"Do herxes become life threatening often?"
No, fortunately. But it is a possibility for those that choose to push through a herx too far. If the symptoms are manageable - as in you are not having to restrict your activities much, then you are not at risk for it to get severe. There are many that will try to push through and will end up in a much worse situation with their health, and still not be in a life threatening situation.
I have not had the MTHFR testing done, but because of my detoxing issues I assumed I did and started only two supplements (methyl B and methyl folate) and that has helped quite a bit, so I assume I have some mutations.
Saunas are good forms of detoxing, but far from the only one. You will need to add in more detoxing than that most likely. I don't use a sauna (wish I had access to one so I could test it out though!), but here is what I do for detoxing, trying to use as many detox pathways in the body as I can:
An Epsom salt/peroxide foot soak,
dry skin brushing,
making sure my bowels moved at least once a day (sorry if it's TMI!)
pushing myself to drink at least 64 ounces of lemon water each and every day,
liver/gall bladder flushes (all natural), as needed,
oil pulling with tea tree oil,
taking activated charcoal, as needed,
Alpha lipoic acid,
Quercetin,
turmeric,
Methyl B-12 and methyl folate,
Dandelion tincture,
red root tincture,
Yogi brand detox tea (original flavor)
Have recently added cytokine remodulators - Chinese Skullcap and Red clover extracts
and keeping the amount of stress in my life at a bare minimum.
I have used apple cider vinegar to help with detoxing as well - it's really good, but started making my stomach issues worse, so I stopped using it daily and only use it occasionally when I know I need a boost in my detoxing for just a day or two.
You can find some really good detoxing suggestions in the "New to Lyme?" thread that sits at the top of the forum. And this is another really good resource for detoxing ideas for Lyme patients:
www.tiredoflyme.com/detox-methods.html But, there is such a thing as over detoxing. This happens when we move more toxins than our body is capable of processing out effectively. Many toxins are stored in our tissues, and by detoxing, we move them to the bloodstream where we can process them out of our bodies through the lymph system, then on to the liver and kidneys as so on. We have to be sure to add in more detoxing routines slowly and carefully, or we will end up herxing just like we had never been detoxing. This article helps to explain that some:
www.tiredoflyme.com/4-reasons-why-you-still-feel-bad-despite-detoxing.html And thank you for asking - I'm not moving along like I should be and will be going back to the original protocol soon that helped me heal the first time around. But, my life is full of stress right now that I simply can't avoid (hubby is getting a spinal fusion on his neck soon), so I'm just trying to stay stable right now! LOL!