Is this a flare, a migraine, or a bug?

Yesterday I woke up feeling like I was getting the flu. Today I have what kind of feels like a migraine over my eyes, but the pain is also in my right ear and cheekbone. I feel kind of nauseated. The headache is slightly more on the right side on the top of my head, but is also in my forehead, more to the center. I am also achy, but a bit less achy today than yesterday.

I know there are tons of symptoms with Lyme, but I wondered if anyone has experienced anything similar to this.

I am taking cipro and doxy, and recently started 200 mg artemisinin. I had not taken the artemisinin since Saturday, though, and I didn't start feeling really rotten until Monday. I definitely experienced a reaction to the artemisinin the few times I had taken it, and since we had a little party to go to on Sunday night, I wasn't brave enough to take it on Sunday after having a reaction on Saturday.

I have been going to an alternative provider recommended by my LLMD. She does what I think is the electronic equivalent of muscle testing. (I hold onto a metal rod with a wet hand, she wears cotton gloves and uses a stylus type think and applies it to points on my fingers.)

Based on her findings in early September (which was my second visit), she felt that my body wanted mostly to drain, so she recommended no abx. I felt ok for about 6 days, but then felt I hit a wall.

At around the same time as I was feeling worse, my LLMD called because she had seen the recommendation for no abx, & said she was ok with that, but only if I was feeling ok. She said my blood work had come in and my WA1 titers were higher, so she was concerned about no abx.

So ultimately the decision was that I go back on Cipro and doxy (I also have Tularemia, which did not respond to Rifampin, hence the Cipro). I didn't want to mess around because my daughter was getting married on September 22, and I especially didn't want to be feeling weak and ill during that time.

Right after the wedding, I felt I was coming down with a cold/flu, and since then have been acutely ill, some days worse than others. I am coughing, wheezing, have nasty nasal discharge, headache, lower back pain, neck pain and pain in the back of my head. I also have stomach pain around my middle, which reminds me of my kids' symptoms when they had walking pneumonia. I attend things I need to go to, but largely I have been at home on the couch. My chest feels heavy, I am weak, and extemely fatigued. Also, sleeping fitfully, & sweating at night.

The drainage I am on is from Soluna. I take Hepatik, Lymphatik, Splenetic, Renalin. I have not done any baths lately, so I will add that to my regimen.

I am really confused, because I have not felt this acutely ill for this length of time in quite a while. I don't know enough about the various co-infections to know what to suspect. I know that babesiosis often has respiratory symptoms, so that fits , but I also have had high mycoplasma titers for a long time, and I wonder if I got another exposure to it at the wedding, where I was hugging a lot of people.

I'm seeing my LLMD on Monday, so she will be helpful in assessing what is going on. I also have a primary immune deficiency. I am low in IgG1, IgG3, and recently my IgA was also low. I had IV plasma treatments for 2.5 years, but I stopped in 2010 because I wasn't convinced I was all that much better while on them. That was before I knew I had Lyme. (I had positive tests before then, but the doctor said I needed 3 positives and I had two).

I am pretty discouraged because I don't seem to be gaining any ground. I am wondering about going back on plasma for a while, perhaps to give my immune system a boost. I have bad reactions to that treatment as well, though, so I am not very excited about it. I would also probably need to have a pneumonia vaccine to see if I can qualify for the treatments, as well, and I would also rather not do that.

Arrghhh.

Of course, I could only offer you my best guess - but never discount the effects of stress - and I would say your daughter getting married created a lot of stress! Even if it was a very happy time, it still stressed your body. When the body is under stress, the immune system isn't able to operate at it's best, so it complicates many things.

If you believe it's from the Cipro, please watch yourself carefully for other signs of an allergic reaction, and if you experience difficulty breathing, feel your throat swelling, have a rash that is expanding or any other symptoms that may concern you, don't wait until Monday to talk with a doc! Get to an Emergency room!

Please do let us know what your doc has to say!

Awww! I'm so sorry to hear that! I do hope that you are able to recover from this episode soon!!!

Please let us know what your LLMD has to say - once you are up to it!

Hi Rori,
Are you detoxing? That will likely help ease your symptoms, and keep you from feeling like you are back at square one all the time - although be sure to stick with it long enough for it to help. We usually have quite a heavy load of toxins in our bodies by the time we are this ill.

Something you should be aware of is that steroids like prednisone are known to lower the immune system - not what we need as we are trying to fight these incredibly complex infections! So it whenever you can safely avoid the use of steroids, it's best to refuse them.