Discouraged. Is it Bart?

I'm curious as to whether youre supposed to herx from bartonella. According to Buhners book, you don't herx and the die off from bartonella does not release near as much endotoxins like lyme and babesia.

But from most people's personal experiences and other doctors, you do herx and it can be substantial.

Maybe you won't herx at all, but just get better. But it's nice to know if the meds are working from having some type of reaction.

Is there a consensus on herxing and bartonella?

Runnergirl - I still think it's early on in the game for you - and three weeks is not long - as far as a reaction to bart meds.

What meds were you on for lyme prior to the bart treatment? And how long before you switched to bart abx? Did you not herx on the lyme meds?

Thanks for the replies. Let me try to answer questions:

Dave- Yes, I tested through Igenex. I was CDC/Igenex Positive for Lyme, but my co-infection panel was all negative. My LLMD told me even those are extremely unreliable, and based on my symptoms he believes I have Bart. As of now, I'm not on herbals, just ABX. I was just diagnosed earlier this year. Before now, I started on just Ceftin, and then I was on Doxy (only 100 mg twice a day) and Biaxin. I did not herx from any of those and also did not have any improvement.

I have herxed ONCE and that was right before I found out I had Lyme (so at the time I didn't know what was going on). An old doctor of mine put me on Flagyl for something he "thought" I had, and I got incredibly sick. Now I know it was because it was doing something with my Lyme.

Girlie- It helps that you still think this is too soon for me, I am just so nervous and impatient. Some of my Bart symptoms are GI issues (belching, sometimes reflux), nausea, skin issues (rashes & increase in spider veins), blurry vision/floaters, terrible muscle twitching, random shooting nerve pains (they come and go), inner vibration/buzzing feelings, throat issues (not sore but "thick" feeling), occasional heart palps, anxiety, arm numbness, tremors, sometimes shortness of breath. That's all I can think of now.

If I remember correctly I think you and I share a lot of the same symptoms.

I am trying so hard to be patient, but I think I've talked myself out of this whole thing. I've heard from a couple people who literally felt better and had symptoms disappear after a WEEK of Bart meds. That's great for them but soooo discouraging for me!

I've freaked myself out and started saying "Maybe my symptoms aren't even from Lyme/Bart", and I just "happen to have Lyme at the same time". Ahhhh!

Haha, I am the same as you. I try to tell myself that I can't have something sinister (other than Lyme), because when I got sick I was literally tested for everything! So I try to tell myself since everything else came back normal, and the ONLY thing that came back was a positive Lyme test, that Lyme is most likely the cause of my symptoms.

Then I will pick at certain symptoms that started at the same time as all the others, and I will say "well maybe THAT ONE isn't from Lyme and it's a medical mystery".

It's terrible. How do we just trust that Lyme is doing crazy stuff to our bodies and leave it at that? I keep telling myself "well, if Lyme or Bart were causing it, the meds would be having an affect"...

Am I crazy?

RunnerGirl82 said...
I have been treating Lyme for a while with not much change.

I'm so confused bc I have not herxed yet or noticed any improvements. Does this mean I do not have Bart? I actually wanted to have it bc it could have explained my symptoms.

Am I just jumping to conclusions?? Should I be better by now or at least herxing like crazy?

Anyone have experience with this??

RG,

Sounds like your situation is very similar to mine. I tested positive for Bart via Igenex IFA back in August. Since then I have been on Biaxin and Cipro for 4 months, followed by Tinidazole and Zirtro for 3 months, and am now on Rifampin and Biaxin and taking IM Rocephin. I am also on banderol, samento, MMS, colloidal silver, cats claw, Lymogen, Borrelogen, Microgen, and did 40 treatments of HBOT......and NEVER herxed! My last Bart test (blood drawn in Feb.) is now negative.

Even though my labs reveal that I am no longer positive for Bart my symptoms are EXACTLY the same as they were when I started treatment (severe fatigue, OI, muscle pains/twitches/cramps in my legs, poor sleep).

I am seeing 2 LLMD's at the moment and they both agree that Bart may still be present even though I am testing negative now. I would def. recommend getting tested through Igenex. If you test positive, you can use your antibody levels to gauge whether or not your treatment is effective. IME the levels drop every month with the correct treatment.

That's interesting. I tested positive for Bart and 4 other co-infections but consistently test negative for Lyme. I was worried my lack of herx meant I definitely did not have Lyme, but I think some people just don't herx. Maybe some people just detox faster so the biotoxin's don't accumulate?