Wow...I guess it was a case of 300mg a day of rifampin meeting up with a nice case of bart. Have sore feet so I presumed I had some bart. to contend with.
Had to back off and start pulsing today. It was like I had to relive all the night sweats and hard to fall asleep nites that I use to have years ago. Not to mention upset stomach, weak and just out of it.
Does this ring a bell with anyone else or did they just breeze thru taking rifampin?
thanks
jar
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I took it for 5 days and quit due to SEVERE headache. It took 3 weeks for the headache to subside and it was 24/7. I will never take that stuff again.
Posted by lou (Member # 81) on :
Yikes, adding that med next week. You have me worried.
Posted by Cate (Member # 8787) on :
yup, i had horrible fatigue and get ongoing moderate headache on rifampin. the first time i took 300 mg i was floored. cut back to 75 mg x 2 a day and that is more tolerable but over a few weeks i still feel kind of awful and irritable.
i'm never sure if it is a herx or just my system reacting badly to the drug though.
Posted by kelmo (Member # 8797) on :
Wow...you are right on the mark with my daughter. She started on June 1st, and the past couple of days has had insomnia and nausea. We are going to back off for a day or two before starting up again.
Nevertheless, I think this medication is going to be a goodie, so we want it to work.
You have company.
Posted by jarjar (Member # 8847) on :
Thanks guys for responding. I think I can do this drug but I will have to pulse it like I did flagyl and slowly work my way up.
I was proud of myself when I was finally able to pulse flagyl 3 tablets a day 3 days a week with no herx on the final week.
Glad to hear I'm not the only one that felt they were run over by a bus on this med..
jar
Posted by Patrick (Member # 8108) on :
My Doc put me on Rifampin 600 mg and 400mg Doxy a day three weeks ago. The first week wasn't bad but towards the end of the second and during this past week its been tough.
I've had the fatigue come back, lymph nodes and neck glads swell up, aches and pains in back and neck, back of my head gets soaked doing just the slightest exersion, and the brain fog even came back for a couple of days but thankfully it passed.
I'm taking a break from the meds for the weekend to see if some of these symptoms back down a bit. I'm thinking I'm herxing but its been going on a week so am not sure. Any thoughts anyone has or any experiances with Rifampin would be appreciated.
So to answer your question jarjar its been no breeze for me on this so far. I hope you're feeling better.
Posted by kelmo (Member # 8797) on :
Our LLMD warned us up front that it would be the herx from hell. Our last visit a couple of weeks ago, my daughter was on 300mg. She had started it June 1st. We asked if she should ramp up to the 600mg he mentioned before.
He said, "nope, I'm waiting for the shoe to drop". Well, it did. I've seen her in worse shape, though. Like you she is going to take a break and just rest and cleanse, then start it up.
Keep this thread going, because I really want to hear how you are faring on this med.
Kelly
Posted by Patrick (Member # 8108) on :
My LLMD said it might be rough as well and he wasn't kidding. I went right to the 600mg a day from the start and am feeling like a bus hit me today.
I hope your daughter starts feeling better soon. Since it looks like we both started this treatment at about the same time in the begining of June, (me June 7th) I'll let you know I'm progressing and I'd like to know how she is does as well.
Tell her to hang in there she's got company on this road... Thanks for replying Kelly....
Patrick
Posted by liz28 (Member # 4946) on :
I went through two six-week herxes on rifampin/ketek/massive liver support. It was easily up there in Category 5, yes. One thing that helped was vinpocetine/vicamin, which supposedly increases oxygen flow to the brain. I took it as a supplement, but it might also be a Buhner's herb.
I was on this bart protocol at 600mg/day for for five months, with a two-month lower-dosage ramp up period, and it did the trick.
Posted by Patrick (Member # 8108) on :
Thank you for posting your experiance with the Rafampin Liz28. This sudden flair in symptoms has been going on since last Saturday with only slight improvements here and there then back down again and I was beginning to wonder what was going on.
I wasn't sure if the herx should last this long and be this bad but by what your experiance was I guess thats whats its doing and may continue to do for sometime. Like jarjar's daughter I've been worse during this over the past two years but not this bad in a long time. I'm glad to hear though it did the trick for you, that definitely give me hope. I'll just have to be patient and wait.
Thank you also for the info on the supplement, I'll check it out.
Patrick
Patrick
Posted by Andie333 (Member # 7370) on :
jarjar,
I started taking rifampin in December and was really nervous about it, because I'd read people's reactions here.
I started with a lower dose and increased it gradually. The headache from hell was the hardest part for me, but it finally did subside. Never had a headache like that, though; it was brutal, and nothing seemed to help.
I had a lot less trouble with rifampin than I'd expected, actually. AND several of my symptoms were completely eliminated after the first month...they've never resurfaced.
For me, it's been a vital antibiotic; I doubt I would have ever gotten well without it.
Andie
Posted by Patrick (Member # 8108) on :
I wanted to give you an update jarjar. I stopped the Rifampin and doxy for the weekend and by Sunday night except for that old familiar tired feeling was doing better. Most of the glands and lymph nodes had settled down quite a bit.
Had to start back up on the meds today so am waiting to see what happens. I'm hoping things will be better with the meds this week because I'm going on vacation to California on Wednesday for a week and would like to enjoy it at least a little.
How is your daughter doing? Did taking a break from the abx give here some relief in symptoms?
Posted by jarjar (Member # 8847) on :
Patrick,
You may have me confused with Kelmo about the daughter.
I may get brave enough to take 150mg tonight and see what happens. We have company coming in on Fri. so that will my only dose for the week.
I have met my match with this drug from hell....
I have a lot going on this month with vacations and company. I will be using this drug sparingly during this period.
At one point I was saying....okay do I want to die or does this abx make me wish I was dead... at least I have found part of the enemy and it is what I presume to be bart..
I so appreciate when all you guys speak up and say "Hey we are in the frying pan together".