Herx or not?

I'm sorry you're feeling so terribly. Hopefully, the ceftin will help you and not make you herx even more. If you're already detoxing as much as you can, maybe you could ask your LLMD about adding supplements or something to lessen the herxing. I've heard that some people use alkaseltzer gold, but I would check with your LLMD first.

I have been having a really difficult time with symptoms over the past 3 weeks or so too. It seems like a long time for a herx and it makes me worried also. I also started looking into Lyme in October 2011 and started off with doxy from a family doctor. I've gotten progressively worse as well. I'm on oral antibiotics and treating mainly babesia first. Do you have any co-infections?

I have been trying to drink more lemon water and rest - as best as I can with three kids!

I do not have a co-infection. Thank you for your advice and I will look at the new to Lyme section!

Haha- are you apologizing about the length of your post? Clearly you haven't seen any I have written. I'm pretty sure everyone here has gotten scared and freaked out and written a "long" post at some point. Don't apologize!

I can't tell you for sure what will happen. Unfortunately, there really is no way to tell how people will respond to antibiotics. When I first started treatment, I just got worse for the first 3 months. It was horrible, and it was scary. But it did eventually get better.

Detoxing is important. Once you kill the bacteria you have to get all the toxic cr*p out of your system.

Also, if you find your treatment protocol is too intense or too difficult for you, talk to you doctor. Some people need to very slowly work their way up to full doses

Thank you for all of your advice - it is very hard to talk about Lyme with my friends and family who have never had this awful disease. I work in health care and all these neuro symptoms freak me out - always worried that maybe there is something else wrong with me.
Today I think I will try the detox bath and see if that helps.....
Happy Valentine's Day :)

I agree with what a few others have said - it sounds like you're killing this stuff off faster than your body can eliminate all the toxins. The first few months of my treatment were really awful - I'd been sick for roughly 10-15 years, so I did expect it to be a bit intense. I herxed for a solid 3 months, then had a few weeks relief, then another 2 months - but now, thankfully, my herxing and feeling better "schedule" is much more balanced - it DOES get better! Even though it can be so hard to believe that sometimes, you've just gotta hold on!

In addition to all the great suggestions posted above, I've found that diet is really important is lessening my herxing - when things get really bad I try to eat as little "junk" as possible (by junk I mean anything that I don't know all the ingredients of), and that's usually when I get up the energy to start juicing, as well, which I've found to be helpful.

Hang in there - and remember we're here for whatever we can help with!

Hi all,
and first of all thanks for maintaining this site,
my concern fits with this topic.

Maybe I should introduce my case first (if it is not the right place here, please move it). I have felt sick for 10 years. My main symptoms were:
-"flu like feeling" every 3-5 weeks, lasting for 2-4 days.
-Diarrhea
-Tinnitus
-Panic attacks
-Pain in the shins
-several kinds of anxiety (performance, flying, Agoraphobia, etc.)

probably many other symptoms that I don't remember now (have to say that neurological symptoms where existant but not to the degree of many other Lyme patients. I felt pain now and then but could do sport, play football).

After some self study I thought Lyme could be my problem and saw a neurologist who did some tests with me and confirmed my assumption.
He prescribed Cefuroxim 500 2 times daily, and surprisingly, the boosts (regular flu feeling) disappeared and didn't reoccur for 10 weeks (couldn't remember such a long absence of those symptoms, although I had not kept a symptom record/diary). Then, I changed to Minocyclin, Roxythromicyn and Cotrimoxazol, because I had Chlamydia Pneumoniae as a co-infect, and the symptoms reoccured powerful and intense. I could not leave the house for a couple of days due to strong anxiety. Futher on, the flu symptoms reoccured much more often then previously. In the course of this protocol, the periods between those boosts (if this is the right word) increased, but then, without changing the medication, they came again more often. In the meanwhile, I have switched to Minocyclin and Azithromycin. Since then, it seems the flu symptoms are coming now every week, it is horrible. The anxiety is sometimes too strong to go to work. I have to say, that during these boosts, I have almost no primary symptoms like headache, a running nose or a sore throat, it's just this overwhelming feeling of sickness. I have no CFS but in these days I think I know what it feels like.

Each times these symptoms occur, I feel liky maybe lyme is not the problem. Maybe it is EBV, mercury load or whatever. Best regards and thank you very much for your comments and opinions on my case,
Kern

Post Edited (Kern) : 2/15/2012 11:09:27 AM (GMT-7)

Hi Kern!
Welcome to our little spot!! I'm so sorry to hear of all that you've been through so far!! You've come to a great place though!! The members here enjoy sharing experiences and info and we get and give support here!!

If you haven't already, it would be beneficial for you to start with reading through the thread at the top of the forum titled,"New to Lyme?...Start here!!", as it is packed full of relevant information, symptom lists and informative links that have been put together by our members here! Most of those who have read through it have said that it was very helpful!!

We also have a pretty good search function on this forum to help you narrow down your search for information from past posts. We must be our own health advocates now and the best thing to arm yourself with is knowledge about our infections and the different ways to treat them!

The first thing I would ask is are you detoxing? We have a great post on detoxing when a person has a tick-borne infection in our "New to Lyme?" thread that I mentioned earlier. It's about 1/2 way through the second post, and be sure to include the dry skin brushing and drinking plenty of lemon water! They will help you detox better!

It also may be that if you are already detoxing, you may need to step up your detoxing routine and also include other detoxing routines such as using a FIR sauna.

One side note - lots of us here that have tick-borne infections have chronic EBV and/or reactivated EBV as well, as it's not uncommon for those with these types of infections to carry different viruses, and/or have other medical issues like Heavy metals in our systems.

Hi Kerns - just wanted to welcome you!

The reason so much detoxing is through the skin isn't necessarily because of skin symptoms, just because it's the largest organ of elimination - and the most accessible. I know it seems a little weird at first, but it really does make a difference!

Have you been tested for co-infections? (There's also information about that in the New to Lyme thread - or you can do some searching within the forum or online). Your main symptoms sound like they could possibly be indicative of bartonella, especially the shin pain and the anxiety.

Personally, even though I'm primarily treating the Lyme, the fatigue from EBV and other viral infections (plus whatever fatigue comes from the Lyme itself) is often the most debilitating. I've tried treatment from that angle (treating the viral stuff first and hoping everything else would clear itself up), but that didn't work too well. For a lot of people, once you get the Lyme/bacterial infections under control - once you clear that hurdle, it makes it easier for your (now healthier) body to deal with all the other stuff.

Hi Kern,
Borderlyme gave a great explanation of why we heavily suggest using the baths and dry skin brushing!!

So that you know, what you are calling a 'boost' is what we refer to as a herx, I believe. Herx is short for Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction. There is a whole bunch of info on this online, but basically it's the worsening of symptoms or sometimes the addition of other symptoms because of die-off of bacteria or protozoans or whatever other bad bugs we may have. Detoxing helps our bodies deal with this sudden increase of dead bacteria and stuff, by making it easier for our bodies to rid themselves of it. Feeling 'fluish' and having an increase in your symptoms is what most of us seem to experience, but I and others here have had a few new symptoms show up too.

Unfortunately, what you just described sounds all too familiar here. The good news is that it's common when one has tick-borne infections.

As for the bathtub, where there's a will, there's a way!! Giggle! I don't have a bath tub either, but I was desperate to be able to do the full detox baths at least sometimes!! I usually just use the foot baths, but they aren't nearly as good at helping a herx.

Any way, what I did is buy a livestock watering tub! It's oblong and it's about 2 1/2 - 3 feet deep. I have to soak only half of me at a time, but I can soak my entire body at least! My hubby drilled a hole in the bottom of my new 'detox tub' large enough for a regular bathtub plug will fit as well! I set this in the shower stall and fill it and soak there! That way when it comes time for me to dump the water, all I do is pull the plug! LOL!!! What the heck!! It works!

Actually, here it's not so much that we won't answer your questions to the things we have listed here as it is you really need to know this stuff for yourself! You are the only one who is in your body to know what you are actually going through, the only one who really knows when something is working, and the only one who absolutely has to go to every one of your appts with you!! The more you know, the better able you are to be sure you are doing what's right for your body!

Unfortunately, tick-borne disease treatments are not a one-size-fits-most type of medicine. Each of us requires a unique treatment program as these infections are so complex that they attack our weakest points first, but given time, they will eventually invade the entire body and all of it's parts. Most knowledgeable LLMD's will treat until 2 or 3 months past the resolution of all symptoms! This is also why it's up to us individually to know what our bodies are going through so that we can help the LLMD's navigate throughout all of our systems that are affected.

Well as you can see, I'm good at long posts!! LOL! Please don't hesitate to ask the questions that you have and get clarification where you may need it. It's important to know what's being said!!

Thanks again guys, my problem is, although I am aware that no one can really answer it for me:
If I would be sure that it is herx, fine, would go through it and manage, but I am still not 100% sure whether it is so. In this publication, it is stated that antibiotics could reactivate EBV

http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/2/46/46ra62.abstract?sid=7c009d17-dfbd-444d-a2f3-212f142b43ad

Thus, I am wondering if maybe the lyme is long gone and I am just feeding and reactivating the EBV (or some other evil things ;)) with the abx, I will probably never know. Symptoms that vanished during abx are:



For that reason and others, I am considering quitting abx for maybe a months or two, and see what is going on. If it is further going on as it is the past weeks (feeling really sick 1-2 times a week) I think it is the right decision.
Regards and thanks again,
Kern

LOL Trav..it happens to me on a daily basis.

With my chest pains and shin pains I wouldn't doubt I have bart too..I really should stay off the internet..because I start to panic.

My eye has been twitching a lot lately too..soooo weird.

I'm sure you all are going to be thrilled when I actually see the LLMD in 2 weeks. That way I can finally shut up a little and get some anxiety meds LOL.

LOL, Sleepless!! We will be glad you you see a doctor that can actually help you!! I just know what full on panic attacks are like! I also know what a panic attack is like when you don't have the mental side of the panic - the body can still go through all of those symptoms though!

Use the internet only as much as it's in your best interest. If it causes you to be even more anxious, then you should re-evaluate the amount of time you are on it. On the other hand if you are becoming anxious because you now know not only what you have, but what's it's doing to your body, and how it's affecting your life, then you just now know about the disease! Treatment will be the only thing to calm that type of anxiety....butsome of us - including me- do need to use anti- anxiety meds still, and there's nothing shameful or wrong about that.