Tired, tired, tired: On antibiotics for MAC

@testlady- Did I forget to ask, what kind of lung cancer do you have? Do you have multifocal adenocarcinoma?

Yes, that is my cancer designation. I was diagnosed in 2011.

Hi @merpreb I do not have lung cancer, I have MAC and Bronchiectasis. Your lung problems sound very interesting the way they come and go, so glad that you are stable. Yes the fatigue for MAC is also draining, not fun. Heather

@testlady- I started a group a while back for our type of lung cancer.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/multifocal-adenocarcinoma-of-the-lung-continual-recurrences/
We are a small group and would love to have you with us.

I was diagnosed with st. 4 lung cancer and MAC in October 2020 and this week's CT scan showed tumors growing, so I have been taken off Ramucirumab and Docetaxel to treat the MAC with Rifampin, Azithromycin and Ethambutol to start in next couple of days. As a very active country person in my 60s with horses I know that many country folk have cured their cancer with Ivermectin horse wormer, and I would like to try it but unaware of any possible reaction with the MAC drugs. Yes, I smoked a pack a day for years, quit many years ago. Is anyone familiar with this?

Ivermectin tablets are approved at very specific doses for some parasitic worms, and there are topical (on the skin) formulations for head lice and skin conditions like rosacea. The FDA says Ivermectin is not an anti-viral (a drug for treating viruses).

Researchers are studying Ivermectin to see if it may be used as an anti-cancer drug and early studies show promise. Please note that this research is in the early stages (mice studies) and has not gone yet been tested in human trials.

@manorbier, being treated for lung cancer and MAC, you should talk to your oncologist and pulmonologist before taking any drugs, especially drugs not originally intended for humans.

Thanks Colleen. I wouldn't dream of taking without consulting my Oncologist. I have been reading the reports on the current research & it looks promising. I will ask at my next visit.

Testlady, you said, "I am very stressed with this tiredness. Some days, I can barely move!" Your situation reminds me of a book I read many years ago: "If You Meet the Buddha on the Road Kill Him." It opens with a comment by the author, Sheldon Kopp, a psychotherapist. He recounts an experience with a patient who arrived at Kopp's office and launched into an apparently rather lengthy report; a laundry list of mishaps, misfortunes, and mistakes that had recently beleaguered his daily life. Notwithstanding the fact that the man's woes were credible, when the patient eventually paused Kopp waited several seconds and then said something along the lines of "and you're letting a few little things like this get you down?" I've always considered Kopp's question a masterful use of irony.

So it is in this same spirit of irony that I'll say "and you're letting a few little thing like "stress, tiredness, and barely being able to move get you down.? Feel better soon! Don

Thanks, Don, I needed that proverbial kick in the pants! I complained of the same to my pulmonologist last week.
She was a lot more sympathetic than your are, though.
Sue

Sue, I’m confused. I thought I was responding to someone called Testlady. Did I briefly wander into an alternate universe?