My 20 year old daughter has Lyme and Babesia. She just got diagnosed after 8 years of illness.
One of her main symptoms over the past year has been an unrelenting headache on the left side of her head that landed her in the hostpital for over a week. They sent her home with no resolution.
She's also on the following meds:
Doxy IV 100mg 2 x day for 2 weeks
Hydoroxychloroquine: 200mg twice a day
Fluconazole: 100mg twice a day
DHEA: 25mg once a day
Artemisinin: 100mg three times a day
Magnesium Taurate: 125mg 2pills twice a day
Co Q Melt 300mg twice a day
Culturelle w/Lactobacillus GG two pills twice a day
Is this increase in headache most likely due to herxing?
I know everyone is different but how soon after taking abx does one ususally herx and how long does it last?
From what I understand once making it through a herx things should get a little better on the other side. Is this true?
Thanks, Paul.
Posted by daise (Member # 13622) on :
Hi Paul,
Yes, I've had unrelenting pain in my head 24/7 for 3 years, 8 months. It's at the back of my head, on the right. However, it's not that noticeable, now due to ongoing antibiotic treatment.
According to Denise Lang's book, Coping With Lyme Disease, 90% of children have pain in their head.
Yes, oh yes, herxing makes the head pain worse, and other symptoms.
I had herx's like clockwork, every 28 days, on IV Rocephen and biaxin and then on LA Bicillin shots in the butt and biaxin. I scheduled expected herxes ahead of time on my calendar, so I would know when to expect them and I could arrange my life accordingly.
Now I seem to herx at other times haphazardly, pulsing Flagyl on the weekends, outside of the regular herx schedule.
My LLMD says not everyone herxes--or herxes consistently or regularly to a time frame.
Sometimes we can have Lyme disease so badly, with head pain, that the herxing can damage our brain. When I first started antibiotics I was prescribed IV Rocephen--and no other antibiotics.
After 28 days I got my first herx. It lasted weeks and overlapped the next 28 days herx.
Then Biaxin was added. That's because he showed mercy for me and my particular case, so I wouldn't be hurt in my brain with too much of a first herx.
Yet, within that, if an antibiotic is added then herxing may get really bad again, supposedly due to new germ kills. Even after being treated for a long time.
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You wrote that unrelenting headache landed your daughter in the hospital for a week. I'm so sorry for her. Have you talked this over in detail with your LLMD? _____________
Just in case, and very generally, could her headaches be made worse by combinations of antibiotics or by bad quality supplements?
You wrote: "From what I understand once making it through a herx things should get a little better on the other side. Is this true?"
Yes, that's been my experience and often the experience of others. That's why I actually like herxing. OK, I'm goofy. But herxing means something is being killed off. Hurray! I'm going to be a little better after this herx! And the next, and the next and the next. Wahoo!
Patience is needed because fighting Lyme takes time. For some of us a shorter time, for some of us, a longer time. I guess that depends on a lot of things.
Hmmmmm ... I see she's taking 25 mg of DHEA a day. That's a high amount, even for an adult. Was that prescribed because testing showed she needed it? Too much DHEA could exxacerbate head pain. Was the testing lab trustworthy?
Try to ask an 18 year old to be patient: I know!
"They say" that Lyme disease affects kids the hardest.
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