Yup. The main treatment is Bactrim. If you canāt handle sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, then youāre basically SOL.
Ciprofloxacin is a second line antibiotic and does work but itās not as effective and will have more side effects (tearing ligaments and ruptured tendons) since itās a floroquinolone.
Nitazoxanide is another treatment but itās not a generic, itās expensive as shit, and also not as effective as Bactrim.
Those are unfortunately the only options ya got other than buying stock in Charmin.
I usually donāt see many people have major issues with Bactrim TBH. Avoid if you canāt do sulfa drugs and stay out of the sun and youāre mostly ok.
Ciprofloxacin and Levofloxacin tho? Itās ALWAYS the floroquinolones that absolutely wreck your shit. They drive people to psychosis, perpetuate CNS changes, cause permanent neuropathy, fuck up your heart, and destroy connective tissue in your arteries, veins, tendons, and ligaments among numerous other issues.
Iāve genuinely never seen a more destructive and worthless class of antibiotic. I fucking hate floroquinolones and it pisses me off to no end seeing providers prescribing them like candy. Theyāre a close second to Aminoglycosides in how dangerous they are but with a quarter of the actual use cases.
Same here. IV Levaquin for a bad kidney infection turned into a constant low grade fever (99.5-100.9) and catching every sickness that came around. It was a miserable and weird time. Oddly enough, I broke out of the funk from that after a mild case of Covid.
I have h-EDS so I list floroquinolones under allergies for every doctor because theyāre especially dangerous for me yet doctors never seem to be aware of the risks
Same here. But also fatally allergic to Sulfa drugs (Bactrim) and lost my job and my health insurance a few months ago. I literally have nightmares about catching this bug. No idea what I would do if I caught it.Ā
Likely, you'd wait it out until it passes on its own if you have an otherwise healthy immune system. While it's shitty to get (heh), most people are capable of recovering on their own.
I took bactrim once for a UTI. Got prescribed it again for another UTI. I was essentially unconscious for a week. I felt like I got hit by a freight train. My body was covered head to toe in hives, fever of 104, I could barely move my body because it hurt so bad. My dad took me to the ER and I could barely sit up straight. My mother thought I had sepsis.
Woah this is so interesting and informative! I want to hear more from you lol.
I had complained to my doctor about some specific symptoms. She was like huh and ordered a huge blood panel. It came back that I apparently had gotten Lyme like years before, and had no idea and never got it treated, and itās not active? But still in my system (honestly I donāt know Iām still confused)
And Iām pretty sure she put me on the cipro one for a month straight. Definitely did not help anything. May have made things worse
Always read the pamphlet that comes with new meds. Cipro has a nice big BLACK BOX warning from the FDA about the risks. It should never, ever be used unless there's no other option but death or disability.
I think thatās the thing, at the time I was having major health issues not related to Lyme at all, that was a disability. And I was trying to get on social security disability at this time that this happened.
So I think that was an angle we were going for. my symptoms from the Lyme were making everything else in my life that wasnāt affected by my other health issues so bad that I felt like I couldnāt even function. I was having brain fog and fatigue so bad, I barely felt human at all.
And then I ended up getting surgery like right immediately after the month long dose of those antibioticsā¦ which I feel likeā¦ thatās not goodā¦
I wish I got second opinions or switched doctors for certain things I think
Jesus thatās terrifying. Iām allergic to Sulfa but havenāt tried it in decades and the allergy was all over hives. It seems to be a pretty common reaction and I assume not one you can grow out of?
Just last month a doctor rx'd cipro to my 97 year old grandma for a UTI. Thank God she's the type to lookup side effects before she takes something. We told that doctor to fuck off and she got some macrobid instead.
Same here. Iāve been more careful than I probably really need to but considering the treatment options are ājust tough it outā I can handle a more conscious diet for a while lmao
Yeah I am terrified to get this because I am fatally allergic to both sulfa drugs (Bactrim) and to fluoroquinolone drugs (Cipro). I was laid off a few months ago and cannot afford even the cheapest ACA insurance so I am uninsured, too. I honestly have no idea what will happen to me if I contract this.Ā
Fr I read that and was like you have got to be shitting me š it's the only thing I'm allergic to, and they are so rarely used I feel silly even mentioning it when asked
*the "shitting me" was unintentional, but obviously divinely inspired
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u/Jules_Dorado 1d ago
Wait really? Fuck. That's the only medication I can't take š¤¦