hives

I've had hives all over my body (especially stomach, back, and legs) the past three days. They are so itchy!! I still have the pin-prick rash, too, and in much larger segments all over my body.

Does anyone know what the hives are about? Is this a herx reaction? Is it associated with lyme or a co-infection in particular? Or is it an allergic reaction to something?

It's so freaky, like I have chicken pox and blood-red freckles.

I would not mess around with hives. Hives are usually an allergic response and they can quickly turn into full anaphylaxis with breathing difficulty. I had hives one time during treatment. It was the only time that I voluntarily stopped an antibiotic. Mine were a reaction to amoxicillin.

I also thought it was a herx so I kept taking it a few times. Each time the hives got worse and worse and then I started having pretty bad lung pain too. Call your doctor and also make sure that next time you go you ask for an Rx for an epipen to have in case this happens in the future and escalates.

Yup, I'm concerned because I hope it didn't do permanent damage to my kidneys but that is when I had shooting pains really sharp headaches, legs felt heavy and throbbing veins. The ironic part is I was on Macrobid and that only hits what is in the kidneys.

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the thoughts. This has been by far the worst few days I've had with my lyme treatment, ever, etc.

My LLMD is not being nearly as helpful as I'd like.. And as I feel I'm paying for!! What a mess.

He did suggest 50 mcg of benadryl... I don't love taking drugs but I'm gonna do it. Just curious, does anyone know, why does benadryl help with herx reactions (or does it just help for *allergic* reactions, and will help insofar as this is an allergic reaction?) And... Does it treat the problem or just make the symptoms more tolerable? (I'll take either right now!, just curious :)

opugirl,

That's a really good question and I'm finally lucid enough to think about it!

Retracing my steps... Monday I started a new treatment... Candibactin AR by metagenics... Dr had said I might have a big reaction to it because it's supposed to address bartonella and parasites, which seem to be my two main infections. Wednesday I began the biggest herx I've had and went off the candibactin.. Started to feel a little better by Friday morning. Thursday I also decided to add grapefruit back into my diet, after 6 months of no fruit.

Friday I made a mistake and I believe over-detoxed (I didn't realize this was possible). I did an infrared sauna and that's exactly when the hives started.

So I'm thinking it could either be an allergic reaction to the Candibactin AR (which is just red thyme oil, oregano oil, sage leaf, and lemon balm) that was brought to the fore by the sauna, an allergic reaction to the grapefruit (though I was never allergic before!!), or a herx.

I'm going to try 1 or 2 benadryll tonight. Nervous because I'm very sensitive to medication, but something's gotta give here.

Thanks for the thoughts. I feel very scared right now. My symptoms this week of hives, nausea, and displacement were my scariest yet.

I did call... but honestly I'm not thrilled with the reaction... He just has his intern call back and I get the sense the intern really doesn't know much. I called a second time and asked specifically to talk to the doctor but he had the intern call again. We got cut off (don't know why) and he never called back. Before we got cut off I heard one sentence, which was to try benadryll. This guy is supposed to be a great LLMD and I don't doubt his expertise, he's just not that involved.

Aw thanks, and thanks so much for being there to bounce ideas... It means so much when I'm in the thick of it. Do you think it's safe to try to 2 benadryll though i am medication-sensative? Benadryll helps you sleep, too, right? That would be awesome.

I took two benadryll last night... WOW do I feel different today. I still have tons of hives... maybe the same amount... But I feel so much clearer, more stable, more energy, more thoughts, feelings, opinions. It seriously feels like I'm encountering myself after a very long absence (months).. Like "hello Rachel, it's been a while!"

I'm wondering.. What might that indicate? That I've been having a prolonged allergic reaction to one of the treatments I'm on? Or a prolonged herx?

The other thing I'm grappling with is how unhelpful my fancy LLMD has been this week. The most I got was a call back from his unknowledgable intern, which got cut off and I haven't been able to reach him since. I do not have a bunch of money (I'm a self-employed artist) but I decided to make this investment. I know the doc knows his stuff, but he's also quite unavailable.. You only get to see him every three appointments, the others are with his staff. Also, he's stated that his patients don't only pay for their care, they are paying for him to do lyme research. Maybe that's just the state of things but it's tough when lyme patients are necessarily rich!

I'm considering letting him go and resuming my relationship with the doc who diagnosed me to begin with. He's a naturopath with a more modest practice... Not a lyme specialist but has treated many with lyme... He's more affordable and conscientious about budget. His treatment is much simpler... Really just the A-L and A-Bart, black walnut for parasites.. After really feeling like I've gotten much worse on the LLMD's treatment the past 3 months simple doesn't sound so bad.

I don't want to let go of someone who can help me. Maybe a complex illness needs the LLMDs complex approach.

In finally got an answer from my doctor on this. He says an ingredient in one of the remedies, an herb called lomatium, can interact with other things and cause dormant measles to flare. This seems a little crazy to me, but he actually thinks that I've effectively had measles this week. He also said that he doesn't consider this to have been a "healing reaction"... just an unfortunate stumble in our treatment plan.

I'm off the lomatium and I hope the hives, nausea, dizziness will go away soon.

If anyone else has heard of this, or has any thoughts, please send word.