this from Woodland Essences. If you take probiotics, and you should, there’s no concern about taking them along with cryptolepis, at the same time if you want.
Berberine.
Some people call it “Goldenseal” but I usually refer to it as Berberine. This natural compound is a strong antifungal. It also hits Babesia and a little bit of another malaria-like organism which I’m not going to elaborate on today called “Protomyxzoa rheumatica” or FL1953. This organism feeds on iron-rich hemoglobin so it will thicken your blood. They form very tight snuggly biofilms!
You may feel better on an aspirin a day, or nattokinase or serrapeptase. Protomyxzoa can cause resistant hard-to-treat iron deficiency anemia. These bugs require lots of iron just like Babesia, but unlike Borrelia (Lyme) which requires lots of manganese as opposed to iron. If you have Lyme and an SNP in your SOD enzyme (which would necessitate the need for added manganese), it’s kind of like a one-two punch!
You would really want to supplement with manganese (even low dose, not high) and of course, routinely check your RBC manganese levels. Back to berberine now… If you start taking berberine (or neem which comes up next) and you herx badly, worse than normal, it is possible that this is a stronger die-off due to the presence of undiagnosed Protomyxzoa.
Sida Acuta. This is basically a weed, and it’s beautiful. It’s called “wireweed.” It’s commonly taken as a liquid (dropper), in combination with cryptolepis drops and a third herbal extract called “Alchornea Cordifolia” for the treatment of Babesia (all 3 are liquid droppers making it easy to adjust dose). Sida acuta is helpful because Babesia invades and harms the red blood cells, and Sida acuta protects the red blood cells. This herb may help with Protomyxzoa too.
It’s comes as a liquid dropper made by Woodland Essence. While it is a little tangential, I want to tell you that Sida acuta and Japanese knotweed can be used together to help reduce the symptoms of gastrointestinal symptoms related to Bartonella or GI lyme. Regardless of the organism infecting your gut (Bart vs. Borrelia) these herbs may help, especially when also using Hawthorne extract (this according to Stephen Harrod Buhner).
Neem.
A very powerful and incredible herb that contains some berberine in it as one of the constituents. It can have mild diuretic properties for some people, which could improve some brain symptoms and headaches possibly. Some doctors say to use NEEM for about 60 or 90 days and then rotate. I think rotating antibiotics and herbal ones is always a good idea. Keep Babs guessing!
Matcha or Green Tea. If you’ve followed my work I told you about this one when the study first came out. Basically, a major component of green tea called “epigallocatechin-3 gallate” or EGCG was shown to kill Babesia parasites (bovine) in test tubes and also Babesia parasites in rodents; specifically Babesia microtii, but it took 2 weeks.
Can it do that in humans? Unfortunately no, it won’t kill Babesia in 2 weeks! But I see no problem drinking green tea if you like it. It may help reduce parasitic load over time. As for supplements of EGCG, I leave this to you and your physician. It’s the same story for Matcha green tea. Matcha slows down the growth of Babesia parasites, which could help with symptoms. It’s more potent and stronger than green tea so if you opt for Matcha, you may definitely notice a herx.
A BABS. This is a liquid formula by Byron White that is sold without prescription, but you must go to a physician who is one of their distributors. I called the company to try to figure out some way for them to sell directly to you (the consumer) but they don’t do that, you have to have your doctor involved to get it.
A BABS is a combination of a few different herbs and specifically targets acute and chronic Babesia parasites (Babesia microti and WA-1), but the innovative formula stimulates your immune system in an attempt to control other confections like Bartonella, Ehrlichia or Borrelia (Lyme); it may possibly help you get a hold of secondary infections like Candida or other opportunistic bugs. It may improve brain perfusion, which could improve some of the neurological symptoms over time.
Japanese knotweed. This is a popular and probably highly effective anti-Babesia herb. The Japanese knotweed plant grows like a weed along the roadside and by riverbanks. It’s feisty and hard to eradicate. Many people buy this for it’s content of resveratrol, the anti-aging herb most frequently associated with red wine. Japanese knotweed may help lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and it’s a strong anti-EVERYTHING to help you with borrelia (Lyme), as well as mycoplasma, various fungi and viruses. It comes in capsules and tincture form.
Curcumin.
From the spice turmeric, this compound is useful for people with pain, inflammation and parasite infections like Babesia. It is also being studied for it’s anti-amyloid effects on the brain and may prove to be an adjunct for Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s. Artemisinin. This used to be a favorite among LLMDs for Babesia however I think it should fall out of favor due to its ability to damage the liver if taken incorrectly. You have to be very careful with it because it is neurotoxic too. Banderol® and Samento.®
These are popular and good formulas that are natural and made by Nutramedix, however, their effect against Babesia is not that noticeable to me. I don’t think they -all by themselves- will help late stage disseminated Lyme or a Babesia infection. It’s fine to take along with something else if you are chasing down Borrelia. Cumanda by Nutramedix might be a little more helpful with Babesia, but most people haven’t heard of that. Banderol/Samento is very commonly utilized (again, it’s not that targeted for Babesia).
Pharmaceutical Agents
As a pharmacist, I will now outline several medications which are available. It’s hard to know how you will personally react, it’s different for everyone. As a whole, we take pounds of antibiotics and I need to remind you that these will kill your natural microbiome. You need to be vigilant about probiotics. I know about these because I am a pharmacist, and also because my husband Sam tried some of these, not all. The side effect varies from person to person. He actually tolerated some of these very well, and others he had to stop within several days. I don’t know how you will react or respond, I just know that your journey should probably not include a lot of antibiotics without a break in between, because these are harmful to your overall health and well-being. Use judiciously and for as short as possible a term. Switch to gentle natural antimicrobials as soon as you are stable and feeling better.
Mepron (Atovaquone)
Malarone (Atovaquone with proguanil).
These prescription medications appear to help some patients with Babesia, however lately, there is some antibiotic resistance showing up. The combination of one of these drugs with Azithromycin (a macrolide) could be very helpful than either drug alone and may allow you to take a shorter course of therapy. Mepron is nicknamed “yellow paint” because it is a thick bright yellow liquid that you take by mouth. Malarone is less expensive than Mepron and it is more stable as an oral capsule which gets through your extremely acidic stomach acid because it is attached chemically to proguanil, so Malarone is a combination drug. I don’t frequently recommend these drugs to people, but I also want to be careful not to sway your personal decision to take them. They may very well be effective for you.
You’re probably wondering why I’m not in love with these. The truth is I’m bothered by their side effects of depression, sometimes suicidal depression so I have a hard time suggesting them. It’s due to their mechanism of action which causes the nutrient depletion of Coenzyme Q10, and other nutrients too. Because they are such strong ‘drug muggers’ of CoQ10, the side effect profile can be profound and painful! Remember, deficiencies of CoQ10 affect your muscles and your mind. A deficiency of CoQ10 causes cramps and spasms all over the body. Mood gets affected in an adverse way. Mepron is known to cause such a deep depression that the condition is referred to it as the “Mepron Blues.” It can get serious, putting bad thoughts in your head that you’d never normally have.
Please remember this, if you are taking these drugs and begin to feel deeper anxiety, tearfulness, depression, suicidal thoughts, disconnectedness or dramatic personality changes, you should stop the drug immediately and call your doctor to get something else. You will feel better once you stop and add CoQ10 back into your diet (supplements of ubiquinol restore the deficiency). Mepron and Malarone can weaken your immunity and your cellular function by depleting you of CoQ10.
Once I got into a fight with a doctor! If you want to find out what happened and what caused me to snap at him, CLICK HERE.
Zithromax (azithromycin)
Biaxin (clarithromycin) .
These two drugs are in the “macrolide” class of antibiotics and their older cousin is known as erythromycin. Of the two I’ve listed, I’d say Zithromax is better and it’s used in combination with other medications or herbs. By itself, it won’t cure Babesia, but it could smack down some of the symptoms like air hunger for example. Probiotics are necessary when you take antibiotics like this. These types of antibiotics may weaken your immune system by reducing your probiotic levels and damaging your gut microbiome.
Clindamycin. This medication has been shown to be helpful in reducing parasitic load and reducing symptoms. It is usually combined with other drugs (but not the macrolides) and it’s not usually taken by itself. I don’t have a lot of experience with this in any patients that I know, however, I’ve heard very good things. It may inadvertently suppress your immune system though, just like most antibiotics.
Ivermectin. Like this one for some people, not all. It’s pretty cheap too. Lots of people find that (after the herx) it relieves neurological symptoms to some degree. It does not suppress the immune system. You might wonder why I recommend a deworming medicine common in horses and dogs, but this medication is sold for humans too. It comes in tablet form and it does not weaken your immune system. Emerging research from the United Kingdom suggests it can help Babesia and Lyme.
The famous scientific researcher, Dr. Eva Sapi talks about ivermectin in some of her videos. Some experts are starting to wonder if ticks infect you with organisms that are kind of like worms. Dr. Sapi talks about resistance of the different forms of Lyme bacteria and how European doctors have utilized the antihelminth drug Ivermectin into treatment protocols for patients with resistant infections. They have seen undeniable success.
Ivermectin is well known among veterinarians and usually used to eradicate parasites, and what we’re learning is that ticks (when dissected) carry filarial nematodes and I’m guessing it’s not something humans are tested for, but the treatment of it is helping Lyme patients.
If you think about it, pet owners deworm their animals regularly, perhaps this is why their animals recover from Lyme so easily, whereas humans do not. Ivermectin was approved for use in humans in 1996, so even if you’re just hearing about it today, I want you to know it’s been used for decades and it’s relatively safe, I think it’s safer than many conventional antibiotics which will cause a Lymie (spoken with great affection here) to stumble and trip and fall over and over again.
Ivermectin doesn’t seem to do that much harm. There is a tremendous amount of variation with the dosage. I can tell you some protocols call for 5 or 6 tablets all in one dose taken once per week (holy moly!!!), whereas some others which I am more comfortable with call for 1 tablet (or perhaps 2 tablets) taken one time, on week one, then add one more tablet the following week, and one more tablet the following week and so forth, as your physician advises or as tolerated. Some people have to stay at one tablet per week for a month or more before moving up to two tablets per week and so forth. There are other ways to dose Ivermectin so I’ll leave this to you and your personal physician. The main thing is to start low and go slow.
Ivermectin can be combined with other pharmaceuticals if you wish, or with herbal antimicrobials. Flagyl or Tindamax. These go by metronidazole and tinidazole respectively. These drugs help Babesia because they have some anti-protozoal effects. They an be very good for some of the psychiatric or mental disturbances of Babesia, however if you get too much, they will spark psychiatric problems. So as for dosage, there is a sweet spot which differs with everyone.
Tinidazole (Tindamax) is better than metronidazole (Flagyl) because it is more lipophilic compared to metronidazole. More specifically this means it can penetrate the fatty organs and tissues where Babesia and Protomyxzoa hide. I’m thinking the heart, brain, liver, pancreas and so forth. Tindamax has less resistance, and fewer side effects compared to Flagyl, and these lovely features make it a significantly more expensive than Flagyl (metronidazole). I’d say it’s worth it.
The dose varies, about 250 to 500 mg twice daily, sometimes higher. Additionally, it hits the cyst form of Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme). The downside is that long-term use of these drugs damages DNA and may raise risk for cancer, according to rodent studies. Eva Sapi, someone I respect very much has done a ton of research on Lyme and has even commented on the use of Tinidazole and biofilm colonies. CLICK HERE to read that.
Her observations are pasted here, and I’ve very slightly edited it for reading-ease:
Doxycycline reduced spirochetes by about 90% but increased the number of round body forms twofold. Amoxicillin reduced spirochetes by 85% to 90% and round body forms by 68%. Metronidazole reduced spirochetes by about 90% and round body forms by 80%.
Tigecycline and tinidazole treatment reduced both spirochetes and round body forms by 80% to 90%. When quantitative effects on biofilm-like colonies were evaluated, the five antibiotics reduced formation of these colonies by only 30% to 55%. In terms of qualitative effects, only Tinidazole (Tindamax) reduced viable organisms by about 90%. Following treatment with the other antibiotics, viable organisms were detected in 70% to 85% of the biofilm-like colonies.
Septra or Bactrim (sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim).
This is a “sulfa” drug so you can’t take it if you have allergies to “sulfa” drugs. Also, you should avoid it if you have a SNP in your genes, in particular a CBS down regulation. Many of you are familiar with these medication because it’s used to treat a host of acute and chronic infections, including parasites and urinary tract infections (UTIs).
For Babesia, it is very effective, especially when combined with a macrolide listed above such as clarithromycin or azithromycin. It’s rare but it happens so I should tell you that this class of drugs can cause “Stevens-Johnson” syndrome which is severe and can be fatal if you don’t recognize it immediately. This serious reaction is usually characterized by fever, flu-like symptoms, mouth sores, and usually a skin rash.
Plaquenil. This drug is classically known as an anti-malarial and might busts cysts so it definitely has good actions, however, I’m not in love with any drug that has the ability to suppress your immune system. Plaquenil will do that. It’s a strong immunosuppressant which just says to the pathogens, “Hey guys, party on!” As in, this person’s immune system is asleep, let’s proliferate. Plaquenil can affect your mood and cause anxiety and deep depression, as well as irritability and even feelings of psychosis, like you’re losing your mind or you’re not part of current reality or you feel depersonalization or derealization. There are also some reports of neuromuscular effects, such as weakness, sensory changes and atrophy of certain muscle groups (when taken long-term over 3 months). Some people do remarkably well on this medication too, and it’s certainly an option. I want you to have as much information as possible. Rifampin and Rifabutin. Nope, not for Babesia. While very commonly prescribed in Lyme patients, I’d pass them up if Babesia is your primary target. These drugs are better for Bartonella or BLO [Bartonella-like organisms].
Medical Ozone
I’ve written more about ozone in my Headache Free book, so I’ll keep it short here. I like this treatment so long as you don’t have an SOD snp and so long as you respond well to it. Its important to have enough catalase in your body or you can do more harm to yourself. If you have any problem with it at all, and you’ll know in a few treatments, I would ask for a different treatment.
Summary
Many of you are suffering for years and you may now be suspecting Babesia. I want you to be careful though, it’s easy to read something on the Internet and think, “Oh I have this!” but you may not. There is an overlap of a few symptoms with other conditions, but there are definitely hallmark symptoms too. I’m sure that some of you wonder, how come physicians don’t catch Babesia when it has such classic signs and symptoms that don’t happen with other conditions? Why must you go through so much misery, suffering and debt and still never find out. Babesia is a common, if not the most common coinfection of Lyme disease, and probably the organism that produces the most disabling symptoms. I think it’s a stretch to expect physicians to find this in you, many still deny the existence of chronic Lyme, forget Babesia.
I was at the hospital the other day and the gastroenterologist looked right at me while we were discussing the regimen of a patient there, and he said “I don’t believe in chronic Lyme, not at all, I am not sure what the big deal is.” This is actually a good doctor, but again, he has no belief that a Borellia infection can persist for more than a few weeks.
Oh, and worse, the Babesia testing remains a challenge because there are many pathogenic species of Babesia and we’re only capable of testing for a few of them right now (in 2015). So a negative Babesia test means nothing, you still might have it. You need to look at history, and clinical presentation, and response to “kill” agents like anti-parasites or anti-protozoal drugs and herbs.
Today I’ve listed a few treatments, but there are many others not listed here, and of course what works for one person may not work for another person. Please share your working protocol if it has been helping you. Understand that each physician has their own working treatment regimen so if you don’t see something you take above in my column, it doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
Also, bear in mind that the side effect profile of the drugs (and herbs) is incomplete, I simply cannot list dozens of side effects for the drugs so if you have an experience with a particular agent, it would be nice for you to share that below. Finally, and this is the most important part, do not give up. I realize how awful Babesia can be, but it is often one of those infections that cycles.
It will get bad, then it will be alright, and with all the Lyme research going on now, there is a lot of hope, and a big focus on this condition. It’s not about eradicating the organism as much as it is getting to a higher quality of life. A good LLMD will know exactly what is right for you, though it might take a little trial and error.
Don’t be so focused on the kill, you can kill yourself trying.
Try harder to focus on building up your immune system and making yourself an inhospitable host. I did not include immune system agents in this article because it is already over 5,000 words, but I have covered that in other articles (use my search box) and I will cover that again in the future. It’s hard to convey my feelings in a black and white article, but I want you to know that I have seen your suffering up close.
My heart goes out to you, I have so much compassion for you and I am brimming with hope. Miracles happen every single day, and new treatments are on the horizon. I want you to hold on, and stay as positive as you can, and know that you can get better. You can. You will and I will celebrate with you!
Note— Please leave comments below, and help one another the best you can. Also, do your very best to keep your stories and comments brief so my team (or myself) can quickly approve them as-is. If the comments get too long (beyond 300 or 400 words), they usually do not get approved because they require too much time to edit them. Just realize I receive about 1,000 comments/inputs each day from all over, so again, please keep them brief and general. One more quick thing, I am not a doctor, so I cannot advise what is right for you.
Suzy Cohen, has been a licensed pharmacist for over 30 years and believes the best approach to chronic illness is a combination of natural medicine and conventional. She founded her own dietary supplement company specializing in custom-formulas, some of which have patents. With a special focus on functional medicine, thyroid health and drug nutrient depletion, Suzy is the author of several related books including Thyroid Healthy, Drug Muggers, Diabetes Without Drugs, and a nationally syndicated column.
