Re: Blastocystis Hominis and Digestive Problems/ Treatment Options

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Sorry I'm coming late to the conversation: but I had a pretty dreadful

flare up of gastro problems all last year, and was eventually diagnosed

with Blastocystis Hominis, which my private doctor took seriously

as a possible cause (unlike the NHS!), along with the complication

of it riding on the back of bacterial infections etc, as the helpful

article you posted points out.

I did a lot of research and talking to others, and after several

warnings from people who had tried unsuccessfully up to 6 course

of antibiotics, and now believed their Blasto was resistant to

anything as a result, I decided in the end to hit it first time

very hard indeed, and took 4x500mg Nitazoxanide (Alinia), 9x200mg

Rifaximin spaced out through each day, for 30 days. This is about

the biggest dose that people with Blasto take, but my symptoms were

fairly disastrous. The choice of drugs wasn't a cocktail of my own!

It was recommended by several others, I can find sources if you need

them. I should add that all this was fairly expensive, and that I

" purged " before starting by taking picosulfate - standard laxative,

but not an entirely pleasant day.

I can report that almost immediately on starting the treatment my

bowel started acting " normally " (I'm trying to be delicate!) for a

while which was a strong diagnostic for me; it then seemed to fail

a bit on and off, and there was something of a resurge of symptoms

a while after I finished, which left me initially pessimistic that

the Blasto was gone, even with Alinia in combination with Rifax.

I combined all this with an absolutely deadly non-starch non-sugar diet,

which fairly catastrophically reduced my weight. The good news is

however, even though I continued to have periodically milder gut

problems, they seemed to lessen and lessen, and as I speak now 9 months

on, my gut problems are what I'd class as minor: my best theory is that

the Blasto caused some damage down there that's healing still, or that

the bacteria etc. that rode in on the back of it are still being fought

off. But I do feel, fingers crossed, that my gut function is nearly

restored, and, tentatively, that it was the Alinia in combination that

did it. So I'd like to back up the other member who offered this drug a

thumbs up as a Blasto killer, when so many others fail. I was tested

for Blasto a month after treatment and it showed negative - the irony is

that testing longer than this after treatment is recommended, and I've

been waiting for a bad bout to test on - but it hasn't arrived.

I still don't seem to tolerate sucrose well - after 2-3 days I always

seem to have some sort of small-scale problem after it, so chocolate

binges (don't shoot me!) are out for now; I'm not sure what residual

infection or gut damage could be causing this (any guesses anyone?).

I tolerate fructose fine, and all sorts of starchy things - just

sucrose seems to throw me into a mild constipation/diarrhea cycle

for a day or so.

I did try the standard herby things beforehand - wormwood, black walnut

etc. - and they didn't help me. They may help you of course, but I know

many who said they tried and they didn't help significantly. Of course,

none of this is science, and who's to know what got cleared by what, and

what just went away?

Finally I'd add the obvious, that this didn't make me *well* - I've

had ME for 12 years - but that my tentative belief is that the Blasto

caused the crushing relapse of the last two years and I'm only now

beginning to crawl back up the hill to my previous state of " health "

- slowly. I do wish you luck with your Blasto and feel free to

contact me privately if you want more details.

Honey

On Fri, 2 Jun 2006, marypmichel wrote:

>

> I recently posted that I have been having terrible digestive issues

> and from the private responses I got, I know I am not alone.

> Ever since being first diagnosed with CFS I've had periodic stool

> tests using a couple of different labs. This time I used one from

> www.parasitetesting.com and Blasto. showed up for the first time. I

> checked the latest test I had done and they didn't even test for

> this. (The cost is relatively cheap at $100)

> In searching for a specific treatment for Blasto. I came across the

> following that I thought may be of interest (or help) to some of

> you. Blasto has a affinity for yeasts and candida and loves to eat

> grains. No wonder I have such problems with grains!!

> I'm planning a program of attack which will include colon

> cleansing first.

> on the lymestrategies group just posted a wonderful article

> about the use of Diatomaceous Earth. I will also include that.

> I think the following article came from

> shanti.com.au/body/blastocystis.htm.

[Guest guest]

Hi Honey,

This is really good news, it's great to hear of a success and I hope things

improve quickly.

For the record, over the past 5 years my abx for blasto are:

Ciprofloxacin + Metronadazole + Diloxanide

Paromomycin + Doxycycline

Metronadazole + Cefadroxil + Doxycycline

Nitazoxinide (on its own - poor advice from practitioner here!!)

Septrin Forte + Tinidazole

Septrin Forte + Tinidazole

Rifaximin + Nitazoxinide (3 weeks)

Intermediate tests all showed positive but a test last November showed negative,

although symptomatically it's still there. I didn't purge before the

rifax/nitaz treatment and at 7 stone I can't afford to loose weight so I didn't

have a no-carbohydrate diet. I've run out of abx options so I haven't bothered

to retest.

Sue

honey wrote:

> I did a lot of research and talking to others, and after several

> warnings from people who had tried unsuccessfully up to 6 course

> of antibiotics, and now believed their Blasto was resistant to

> anything as a result, I decided in the end to hit it first time

> very hard indeed, and took 4x500mg Nitazoxanide (Alinia), 9x200mg

> Rifaximin spaced out through each day, for 30 days. This is about

> the biggest dose that people with Blasto take, but my symptoms were

> fairly disastrous. The choice of drugs wasn't a cocktail of my own!

> It was recommended by several others, I can find sources if you need

> them. I should add that all this was fairly expensive, and that I

> " purged " before starting by taking picosulfate - standard laxative,

> but not an entirely pleasant day.

> [...]

> I combined all this with an absolutely deadly non-starch non-sugar diet,

> which fairly catastrophically reduced my weight. The good news is

> however, even though I continued to have periodically milder gut

> problems, they seemed to lessen and lessen, and as I speak now 9 months

> on, my gut problems are what I'd class as minor: my best theory is that

> the Blasto caused some damage down there that's healing still, or that

> the bacteria etc. that rode in on the back of it are still being fought

> off. But I do feel, fingers crossed, that my gut function is nearly

> restored, and, tentatively, that it was the Alinia in combination that

> did it.

[Guest guest]

Thanks Sue. I couldn't remember who else it was who'd tried a lot

of drugs for this - what a mountain you've tried. Blasto's a nasty

adaptable little bug isn't it - I can't imagine how yours survived

that onslaught.

I can't guarantee I don't have a return of it either, so do feel

the same as you - but symptoms are so much better, that the minor

gastro issues I have remaining are, I hope, due to repercussions,

co-infections or leaky gut or something, although the intolerance

to sucrose, which I never had before is a mystery. I just wish my

energy had return quickly as my gut healed, but I'm still housebound.

Hoping for slow incremental improvement.

I seem to remember reading that in many tests (I think in Mexico),

Nitaz/Alinia on its own killed almost all Blasto infections, but the

combination was recommended. Looks like you ended up doing more or less

the same course as me - are your symptoms still severe? Did you take

the Rifax+Nitaz in as high a dose as me?

Honey

On Sun, 4 Jun 2006, Tensevern wrote:

> Hi Honey,

>

> This is really good news, it's great to hear of a success and I hope things

> improve quickly.

>

> For the record, over the past 5 years my abx for blasto are:

> Ciprofloxacin + Metronadazole + Diloxanide

> Paromomycin + Doxycycline

> Metronadazole + Cefadroxil + Doxycycline

> Nitazoxinide (on its own - poor advice from practitioner here!!)

> Septrin Forte + Tinidazole

> Septrin Forte + Tinidazole

> Rifaximin + Nitazoxinide (3 weeks)

>

> Intermediate tests all showed positive but a test last November showed

negative,

> although symptomatically it's still there. I didn't purge before the

> rifax/nitaz treatment and at 7 stone I can't afford to loose weight so I

didn't

> have a no-carbohydrate diet. I've run out of abx options so I haven't

bothered

> to retest.

>

> Sue

[Guest guest]

Hi, Sue,

Well, you certainly hit the Blasto. head on!!!! Five years is a

long time to chase one bug! I do hope it's gone. Maybe the remaining

symptoms are the results of the Blasto having damaged the gut lining.

I'm wondering why the Nitazoxinide alone was poor advice. What

were the results of that?

I know you wrote to Honey, but, I just got this diagnosis and

your post is very helpful for me. I'm trying to plan out my

strategy.

Thank you for sharing.

> > I did a lot of research and talking to others, and after several

> > warnings from people who had tried unsuccessfully up to 6 course

> > of antibiotics, and now believed their Blasto was resistant to

> > anything as a result, I decided in the end to hit it first time

> > very hard indeed, and took 4x500mg Nitazoxanide (Alinia), 9x200mg

> > Rifaximin spaced out through each day, for 30 days. This is

about

> > the biggest dose that people with Blasto take, but my symptoms

were

> > fairly disastrous. The choice of drugs wasn't a cocktail of my

own!

> > It was recommended by several others, I can find sources if you

need

> > them. I should add that all this was fairly expensive, and that

I

> > " purged " before starting by taking picosulfate - standard

laxative,

> > but not an entirely pleasant day.

> > [...]

> > I combined all this with an absolutely deadly non-starch non-

sugar diet,

> > which fairly catastrophically reduced my weight. The good news

is

> > however, even though I continued to have periodically milder gut

> > problems, they seemed to lessen and lessen, and as I speak now 9

months

> > on, my gut problems are what I'd class as minor: my best theory

is that

> > the Blasto caused some damage down there that's healing still,

or that

> > the bacteria etc. that rode in on the back of it are still being

fought

> > off. But I do feel, fingers crossed, that my gut function is

nearly

> > restored, and, tentatively, that it was the Alinia in

combination that

> > did it.

>

[Guest guest]

Honey,

This is the kind of information I need. Thank you so much for

taking the time to write.

I am going to write you privately since I have much to digest

here (oops - bad choice of words).

If it's not too time consuming, I would like to know your sources

for getting the information about which drugs to try.

I do hope this bug is a thing of the past for you.

>

> >

> > I recently posted that I have been having terrible digestive

issues

> > and from the private responses I got, I know I am not alone.

> > Ever since being first diagnosed with CFS I've had periodic stool

> > tests using a couple of different labs. This time I used one from

> > www.parasitetesting.com and Blasto. showed up for the first

time. I

> > checked the latest test I had done and they didn't even test for

> > this. (The cost is relatively cheap at $100)

> > In searching for a specific treatment for Blasto. I came across

the

> > following that I thought may be of interest (or help) to some of

> > you. Blasto has a affinity for yeasts and candida and loves to

eat

> > grains. No wonder I have such problems with grains!!

> > I'm planning a program of attack which will include colon

> > cleansing first.

> > on the lymestrategies group just posted a wonderful

article

> > about the use of Diatomaceous Earth. I will also include that.

> > I think the following article came from

> > shanti.com.au/body/blastocystis.htm.

>

[Guest guest]

> I'm wondering why the Nitazoxinide alone was poor advice. What

> were the results of that?

Poor advice because it was 500mg for 5 days. I think a knowledgeable

practitioner would've known that resistant blasto would need higher doses and

longer treatment. From my point of view, the unsuccessful treatment meant that

the blasto already had some resistance to the rifax/nitaz combination. I can't

at the moment find the dose that I took these two at, but I *think* it was the

same as Honey used, but for 3 weeks. However I dropped the dosage part way

through because I was feeling so lousy.

Sue

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Sue,

This will help me not to make the same mistake. My practitioner

tends to treat conservatively so this may have been a problem.

>

> > I'm wondering why the Nitazoxinide alone was poor advice. What

> > were the results of that?

>

> Poor advice because it was 500mg for 5 days. I think a

knowledgeable

> practitioner would've known that resistant blasto would need

higher doses and

> longer treatment. From my point of view, the unsuccessful

treatment meant that

> the blasto already had some resistance to the rifax/nitaz

combination. I can't

> at the moment find the dose that I took these two at, but I

*think* it was the

> same as Honey used, but for 3 weeks. However I dropped the dosage

part way

> through because I was feeling so lousy.

>

> Sue

>