Update on my experience with the Triple Therapy

Hi all,

After reading coralreef's story, I decided to write a post on my progress so far with the Triple Therapy from the CDD in Sydney.

First a quick background, I lived in India for 4 months about 3 years ago and have been back about 6 times since. Also travel frequently to Russia as well (exotic job, I know). On my initial trip to India I drank the water, ate all the food and had no boundaries. As I started to piece things together recently, I believe I picked up some type of Protozoan infection on my inaugural trip. I now remember experiencing signs of Giardia during the trip but was too naive to do anything about it. Once I got back to London (where I was living at the time), I started getting terrible sinus issues and saw many ENT doctors to no avail. It wasn't until moving to LA and seeing my general doctor, an allergist and then an ENT that I ended up getting sinsus surgery, which was in most likelihood, completely unnecessary. One week after the surgery, the symptoms came back and neither the ENT or allergist could explain it. Finally, after speaking with some relatives in the family, the suggestion of parasites came up.

My symptoms include:

Strong Constipation
Diarrhea (not as frequent as constipation)
Gas
Stomach gurgling loud after lunch
Pain below left rib cage
Abdominal pain in middle upper abs
Anal Itch
Milk/Dairy Intolerance
Fatigue
Sinsus Allergies - pain under top of eyes. clogged nostrils
Ears Popping Constantly (Especially after doing a sinus rinse)
Minor Weight Loss
Upper Back Pain
Waking in Middle of Night / Insomnia

As many others have said on this forum, living day-to-day life was starting to become unbearable. I amaze myself every day when I'm able to make it through the gym in the evening -- weights only, no chance w/ cardio.

Prior to consulting with a GI doctor, I read many posts on curezone and PPTU, without commenting, to try and figure out the issue at hand. I tried MANY, MANY different things including (in order starting w/ most recent):

1. Metronidazole

When I finally started piecing things together, I had my cousin write me a prescription for Flagyl. Within 15 minutes of taking the first dose my stomach started to grumble and I immediately had to go to the toilet. I instantaneously felt better in the days to come but that only last about 1.5 weeks. HOWEVER, my sinus problem got so much better and to this day is still much better then 1-2 years ago.

2. Tinidazole

Luckily because I travel to India a bunch, I was able to pick up Tinidazole. I read that it had a 90% cure rate vs Giardia so I through i must try it. It's very interesting b/c I would take it as a multi-dose pill opposed to 2g single dose. Every time I took it I did feel better (especially sinsuses and bowels) but it didn't seem to kill off whatever I have.

3. Albenazole

Took this also in India thinking I might have some type of worm. Had a really bad reaction to it. I believe b/c I took it whole and the guy doesn't respond well. Suffice to say, this had no effect.

4. Humaworm

Took this religiously for a bit but it really didn't have an effect.

5. Indian Meds

Saw a GI doc in India and he told me I had a partially treated parasite infection. Gave me some stuff but it didn't make a difference. Believe one was a probiotic but not sure the other.

6. Ayurveda Treatment and Enema

Had an ayurveda enema done while in India. I thought this would make me feel less toxic. Similar to everything else, nothing showed up in my stool. I also took some digestion medicine for the metabolic system. Didn't help much either.

6. 60 billion Probiotics

Took this to keep GI flora in tact. Not sure if it made a difference.

7. Threelac Probiotic

Thought maybe candida was the cause. Took Threelac and it didn't do much help.

8. Liver Cleanse

This was interesting. I felt alive after the cleanse but had a lot of pain in my lower back, which I believe is due to the parasites. I had to take magnesium citrate to clear everything out.

9. parasite Cleanse

Hulda Clark cleanse.

10. Kidney Cleanse

Solvay cleanse kit.

I'm sure there are many others I'm forgetting as well.

After trying many, many things to no avail, I finally consulted a GI doctor here in LA. He seems pretty knowledgeable and certainly open to my parasite theory given my history. The first thing we did was a stool and blood test from Quest lab. That came back negative for anything O/V (parasites) and h pylori. Given that this isn't the best lab, I then requested a stool from Dr. Amin's lab in Arizona. This also came back negative for everything including blasto, d fragilis, candida and a whole bunch of other stuff. As I mentioned in another post, I suspect that this is because I had only stopped taking the tinidazole 5-6 days prior to the stool test and also provided only 2 samples, 3 days apart. Even my GI doctor said the test was quite comprehensive - so if you're thinking about using them, it might be worth it.

I met with my GI doctor again seeking to explore to the Triple Therapy from the CDD. He was open to me trying this but wasn't willing to submit to getting the meds for me due to California law - which I do understand. I ended up getting the meds from India which were not available in the US. I started the treatment last Thursday evening.

Things have been interesting so far. I've taken the pills 8 hours apart (12:30pm, 8:30pm, 4:30am) with food. Side effects are primarily strong pressure headache about 5-10 mins after taking the drugs and extreme fatigue -- but a different type when not on the meds. Waking up in the middle of the night and eating (which is not the norm for me) has been kind of hard. When I first started taking the protocol, I didn't realize doxycycline should be added for d. fragilis.

For the first few days, nothing really seemed to happen. I mostly judge things by how my sinsuses feel and what's going on with my bowels/stomach. The sinuses were still pretty clogged which led me to believe that the excess mucus hadn't deteriorated and the cause of the infection was still there. My bowels weren't moving at all. Per the advice of the forum, I did not take a laxative or an enema on day two and let things play out. Finally, during a movie, nonetheless, out of no where the intense diahrrea came on. Needless to say, things didn't seem much different with the medication.

Now the interesting part is that yesterday, when Shrimpy mentioned that doxycycline should be added, I got a prescription and started to incorporate it into the protocol. Some crazy stuff started to happen. My sinsuses got better and I could actually breathe out of both nostrils for a few hours. When I took the next dosage, same thing. I felt good! Still haven't had a bowel movement but that should probably change this morning.

It's interesting that the doxy has made a bit of a difference. I'm secretly praying that the combination of all drugs is slowly but surely killing the infection, which in time, will reduce the sinus, stomach and among many other issues I have. But obviously, I'm still a bit skeptical.

My GI doctor has suggested that if this doesn't work I should try the protocol for SIBO, which I believe is riflaxim. I'm open to this but would wait a bit, so I don't overload my body with Antibiotics .

After that, I'm lost! I could ask for a referral to the tropical medicine doctor at UCLA but then the process gets prolonged even longer and I just want my life back.

Anyways, hope this was helpful to all. I know coralreef's story may be more positive then mine but just providing another perspective.

All comments, questions and most importantly, ADVICE!!, is welcome.

Cheers,
Brian