update on treatment/Questions/Happy new year!

So, as most of you know im being treated by Dr. J Clinic in DC.. ive only had my initial consult where they began trying to calm down my nervous system, for the first few weeks I insisted I go without it but 2 weeks ago I finally broke down and decided to try the gabapentin which contrary to my prior beliefs it has helped me some. i took doxycycline 2x a day everyday for 2 months prior to seeing them and it helped me a little, got me back to functioning. i have yet to have my 2nd phone consultation but in the mean time i decided to take a holistic approach and see if i could get any results, ill post my regimen in the morning once i can get to my list.. don't want to forget anything.. but i have some weird stuff going on and ive also had some things disappear since beginning the herbs.. the main two ive started have been Japanese knotweed 15 drops, 2x a day and cats claw.. 20 drops 3x a day.. prior to taking these medications i was on the doxy and i was having terrible muscle twitching, since beginning my holistic approach my muscle twitches are gone by almost 90%, my Costochondritis is almost completely gone.. im not sure if that was a bad reaction to the doxy or just a herx effect.. (ive had it for 4 months constantly) my depersonalization although minimal, is still there... no real change since the switch up in that area, my fatigue seems better than it was although i still have no where near the energy i had before becoming sick, i still have the aching hands, muscles, joints, and bones? it feels like my bones anyway. after checking my blood work i discovered my vitamin b6 was 4x higher than the max lab value and i cut back on my multi vitamin, burning in hands and feet have subsided but im still having the burning over the right side of my lip and for whatever reason when i lean my head back for too long, my face becomes numb.. inflamed nerves? and the weirdest symptom i have is the tremmors. i am a bit shaky in my hands when im awake but it isn't noticeable at all. what is noticeable is if i were to fall asleep for only 5-10 minutes at a time and suddenly wake up (like when i take a quick cat nap at work) my whole body is vibrating/shaking.. i cant describe it.. (especially in my legs) its like i was just scared to death without the adrenaline rush or like the way a cats purr sounds.. i have no idea why this would only happen in that instance but that's the only time it happens. Also, when i began the Japanese knotweed, the 2nd night i ended up with a terrible sore throat. i thought i was coming down with the flu or something. does anyone share these symptoms and could anyone shine some light on what may cause them/ what i could do to improve them? Happy new year to you guys as well! im thankful for each one of you. Thanks for listening when nobody else did.

Happy New Year!

It's great that you've seen improvements with the herbals. It sounds like some of those symptoms like bone pain/nerve pain might be related to bartonella (and/or lyme or some type of intracellular infection). Hopefully as you treat those infections those symptoms will improve. I'm also glad to hear the gabapentin has helped a bit. There are some good herbals out there for bart, including allicin/garliactive, houttuynia, sida acuta, etc etc.

I'm not sure on the shakes/vibrations but I have heard other patients mention this symptom. I can't recall which infection it might be related to. Could try searching the archives for that one.

Edit: Here is one thread I found: https://www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=3116666

Ok cool, I'll keep trying to look it up as well and see if I can find anything from my end. Ah, that's interesting about the herb, could be herx (especially if it is an antimicrobial) or side effect possibly. May want to try lowering the dose of that specific herb and see if it helps at all.

In regards to working out I seem to recall you were very big into lifting no? if so, couple approaches might be worth trying. It can be depressing trying to lift again when you can't even do 10% of what you could do previously. Plus if you are used to going all out you have to be careful with that. The thing that bridged me back to weight lifting were body weight exercises. I didn't have any points of comparison to make me depressed (like oh wow am bench pressing 30% of what I used to be able to do!).

Plus I'd start super slow and careful. Like 10 minute sessions and go from there. Can do bodyweight stuff in your room, it's super practical. And there are some great books out there, Convict Conditioning, Your Body Is Your Gym, Complete Calisthenics. Or you could try doing some weight lifting, but I would try to initially establish limits on how much weight and how long your training sessions last. Always best to go slow and low with this stuff, takes a bit of trial and error to find the right level. As you keep recovering you will be able to increase your work out capacity I'm sure.

as of the last 2 days I have a new symptom/symptoms, Right foot going numb when walking and my depth perception seems off, for whatever reason sometimes I feel closer to the ground than before? if that even makes sense. but most of my nerve pain is gone. I have some burning right on my spine about mid ways up my back and then ill have some burning here and there that last for only a few seconds on my hands. fatigue isn't as bad as it was even last week, my eyes hurt a lot. other than that, I smoked some meat in a smoker I got for Christmas on Friday night and undercooked some pork chops..................food poisoning the last 3 days... been awful.