Son's symptoms - please tell me they are med induced and reversible

Huddie - so sorry... It is so hard for a mom to watch her baby (even if he is a teenager) suffer.

No, I don't think a mental illness is emerging...in fact I'm pretty sure it isn't.

Sounds like a herx to me. He is on the amoxy now...plus added in mino.

Did he only have the Mino once yesterday? I think that is best for him - just once a day on the 'on' days for now.

Hopefully today - he will feel better.

Please DON'T add in the second one tomorrow...not yet -

If you add them in too quickly...you may end up having to stop them entirely...it's best to do one mino a day for a week and see where he's at then...

Does your son like the epsom salt baths?

Is he able to go for a walk?

He needs to get rid of the toxins.

Wow! Thanks Trav and Girlie,

Girlie, I will only do one, I'm getting pressure from my husband "If doctor says four how can he only be on 1.5 of treatment, we need him fixed by school, grumble, grumble." He really just believes more is better and will fix him faster. He doesn't herx

Trav, thanks for sharing your story, amazing. I will keep that in mind. I'm similar but certainly not as volatile as my so is right now. I'm also old enough to know NOT to take it out on other people. Geesh.

He actually is detoxing LESS. I know, I know. His moods are so bad that I can't fight with him. He will drink a deotx tea and do a bath but not much else. It's almost 80 degrees out so hopefully the benefits of sun even out detoxing.

THANK YOU!

Detox ideas for a teen

Salad with apple cider vinegar incorporated into the dressing.

Fresh squeezed lemonade

Get him a loofah from the drug store to use instead of a washcloth. It will exfoliate him.

Steam Kale for 2 minutes or Collard Greens for 4 minutes to keep the living enzymes they contain alive. Then add Sea Salt, Black Pepper, Diced Avocado and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. (and a wee bit of ACV)

Parsley tincture - easy to take.

Quercetin - pill form - easy to take

Turmeric on veggies or eggs is easy

Just trying to think of easy teen detox methods.

Your poor baby. <3

Keep in mind it's the full moon time too so that could be compounding it. It seems to ramp up my anxiety every month.

Huddie, I now see that others are giving different advice.

2 weeks shouldn't be too long to give up abx in this situation in order to see what's really under neath this.

Huddie,

Your son is seeing Dr J am I correct?

When I was going thru similar, it was all due to a herx. Dr J did not want that to happen and told me that if I herx like that or am not able to function for more than a day then they want to hear about it.

I came from non stop herxing similar to your sons symptoms before I got to dr J. Their first words to me were that is not acceptable and I must call right away if I start to become that way again.

I also was taking mepron at one point and it made me nuts. I am not a depressed person, but this drug made me think that my life was not worth living. When Dr J wanted to put me on mepron I told them I think that reaction was due to the mepron and they will not put me on that med now. I now take Malarone.

So I think maybe you should give the office a call and let them know what is happening. They are very concerned about the effects of treatment on the body and they only want to go so fast so that stuff does not happen.

Julymorning,

No I am not a teenager. I have been treating for a year. 8 months with one dr and 4 months with dr J.

I can imagine dr J would be even more concerned about a herx in a teenager and would want to be called and informed of what is going on.

My last dr took the opinion that a severe herx no matter how long it goes on is just what one has to deal with...so suck it up. Dr J has the opinion that herxing does damage, which can sometimes be permanent. I lost my voice for 3-4 months from a herx and dr j was concerned I would never get it back and had me go off all protocol for 6 weeks, which worked like a charm.

The LLMD that I saw at the beginning of my treatments had no clue that a serious herx could not only do permanent damage, but could lead to a life threatening situation as well - and I believe I was very close to a life threatening situation when I finally choose to stop treatments against everyone's wishes - except mine and my husband as he was watching what was happening to me daily.

Unfortunately, there are many doctors (LLMD"s too) that really don't understand what herxing is or does. I have had to talk a handful of members here through to help them get help for a very serious herx that was leading to their quick decline in health. It's not something to take lightly. I don't like to bring this up often and it's a small minority of Lyme patients that will deal with herxing this severe, but it does happen.

The bottom line is we are the last line of defense when it comes to our personal health. We are the ones that must say when to stop, and not trust that "the doctor knows best" because - as many of us have discovered -that's not the case all the time. Even really good, well respected doctors make mistakes and have bad opinions.

Hi Huddle -

Great responses. I am so so sorry about your son… I KNOW first-hand the misery he is going through, probably even harder to watch.

I had complete mental breakdowns for the first couple of weeks after starting IV Rocephin for Lyme and it happened again when I started IV vancomycin for Bart. Literally, on an hourly basis I cycled from utter desperation, to paranoia, to rage, to inconsolable grief, to numbness, 24 hrs/day. This was the infection being killed in the brain and gut (these two areas are physiologically linked by blood vessels, hence the gut-brain connection with psychological imbalances) and the toxins having trouble leaving the body.

Luckily, the herxing lasted only a couple of weeks and got much, much better. Whenever I increase doses or frequency this type of herxing flared and after I gave it some time and increased detoxing, I got better. And I believe that is what your son is experiencing - unlikely that he's developed a permanent mental illness.

As others have suggested, keep the pace slow, do NOT add in more meds right now. His body is balking at the dying infection and the debris and toxins, which need to be eliminated before you stir up more trouble w/ the antimicrobials.

And he obviously needs more detoxing. For these types of neurotransmitter imbalances, you might try some Nutrimedix Burbur and Pineal tinctures for the brain. It is also critical that he is detoxing his gut (gut-brain connection) so the teas are good. Also, try some digestive detoxing, like a binder after the teas (psyllium husk, bentonite clay, activated charcoal with LOTS and lots of water) to help move things out of the body much better. Also, is he up for being active? Getting to the park or working up a sweat somehow? Sweating and then a soak is excellent (not too hot, though). The more meds and antimicrobials he's on, the more he needs to detox - everything needs to slowly ratchet up.

Hope he's having a better day. A lot of this treatment is trial-and-error. Regardless if we're on pharmaceuticals or herbs or both, we usually don't know how things will affect us until we try them and as important as killing the infections is supporting the impact of it through detoxing and system support. And MDs aren't with patients every day to see how people respond and are actually relying on good moms like you to be diligent and observant and maintain the treatment on an hour-to-hour basis. You have a huge role in tis scenario - you're doing great to check in with the forum.

-p

Post Edited (Pirouette) : 4/11/2017 1:56:15 PM (GMT-6)

Huddie - so sorry you have to watch your son go through this. I know how hard it is to watch your child suffer.

My LLMD told me if I started having a bad herx to STOP the antiobiox and then start again slowly when I felt better. I agree checking with your doctor is a good idea.

Has your son been sensitive to medications before? I tend to get all side effects, but I've started them slowly as my dr suggested and just added in the second, and I'm doing okay. I'm also doing lots of detoxing. If your son is usually sensitive and is taking this especially strong med, I wonder if reducing the dose until he gets used to it is possible?

I liked the ideas for teen detoxing posted. Does he drink a lot of water? Maybe add a lemon in there if he does? Also, if you can cleanup his diet at all that may help (no grains, dairy, sugar).

Yes it certainly sounds like he needs to detox. Parsley tincture very good. Lots of lemon water. I know how unbearable this could be.