Rifampicine (Rifampin) and Clarithromycin for Bart and Borrelia

[Sushi]

H i @Sushi Did you have the rash? What is PCR? What type of doctor will treat you for this I know my doctor will not believe me. What symptoms do you have that are related to Bartonella?
I have chest pain, rash ongoing quad pain , hedaches sinus face pain yadda yadda yadda.
Thankyou

PCR is a DNA test = Polymerase chain reaction. Generally you would have to go to an LLMD--a lyme doctor--that is for a chronic infection. An internist should be able to treat a new infection. You would need to check how soon after a scratch antibodies develop, as antibody is the more common test. But, the antibody tests in the US only check for 3 species when there are about 30--so it would be easy to miss.

Bartonella symptoms can range all over the place according to where it is active. You can find the most common symptoms from an internet search. I have sort of classic ME, but my doctor is finding that a big percentage of his ME patients are positive for Lyme or one of the co-infections, like Bartonella. So he tested me for it.

I have probably had it for decades so I can't remember whether I ever had a rash.

Best,
Sushi

 

[snowathlete]

I had a stretchmark type rash when I was about 14. Still have the leftovers from that just about visible.
I had to stop treatment because I developed ulcerative colitis and the antibiotics were making it a lot worse. Don't think this is a common scenario but it meant I had to stop treatment. One specific symptom I had was shin problems.

 

[Valentijn]

I had to stop treatment because I developed ulcerative colitis and the antibiotics were making it a lot worse. Don't think this is a common scenario but it meant I had to stop treatment. One specific symptom I had was shin problems.

Will you be able to try IV antibiotics, and maybe bypass the GI issue?

 

[acer2000]

I spent 9 months on Rifampin and Azithromycin for a presumed Bart infection. I tested positive via PCR but seronegative before treatment. My antibody titer rose when I went on the Antibiotics which i guess is expected with Bart. People are often seronegative and then convert when its treated. But ultimately I went off the antibiotics after having felt no better. I was left wondering whether I failed the treatment (but still had Bart), whether Bart wasn't the main cause of my symptoms, or whether I had a false positive Bart test. I was pretty disappointed because the symptoms of Bart matched mine and I had talked to several people who got better via this treatment.

 

[snowathlete]

Will you be able to try IV antibiotics, and maybe bypass the GI issue?

Don't think so. Even IV it will deplete your gut bacteria, so it's quite possible it would have the same negative effects. It's not really an option for me because of cost anyway.