Help With Insomnia During Herx

I use Valerian root and Somno Pro. Both can be ordered from Amazon. Take at least an hour before you want to sleep.

Melatonin is pretty good(at least for me)The sublingual tabs are the best. Melatonin is a hormone, so do a little research on it first to see if you think it's right for you.

As much as I hate to say it, GNC has cherry flavored subs that are the best.I'm not very fond of GNC myself, I think they charge too much for a lot of their products.

However, in the local advertising mags I get in the mail there's usually a 50% off coupon.

I've tried a lot of brands, and swallowing the regular pills didn't do a thing for me.

I'll tell this much if you decide to give it a try.Start with a low dose.3mgs does the trick for me.I've taken higher doses, and actually feel it the next day.

Just something to look into....Their not expensive(I just like deals).

thank you guys for all the ideas! I may try out the valerian root, and I do have melatonin in stock somewhere. I probably need to run the valerian by my dr, I'm supposed to start GSE soon and I don't know if these things might interact or have similar issues with the liver. Obviously I'd rather avoid any sleep aids and maintain effective detox to control herxing, but sometimes you need all the tools in the toolkit to make it thru!

I cannot believe how hard and marathon like this ordeal and herxing is. I can detox like a madman but once a herx like this gets out of control there's not much I can do except ride it out. It took all my heart and soul to get thru the herxing on the ivermectin/albenza, and I finally turned the corner on those meds in terms of major herxing, and naively thought I was done with the possibility of monster herxes and that I had really culled the disease burden to a point where such herxes just weren't possible for me anymore. Herxing has always been a major impediment and struggle for me throughout my treatment, probably due to the nature of my specific disease set which includes protomyxzoa for sure, and I've scratched and clawed my way thru it this last year of more aggressive tx.

Every time I feel I'm close to the top of the mountain, and almost there, I realize there is a whole other mountain to climb. darn it. Why does it have to be so hard?! I really relate to a lot of the existential writers and surreal stories, things like Kafka, Myth of Sisyphus, etc. This journey just feels endless and an infinite loop. I only keep going because I've had so many improvements to a lot of my core symptoms this last year even if they can still flare up when I herx, and I'm also way too worried about the possible long term health implications of leaving a disease like this simmer in my body. My lymph nodes behind/under ears don't swell or flare as big when I herx now, I think because the disease burden is a lot less, but they still hurt as bad as ever when I hit the pathogen just right. I can deal with regular herx pain, but when it gets like this it is a tenterhook like pain that just keeps me constantly on edge. I can only find comfort in the fact that if I'm able to find ways to nail this pathogen and herx like this, it means I am hopefully finding effective and efficient ways to lower pathogen levels and get closer to strong baseline health.

So yeah, I'm obviously shaky and snake-bitten from the herx so the thought of these new meds has me a bit scared. But hopefully once I feel stronger again I will be able to add in the meds slowly and smartly. In retrospect I was so stupid about the herbals, thinking my body was much stronger from before, which it truly is, but I blasted myself with some full doses for a few days and paid a surprising painful price. That said, I'm also excited to keep moving forward with my treatments, even if I am nervous.

My llnd's office suggests myer's cocktails, which I may try to see if it can help me get thru nasty herxes. They also suggest glutathione for bad herxes, but I've had it drilled into me by my primary dr that I need to avoid glutathione because protomyxzoa feeds on it. Still, it's possible glutathione might be a net benefit for me when I'm herxing hard, but I hate thinking I'm doing anything that might be feeding the disease, especially when I'm not feeling well I get so terrified of doing anything that might impede any progress. It's a psychological thing!

Thanks for indulging my rants, it's therapeutic to talk and write about. I can't ever explain how helpful it is to share my story and worries and struggles with people who are going or have gone thru these sorts of monumentally tricky weird surreal health journeys.

I would never wish such a disease on my greatest enemy.

Julie - I see you've posted a few times on the forum...but not sure if anyone has welcomed you to our community yet....
So, I'd like to officially welcome you to our community...(better late than never?)

Hope you find this to be a supportive, and knowledgeable group of people.

I don't know if you have looked at the "New to Lyme?...Start Here!" thread yet - it's full of good information - symptom lists, detox ideas, information on probiotics, and more.

A teaspoon of tart cherry juice knocks me out. I wish I knew that worked for sleep before I tried Ambien!

Lots of great ideas here..... I have had times of herxing though, where if I wasn't going to sleep..I just wasn't going to get sleep. So, I slept during the day, napping, until the herx passed....

It does pass!

Guys! I think the herx is finally breaking, my whole body is relaxing and returning to normal. Holy smokes, I thought it was never going to end! mmm, feels so delicious to finally be freed from the unending torturous pain and anxiety.