how does ketek work? I feel sicker than ever! Is it more effevtive than biaxin? someone please tell me about your experiences! Lynn
Posted by klcst (Member # 3427) on :
Ketek is powerful and it is very hard on your stomach and internal organs. It is very hard to say whether you are herxing or just having side effects from being on this powerful drug. Make sure you drink a ton of water and do powerful probiotics at bedtime. I have found if I take Ketek with my lunch I can tolerate it better and it lessens the side effects. Ask the pharmacist or go online to read what all the side efects are for this drug. You will be suprised how many symptoms are similar to herxing when they may be side effects of the drug. I wish you well. Lisa
Posted by liz28 on :
For me, ketek is a wonder drug as long as I take it with other antibiotics. In my case, that means omnicef and pulsed flagyl.
It has always created a herx in the form of a bad cold: coughing, sneezing, tearing through thousands of kleenex.
Now that I've been on it a while, maybe there are two things to watch out for--and again, this is just one person's experience.
First, you could ensure that you are getting rid of yeast. I take nystatin and coptis, others take diflucan. There's probably some other stuff out there, too.
Second, you could make sure you don't have co-infections. Ketek really turned my life upside down six months ago, because it helped to reduce the Lyme so effectively (when paired with omnicef) that every remaining symptom fell neatly into a co-infection category. So I also felt sicker than ever, but it was because I wasn't taking the right antibiotic treatment for what I actually had.
Also, I have to take herbs and supplements that support the liver, in order to handle all this. Without the liver support, I get a lot of abdominal and lower back pain.
Posted by quic (Member # 5262) on :
I was on a 9 month protocol of Biaxin/Plaq./Spectracef and hit a plateau in January. Started Ketek, herxed, rode it out, I know...its significant. I now feel the best I have since getting lyme.
- Mike
Posted by kmr5861 (Member # 6924) on :
I just started the ketek on sunday. I'm sluggish, the aches and pains in my joints are getting worse.
Tired, but not sleeping.
quic - how long before you started to feel better?
Posted by tikbit (Member # 6629) on :
I didn't know you could be having cold symptoms and it be aherx. Maybe that' what my "cold" was when I started zith. I thought the timing was funny. A week after I started I got really sick and achy and runny nose and such. i never get colds! Was that a herx.
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
Ketek can cause a cold-like herx because it was designed for respiratory infections. I had a slight re-emergence of asthma the first month on Ketek.
Ketek also made me very tired at first. I started splitting the dose between morning and evening, and was less tired. Then it started giving me insomnia, so I now take it all in the morning.
Some people have bad yeast on Ketek, and others have no yeast. All my yeast symptoms, including thrush on my tongue, disappeared soon after starting Ketek.
Posted by quic (Member # 5262) on :
kmr5861,
I'd say that it took a good 6 weeks before I could definitely say (after a herx) that yes, I do feel better. Its just hard to tell sometimes. It all happens so slowly.
- Mike
Posted by janet thomas (Member # 7122) on :
I started ketek 2/23/05 (day after my birthday), 400 mg once a day. i take it in the am on an empty stomach. No digestive upset. Starting pulsing it a month ago-4 days on, 3 days off.
Yeast-I had no problems with thrush until ketek now I need mycolex (antifungal )troches. Yes, i take high quality probiotics, in the pm.
i was tested and treated for co-infections prior to starting ketek.
It seems I am still herxing on it , at times. do have good days. Lots of achiness/soreness , upper body that I didn't have before. some headaches-LLMD said headaches probably from ketek not herx.
Stronger now-able to go for a 2 block walk some days.
Posted by kmr5861 (Member # 6924) on :
I'm having the achey and pains in the upper body. My left knee is starting to be more painful then usual.
Other than the aches and pains, I seem to be okay.
I'm not exhausted at the end of the day, but my joint ache is more intense in the eveniings.