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Posted 2/15/2012 8:43 PM (GMT 0)
Hello everyone! Upon finding a great new Lyme doc i'm being treated for co-infections. We are doing herbal treatments first to see how my body reacts. I just started taking Artemisinin yesterday (about 200mg I believe) and oh boy, did I herx. Probably the worst i've ever had. I'm supposed to take that for a week and then start on HH-2. Eventually prescription drugs will be added like Mepron and Flagyl.

I was wondering if anyone had such a strong reaction to the Artemisinin. I read somewhere that it may not be a herx but a toxic side effect? I think it would be really hard to know the difference between the two. It gives me a headache like no other and the chills.

Any personal feedback on treatment of co-infections would be greatly appreciated.
Posted 2/15/2012 8:53 PM (GMT 0)
I don't know as I have my 1st LLMD in a few weeks. Have you been detoxing and exercising and eating healthy? (no sugar, gluten and low on carbs ) I am sorry to hear you're not well. I hate being sick!!
Posted 2/15/2012 9:22 PM (GMT 0)
I have very limited experience with Artemisinin, and it was in an herbal mixture, so I have no idea what caused what in me, but I did find this:"The most important class of drugs that could have a major impact on malaria control is the artemisinin derivatives. They have remarkable efficacy and an excellent safety record. They have no identifiable dose-related adverse effects in humans and only very rarely produce allergic reactions."
From this site:adisonline.com/drugsafety/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2004&issue=27010&article=00003&type=abstract

I do have experience Houttuynia (the HH capsules that you mentioned), though. This is a very strong herb, so be careful to work up to the full dose slowly watching for a herx.

Oh- and be sure you are detoxing well! These will kill off a bunch of the protozoans and bacteria that have made themselves at home in your body.
I hope this helps a bit!
Posted 2/21/2012 8:09 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the help! I started the HH2 today and am starting to feel it after a second dose. My lymph nodes are very swollen and my head is so foggy. I'm glad I took a detox bath today!
Posted 2/21/2012 11:21 AM (GMT 0)
Sounds definitely like a herx to me. You might want to be even more gradual in your ramp up. I know I am very sensitive to both the abx and Herbals and have learned the hard way to be very cautious in the amount I take initially and only very incrementally add over time. The Byron White protocol I take is a good example ...I started at only 1 drop every 2 days! I added every week to that and got to 6 drops/day. Then toxins were building in me too quickly for my body to keep up so I backed off down to 4 drops/day. The point here is to find your level for your body at the time and go from there and adjust over time.
Posted 2/21/2012 12:20 PM (GMT 0)
I've been on Artemesinin for most of my treatment.

At this point I am on it for three weeks out of the month. After the week's break I invariably herx, but each time less and less.

It is a powerful drug; I have never noticed a toxic effect, just the herx.

I hope you see some improvement soon!
Posted 12/21/2012 10:35 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, I've had lyme and co-infections for many many years and been treated by a LLMD. He just began me on HH2. Two weeks ago we tried 1 twice a day. After 2 pills, I was laid out cold with a migraine and sick to my stomach. We tried a week later, and after one pill I had a headache. We're trying again. I took one pill 6 hours ago and was okay until 15 minutes ago when my skin went on fire and red blotches broke out all over.

Is this a herx? Has anybody has this? Has anybody tried low doses because they coujldn't tolerate the big herxes and still gotten well?

Suggestions and thoughts?

Thank you.

NYCSilk
Posted 12/22/2012 1:43 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Nycsilk,
Welcome to our forum! I'm so sorry that you are having such issues, but I'm glad you found us!

If you haven't already, it would be helpful 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 important information, symptom lists (as Lyme rarely occurs by itself), helpful links and pdf's, instructions on how to detox when one has these infections and a list of questions that you can ask any doctor that you are seeking treatment from!

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!

It does sound like a herx. Are you detoxing? Detoxing is pretty important to help our bodies not only deal with the treatments, but it's the toxins from the bacteria dying that drive our symptoms. www.encognitive.com/node/5768

If you are unsure of what all to do to help your body detox, as I mentioned above, in our "New to Lyme?" thread - 2nd post down, about 1/2 way through the post you can find our recommendations for what works.

I didn't take the HH2 caps, I used the whole leaf herb and made a medicinal tea. I had to dilute the tea to 1/2 strength and still could only use 1/2 the doses for about 3 weeks - then one day I just felt better and started very slowly increasing my doses - but I was detoxing like crazy the whole time too.
Posted 12/23/2012 2:00 AM (GMT 0)
If you have issues with Artemisinin you might want to try Sida Acuta.

Below is what Buhner says about it:

"I no longer recommend artemisinin or artemisia. Sida acuta will work better, especially for babesia or bartonella. Woodlandessence.com carries it."
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