Anyone else taking artemisia?

I take artemisinin which is the concentrated form. I do a protocol which is 400mg 3x per day for 3 days on and 11 days off. This is based on a study that the intestines develop an enzyme that renders artemisia ineffective by about the 4-5 day, thus the need for pulsing.

I'm someone that doesn't react strongly to herbs, but ever since beginning pulses of art a few weeks ago, I have been feeling VERY bad and I've had severe herxing with chills, sweats, extreme exhaustion and weakness, irritability, fainting, etc. I didn't have this strong of a reaction to Mepron even when I took the "double" dose. I find artemisinin much stronger.

I take it with antibiotics. Usually with food. It's better to take babesia meds with fatty meals if possible.

I was on Zhang's artemesia formula for about 1  1/2 mos, 

It is highly recommended, however, with some folks it can cause problems.  If you are not in tune with your body and effects, this could be serious.

about one month in on artemesia, I was having heart problems, weak and very pale. So my LLMD suggested a blood panel and my hemoglobin and Hemocrit dropped really low.  Apparently the artemesia is so effective that it lyces (sp?) the rbc's to get at the babesia protozoa. In this case it was too effective for my body to keep up --- with artemesia there tends to be a huge dieoff right at the beginning.  This can affect your liver, spleen and kidneys --- they have a difficult time with huge dieoffs.

So my LLMD took me off of artemesia (I stayed on mepron/zith) and my blood went back to normal within 10 days. I feel much better but still have some babesia symptoms to work on.

I feel artemesia is highly effective but you really have to watch it...take it slow.  Use dandelion and milk thistle for your liver. Detox all the way.  Babesia is a tough disease, worse than Lyme, I think.

Just be careful!

I have been taking artemisinin for 2 months now. I think it started doing something in the beginning, although I don't know if I feel anything now. My hands seem to hurt a lot more, but that could be a number of things. Maybe I should stop and start? Maybe I need more? I take 360 mg.

I had to cut back to on it already! I had worked up to 2 a day and the joint pain was getting too intense. It's so tempting just to stop it altogether, I honestly think its making all of my symptoms flare. But I'll start by cutting back to one a day first and go from there.

samjones- mine is 500mg, LLMD said to gradually work up to two 3 times daily. This is going to have to be extremely gradual I'm afraid! Sheesh. I'm herxing more and more everyday. I need a break!