LymeNet Flash: started bicillin shots...ouch!

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Posted by guiney (Member # 4550) on :

anyone else out there doing shots? I'm only doing one a week right now butllmd will up that in a couple of months.

I'm having ALOT of pain in my legs and knees. I'm also very weak. Not to mention my butt hurts

anyone out there on this treatment? How are you feeling? any herxes? Love to hear from someone......Jamie

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Posted by David95928 (Member # 3521) on :

Jamie,
In my case, Bicillin and Biaxin have been very effective. Bicillin is known for causing prolonged Herxheimer reactions (check Dr. B's treatment guidelines) but ultimatly being very helpful for those who hang in. Also, in my case, the shots have come to hurt less and less.
David

Posted by minoucat (Member # 5175) on :

I started the bicillin along with mepron/zith/artemesinin (the latter for babs)

My legs hurt a lot the first 2 months -- very achey. That's completely stopped now. Don't know if it was the bicillin or the babs stuff. A very gentle-but-firm myofascial massage really helped reduce the pain in my legs.

I definitely herxed, but again I can't differentiate between the Lyme and the babs. I do notice that I am quite wiped out the day after the shot. We're doing them 2ce a week.

We have very little pain with the shots, during or after, now that we (my husband and I) have figured out how to do it.

-warm the bicillin before you inject. I stick it in my armpit.
-ice-pack the injection spot until it's numb before you inject
-plunge the needle in fast, but inject slowly. I use the letters on the shot as a guide; I push down one letter's worth of bicillin, count to five, and so on.
-walk around and use the butt muscles immediately afterwards.

I get lumps, but my husband doesn't. A couple of days after the shot, I massage the shot area -- the lumps subside after a couple of days massage.

The nursing writeups on this tell you not to massage while doing the shot, because the bicillin is very irritating to the tissue and massaging the area can bring it up out of the deep muscle and into tissue areas that will get very sore upon exposure.

Posted by Lenny777 (Member # 5452) on :

I take two a week and have been on them for about a month, They don't hurt too bad when I take them, but for about three days my butt feels like I took a line drive from Barry Bonds!

A little bothersome but not a big deal.
The only Herx reactions I've had were profound fatigue and some aches and chills. It's not too bad because it's not everyday and it's real spotty. It may last one hour or so. It has lasted a day or two before.

[This message has been edited by Lenny777 (edited 03 June 2004).]

Posted by shassler64 (Member # 3479) on :

Hi!
Did them for 12 weeks and they did nothing for me,but cause a very sore but.Everyone is different and I wish you luck.

Put a hot pack on the cheek to be abused each time it helps with the pain.

Sue from Downunder.

PS The hard part is to remember which side you are up to due to lyme brain.I think they should be injecting straight into the brain instead!!!!!

Posted by LJamesJohnson (Member # 2682) on :

When I first received these shots, the doctor gave them right out of the syringe supplied by the manufacturer. They hurt like hell going in, and hurt for hours after.

A year later, I received more shots from a different doctor. His nurses gave the shots and they had figured out that if they put the solution into another syringe with a much smaller needle, then do the "push" very, very slowly, the pain is reduced to a minimum.

It was in this way that I actually had a pain-free bicillin shot, both going in, and totally pain free afterwards.

Smaller needle, slow push, and awareful patience on the part of the practitioner = a painfree injection...the physical part, anyway.