Diflucan for Lyme/RA

[Kathy1465]

Hi –

I have been off the site for a while. Looking for some insight on this. I was dx’ed with RA May of 2011. I started mino within a few months of my RA diagnosis. After several months, I was improved. Much improved! But still having joint pain and terrible fatigue. About nine months (April 2012) into mino treatment (200 mgs BID) I went to see Dr. S in Iowa. That treatment made me feel great, pain free, but unfortunately after about two weeks, all the stiffness and pain started to return. Within a month, I was back to where I started. In July 2012 I saw a LLMD. I began treatment with azithromycin, Flagyl, mino, as well as artemisinin, to name a few. Again, I was improving slowly but surely. However by February of this year I stated to become very ill. My labs for RA factor and Anti-CCP were increasing. Fatigue was debilitating. Oral thrush developed soon after. I was taken off all antibiotics and put on Diflucan (100mgs per day). This was terrifying for me, as mino was my salvation in the early days of my diagnosis. But with a yeast inflection in my mouth, I had to stop the antibiotics. Thought I was headed for the worst flare. The opposite happened! I felt better. Totally better! Over the next month, I stopped having any pain in any of my joints! My fatigue completely lifted. I started dropping the last of the 5mgs if prednisone I had been on since I was first diagnosed (something I could not do successfully before without causing a terrible flare). I was “free” of RA. I was living in gratitude, in the miracle of remission, that I had come to think might never be possible anymore. In June, I stopped taking the Diflucan. Within a month, everything RA started creeping back in. Pain, fatigue, etc. I was placed back on Diflucan for another six week course and within a week, remission again! Over the summer I lost my LLMD. At the end of August, I stopped Diflucan again. This time, by the end of September, the pain came back again. It has been building and building. In the last few weeks I have had a flare that makes my first one at the time of my diagnosis seem “tolerable.” This one has caused terrible swelling in my hands, fingers, wrists, feet, etc. It is migratory pain that one day is in three to six joints terribly, and the next moves to another three to six joints. So I am seeking the next LLMD. Obviously and stupidly waited too long to do this. But remission has a way of making one forget the severity of the disease and become happily complacent. With my last few remaining Diflucan pills, I took one each day for the past week. Again, dramatically went from trouble just dressing myself, brushing my teeth and sleeping, to just fine except for a little stiffness in one shoulder!!!

What do you make if this! If only Diflucan were as safe to just live on indefinitely as mino, I would gladly stay on it. But that is not the case and liver toxicity is a concern. I have read about Dr. Shardt’s protocol. I only wish I had the lasting improvement that his patients had. But I find I can only go about a month without the antifungal before all hell breaks loose. I should also mention that since the original oral thrush infection in February, I have stopped eating all wheat and sugar. Best thing I have ever done for myself. But now what!? Can’t live on my “cure” and can hardly function without it. Does anyone have any advice on this? I feel like I am in the minority with this treatment being so amazing for me. Where do I go from here?

Kathy
P.S. Hi Maz- this is Kathy from Chicagoland area. Remember me?

[Krys]

Hi Kathy,
I felt good when I was on Diflucan, too.
I hope Maz will see your post and answer. It was either Maz or my LLMD who said that Diflucan has some effects on Lyme/ other bacteria (I don’t remember exactly?) in addition to being antifungal.
In the meantime, you can search within Maz’ posts! 🙂
Hope you find the answer to your problem and get back onto roadback to health,
Krys

[laurawm]

Hi Kathy,

I tried diflucan as well for a few weeks – I felt great for a bit coming off it, and then had one of my worst herxes to date. Yeast is a significant driver in my disease and is directly involved in my RA and digestive problems. The only real way to conquer yeast that I know of long term is through diet and detox. I follow the body ecology diet designed to combat systemic yeast – no grain, no sugar, no fruit, no dairy. I eat fish, chicken, low starch vegetables, some sprouted nuts, coconut flour/cream and lots of fermented foods such as homemade sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, and raw milk kefir (only tolerable b/c casein protein is broken down in fermentation). I use lakanto and stevia as sweeteners. Bone broths and all foods with live enzymes/amino acids are healing to the body.

If you need to stay on a medication because the diet is just too restricting (I know it’s hard!!!) you might consider sulfasalazine – this is an anti-folate antibiotic DMARD that also has an effect on yeast/candida as yeast also needs folate for reproduction. There are also studies showing aspirin and systemic enzymes as helpful for reducing candida reproduction. Sulflasalazine has a form of aspirin in it, so it works twofold in this respect.

Although I am now a bit afraid of diflucan due to my strong reaction, my doctor feels pulsing it for three days every few weeks could be helpful along with diet. Lauricidin is monolaurin lauric acid from coconut oil and this is a very good systemic anti-fungal. Studies have shown coconut oil to be as effective as diflucan and lauricidin makes it convenient to take – only problem is there is more direct die-off from lauricidin than diflucan as lauricidin directly kills the yeast whereas diflucan just inhibits reproduction, working more slowly – so lauricidin should be started at a low dose.

Hope this is helpful – it is working for me. Heavy metal chelation has also been an important part of my journey.

Warm wishes,
Laura

[cavalier]

I felt better with Diflucan but then I hit a even higher plateau, which I didn’t think possible with DMSA for the heavy metals.

Keep in mind chronic yeast is often found with heavy metals toxicity this can be the reason why yeast keeps reoccurring is that the heavy metals are still there – they tend to go hand in hand, as well as parasites.
It can be the other layers that are complicating factors that keep you from getting totally rid of the yeast. Just something to consider. As I have worked at addressing both parasites & heavy metals the coating of yeast that was chronic on my tongue has lessened & stayed this way.

Working on both metals & parasites one at a time is making the yeast stay away.

Castor oil is also a formula that a doc makes for candida.
Along with Lauracidin but in my case neither could keep the yeast at bay til I addressed these 2 coinfections.

Jill

[Kathy1465]

Hi Jill –

Would you please describe what you are doing for the heavy metals and parasites?

Kathy

[cavalier]

Hi Kathy – I have a thread running that is called Humaworm & Biocidin the latter works on biofilms. I am working on parasites via Humaworm as directed 1st & now that I am done with the 1st month of Humaworm be sure to read the thread as how to manage this as it’s full of info.Then I am using compounded DMSA 3 days a week Mon Weds & Fri 500 mgs for 6 wk’s then to be retested again by Doctors Data to see if the levels are down.

It’s harder to find good labs to test for parasites if you read Dr K. who is the German doc in Seattle Wash a LLMD he says the USA labs are notorious for missing them – but for heavy metals my 3 doc’s all agreed Doctors Data with 30 yrs of doing this was credible. Reason it’s good to know what you have is Chelation by EDTA doesn’t work on all metals but DMSA check it out but if memory serves does. I wanted to know my levels & they were surprisingly quite high Lead was almost off the charts.
Dr K finds parasites & heavy metals are often in conjunction with yeast/ candida issues it’s harder to get yeast levels down til you address the coinfections. I also have CPn too so this is also needing to be addressed & I got asthma suddenly over the last few yr’s so I found the recent thread quite interesting a lot of it in our family.

The biofilms is another stage which is where the Biocidin comes in at & then there is AP to come back in after I get these 1st 2 issues to a point where they can then do a better job as there isn’t parasites for the bacteria to be living & reproducing due to it being in them as well. This is often why folks get better from Lyme but then after some time off AP they relapse. I have Lyme which is nec. to address but these are to be addressed 1st according to Dr K if you do some searches on him since I was not making progress I felt to try it his way & that is when I started to move in a better direction.

I can attest to Humaworm working! I did & recommend the colon cleanse to make the die off a lot less harsh on you. It’s a process though typically one time isn’t enuf especially if this has been ignored for years & you’ve been sick for some time – both of these DMSA & Humaworm have made a difference in my fatigue levels, I have more to go still but def. on the upswing which is a nice plus.

Hope this makes some sense.
Best – Jill

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