Foot Bath Herx?

Hey guys.  I just tried my first foot bath tonight and it did not go very well.  Within minutes I could feel a little tingling in my chest and was a little lightheaded.  Nothing terrible, but it could have been had I kept at it longer.  I was planning on going for a full 30 minutes, but stopped at about 5.

I only added Epsom Salt.  I did not know how much to put in so I did 2 cups on my first try.  I am thinking that may have been too much for the first time, but not sure.  It is the same amount I have been using in my baths, which I have had no problem with lately.  I have been bathing at 99 degrees, but had the water a little hotter for the foot bath.

After my first failed attempt, I dumped out the water and tried again with only 1/2 cup of salt.  Same result.  I then waited an hour and tried with the colder water and the same thing.  Granted I probably didn't need much to put me over my tolerance the last two tries after the first one. 

I have been going the natural route for treatment for 2 weeks now.  about the only major thing going on is the pain in my legs, knees, and feet.  It has been pretty bad, but not unbearable.  I walk a good amount at work and am on my feet about half of the work day.  On my day off yesterday I made the mistake of going for a walk in the beautiful weather.  I went about a mile and ended up limping the second half back to my car.  They ached so bad last night I had trouble sleeping.  I will never take pain free mobility for granted again as long as I live once I make it through this. 

So has this happened to anyone else?  I know most of the toxins right now are lingering in my legs and feet.  Did this high-dose foot bath mobilize more than I could handle?  That is what I am thinking.  I guess I will try again tomorrow with cooler water and maybe 1/4 cup of salt. 

I get to see my LLD again tomorrow too, so maybe she will have some input.

Thanks.

Ben

Thanks for the reply bluebyyou.  I actually felt quite a bit better today.  Not sure why, but I will take it.  Still achy and tired, but not limping so bad, lol.  Maybe my 10 minute foot soak helped, or maybe something else. 

I saw my doctor again today.  She was encouraged by the overall picture, just said that I am extremely sensitive and need to go slowly on the soaks and baths(and everything really).  She told me to try just the hot water and not any salt and see what happens. 

I just did water only at about 101 degrees.  I made it through my 30 minute soak, but am about halfway to how I felt yesterday.  Somewhat light headed with a little tingle in my chest.  My legs also feel more drained.  Nothing bad though, I think this will wear off after bit. 

How did I become so sensitive to plain hot water?  Could there be some chemicals in my new plastic tub that are getting into my system?  I suppose it is not food grade and came right out of Big Box Store.

Or is a foot soak enough to raise my body temp enough to kill off some Lyme?  Really weird, I used to have a hot tub a few years back and that would apparently kill me now, lol.

Hi Prairiewind,
Chance are your detoxing pathways are very sluggish or they are "blocked". All this means is that you will have to take both detoxing and treatments slow because your body can get rid of the toxins very fast. I had to deal with this when I started treating as well. A pain to be sure, but not something that should make you stop treating!

Hi JAdam,

It probably means that your toxic load is extremely high and the more you do the foot baths, the more toxins will be released making you feel better as time goes on.

I would lower the Epsom salts to 1 cup and use 1/2 cup of the hydrogen peroxide.

Detoxing is a cumulative effect, the more one does the better they feel!!

Hope this helps,
Denise

Agreeing with Denise's post! I too herxed horribly if I tried to stay in the water for more than 5 minutes when I started out! I had a very high toxin load at that time and had to do a ton of detoxing.

The Epsom salts move the toxins from the tissues into the blood stream, where our bodies can get overwhelmed with them if our bodies aren't detoxing well.

You might want to consider getting some gene testing done to see if you have gene mutations (MTHFR) that stop the body from being able to detox well. Many people here have used 23&me for their testing.