Re: pseudomonas and levaquin questions

[Guest guest]

Dear ,

Are you taking Saccharomyces boulardii? It is " good " yeast and is used to

help restore normal gut flora. It is available from some health food stores.

I get mine from The Vitamin Shoppe, it is the least expensive source I have

found. It is used along with appropriate antibiotics for C. difficile too.

Martha A.

The Vitamin Shoppe is on line at www.VitaminShoppe.com

or call 800 223-1216. If there is a store near you that is the cheapest way

to get it.

[Guest guest]

Martha: Yes I am taking it 3x a day with meals. Thanks for the

suggestion on the cheaper source. It is pretty expensive locally.

E.

>Dear ,

>

>Are you taking Saccharomyces boulardii? It is " good " yeast and is used to

>help restore normal gut flora. It is available from some health food stores.

>I get mine from The Vitamin Shoppe, it is the least expensive source I have

>found. It is used along with appropriate antibiotics for C. difficile too.

>

>Martha A.

[Guest guest]

,

Wow - so sorry to hear that you have this problem to deal with.

Just really, really be careful with Levaquin... hopefully, you won't have

any trouble tolerating it, but it can honestly be very difficult for many to

handle. My son was on it for one month, and I wished I had been just a wee

bit forewarned. I jotted a list of his symptoms that got much, much worse,

then later found a list of possible side effects from Levaquin, and they

certainly matched: confusion, irregular heartbeat, chest pain, nausea,

abdominal pain, difficulty breathing, swelling of lips, severe fatigue,

muscle and joint pain (already had been bad, but these last three got MUCH

worse during that month) as well as lightheadedness.

I'm not sharing any of this to shoot you down, because I hope very much it

will help eradicate this awful problem for you. Like I said, I just wish we

had been somewhat forewarned. We recently saw a different LLMD for a

consultation and he raised his eyebrows when he saw that Levaquin had been

prescribed, considering my son was only 15. He said, " I'd be willing to bet

that he had a hard time handling the Levaquin. It's a tough one for most

people. " I just thought it was interesting that he picked that out of the

long list of prescriptions listed!

I am wondering if a colon cleanse might help you. I also agree with your

thoughts that yeast overgrowth might be complicating things for you. My

favorite natural health store owner said taking natural anti-yeast products

is a good idea for anyone who has ever been on antibiotics, both orally and

in suppositories.

Good luck to you. Keep us posted on how your treatment for this comes along!

~Judie

[Guest guest]

If you have ever read some of the treatments for C. difficile including

eating one's stool you might realize why there are not too many recruits for

a study.

Martha A.

[Guest guest]

Judie:

Thanks for your input and concern. There are whole message boards

dedicated to the adverse affects of floroquinolones (sp?).

Apparently some have been pulled from the market due to too drastic

side effects. Nothing like experimenting on an unsuspecting public!

(Should be even easier and safer for them to do now with thier buddy

Bill Frist on the senate majority throne. See quip below.) I'm

actually stopping Levaquin today because my colitis symptoms are

getting worse not better. I am planning to get a comprehensive

digestive stool analysis from great smokies laboratory to see what's

going on, but mostly it seems I get this the worst when on

antibiotics and I really suspect that yeast may be the main culprit.

In fact, if my doc will agree, I would like to take some anti-yeast

med as soon as I get that sample in the mail. Also considering

trying the CANDEX product that seems to have worked well for some on

the list. I sort of hope that yeast is the real problem here so that

I might be able to continue to take orals with appropriate anti-yeast

measures.

Apparently we are born without beneficial bacteria and they

accumulate along the way. It seems to me that someone ought to be

able to put together a balanced cocktail of microflora to recolonize

the gut in the form of supositories or even a colonic of some sort.

I mean the digestive tract is really running the gauntlet for these

bacteria to survive through the whole thing. Besides, there are

supposed to be a lot more than acidophilus and bifidus in there. E.

coli and yeasts for example. Seems like maybe we're putting these

things in the wrong end, in the wrong quantities, and not reflecting

the true diversity of a healthy gut microflora. Anyones mileage may

vary, but I don't like things stuck in my butt, but if you only had

to do it once or twice (I'm talking post antibiotic therapy not

during) it seems like a better way to go than taking incomplete dried

oral preparations that mostly die before you even buy them, or, if

not, die before they get to where they are supposed to live.

Besides, it couldn't be worse than a prostate exam. And here's

another one. Why aren't they breeding antibiotic resistant

beneficials? Some of us must have a few strains by now!

E.

" Consumer groups and patient rights groups have also expressed

concern over Frist's extensive ties to the medical industry. Not only

is Frist the first doctor to serve in the Senate since the 1920s, his

father formed HCA, the largest for-profit chain of hospitals in the

country.

" Just last Wednesday HCA agreed to pay close to $900 million to

settle a massive fraud inquiry by the Justice Department. All told

the company, formerly Columbia/HCA, will pay more than $1.7 billion

in civil and criminal penalties - the largest ever in a health care

fraud case.

" Frist has never worked for the family business but USA Today reports

that he owns about $25 million in company stock. His wife owns

another million. According to CBS News if Frist were in the House or

in the White House, he would have to rid himself of the HCA

investment. But the Senate's relaxed rules allows legislators to vote

on issues that affect personal investments as long as it's good for

the country. And the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights

charges Frist has helped block strong patients bill of rights

legislation, held up a Medicare prescription drug benefit bill and

promoted capping verdicts received by patients who sue negligent

hospitals. Frist is also the Senator who first put forward a

controversial bill that exempted from legal liability drug companies,

such as Eli Lilly, that manufactured Thimerosal, a preservative in

childhood vaccines that has been linked to a rise in autism. The

Frist-penned legislation initially failed but it was secretly

reinserted into the House version of the 475-page Homeland Security

Act. To this day no legislator has taken responsibility for the

provision and Frist denies any connection. "

From Archived Dec 24th program of Democracy Now.

http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow/dn20021224.html

>,

>

>Wow - so sorry to hear that you have this problem to deal with.

>

>Just really, really be careful with Levaquin... hopefully, you won't have

>any trouble tolerating it, but it can honestly be very difficult for many to

>handle. I also agree with your

>thoughts that yeast overgrowth might be complicating things for you. My

>favorite natural health store owner said taking natural anti-yeast products

>is a good idea for anyone who has ever been on antibiotics, both orally and

>in suppositories.

>

>Good luck to you. Keep us posted on how your treatment for this comes along!

>

>~Judie

[Guest guest]

,

You made some excellent points. And Bill Frist? What a character. Our Senate

floor seems to be full of them!

Sorry the Levaquin didn't work out for you. I think your hunch about the

yeast overgrowth is likely right on target. It is odd, because back when my

son was really, really getting sick and we had been told time and time again

that it simply COULD NOT be Lyme, I researched every angle I could find to

explain his myriad of symptoms. I ended up hitting on candida and was

treating him with probiotics, thinking maybe the many abx he'd been on while

very young (fighting pneumonia and chronic bronchitis) might have put his

digestive system in a tailspin. I have since heard that yeast can even cause

brain fog, and the drug Nizoral is the only yeast killer that breaks the

blood/brain barrier and really has helped clear brain fog. Anyone have any

experience with this? (generic is Ketokonizole)

We have recently changed LLMDs and my son is being tested for candida levels,

along with many other things. It is now apparant that he has cardiac damage

among other things. Be careful what you take! Flagyl for 8 months straight

looks like it may have really damaged his liver. We want to kill the

spirochetes without killing our bodies....

Take care, and thanks for sharing this, !

Judie