I've been on Cholestyramine before and frankly it didn't do anything for me but this time I am herxing almost daily from it. About an hour or two after taking it (once daily) I feel like curling up in a ball and sleep- not the nice kind, the drop-dead kind. I also feel very hot, flushed, and my pain starts to increase. Not very nice when you're already feeling rotten.
I have heard of people improving on this and I only take 1/2 the dose anyway so can't decrease it any more.
Would love to hear your experiences, if you tolerated it and whether it made you feel better ultimately.
thanks!
Posted by S13 (Member # 42830) on :
Do you have the stuff with aspartame in it? Maybe thats what you are reacting to?
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
It is known that cholestyramine can deepen Lyme symptoms in some people as a side effect. It's not herxing, it's a side effect. I couldn't take it. I got well and detoxed mold without taking cholestyramine because it made me feel so bad.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I felt good the first 10 days then after that it was awful.
Had to stop taking it.
Posted by TerryK (Member # 8552) on :
cholestyramine makes lyme patients feel bad because it pulls toxins (borrelia and mycotoxins from mold and likely others) out of tissues. This will cause herxing because it increases inflammation. Weight can become an issue because this can elevate leptin and other hormones.
Many doctors were using actos (a diabetic med) because it downregulates cytokines and does other things to lessen the symptoms like reduces leptin etc.. Actos is not without risk.
Some people will not recover from mold exposure and/or borrelia toxins without a binder because their immune system does not produce enough antibodies to effectively get rid of the toxins. I have both issues via genetic testing.
There is a lot of discussion about these issues in this forum and on Dr. S's website.
Terry
Posted by WPinVA (Member # 33581) on :
I got the worst migraine of my life two days in on cholestyramine. I almost went to the ER. Finally vomited and that helped a little.
I never touched the stuff again.
Posted by tailfeathers (Member # 39328) on :
Thanks everyone for your responses. TerryK, makes sense.. I don't detox well and my LLMD feels I'm not doing enough to detox, hence I get so much sicker when I try to! Catch 22 I guess. Have put a hold on it for a while.
Sorry many people here couldn't tolerate it - there are so real glowing stories ab how it helped people recover.
Posted by droid1226 (Member # 34930) on :
It's constipating so make sure you're doing everything in your power to have bowel movements.