first noticed symptoms spring '09 first 3 week doxy summer '09
symptoms continued finally found doc to work beyond 3 week protocol started doxy 3/1/10
switched to zith/tindamax/diflucan 5/1/10 (want to add ceftin, but waiting on penicillin allergy testing ) because i did not appear to have herxed AND was not feeling better
so far as i know i STILL have not herxed on zith
starting to wonder if i just don't know what a herx is?
if i am NOT herxing, how do i know if the drugs are doing any good at all?
help, so confused!
Posted by jkmom (Member # 14004) on :
Are you feeling any better?
I have been on abx for almost 2 years and hardly ever herx. But, I noticed that I felt better quickly when I took zith or Biaxin.
From what I have read, some people do get better without significant herxing.
Are your doses high enough? That could be the reason, too. I just recently switched LLMD's and ramped up my doses. I still haven't herxed but it has only been 2 weeks.
Posted by bcb1200 (Member # 25745) on :
I'm curious about this too. I"m in day 29 of treatment of 400 mg doxy and 1000mg flagyl (Flagyl pulsed 3 days every 2 weeks.)
So far I don't think I have herxed at all. I have had a few days where I felt tired. And yesterday / today I feel a bit like I'm on something (I'm pulsing Flagyl today).
I think I"m making progress because last week was the best I felt in 3-4 months.
Posted by EEvans (Member # 23457) on :
I am gradually feeling a little bit better. But then, I am no longer working, and getting tons of rest.
I have more good days, and my bad days are not as bad as they had been. So that's the level of improvement I have seen. But I can't know if it's just because I am not pushing myself as hard by working (or trying to work) a 40 hour week.
Today is actually the worst day I've had in awhile. I usually run a temperature of 96.4. Yesterday my usual lowgrade fever spiked up to 99.0 that's high for me. My glands are swollen, my legs ache, and i am exhausted.
i've been cycling good/bad days ever since i finished the initial 3 week doxy run until the bad days so outweighed the good days that i had to stop working. I've always assumed it was based on the lyme cycle combined with stress levels. but for all i know the bad days could be herx days. (of course that wouldn't make any sense when i was not receiving any treatment)
so many ifs, ands or buts.
the one thing is that i started drinking lemon water (1/2 organic lemon to a quart of brita filtered water) yesterday, and i wonder if the fever and feeling poorly are somehow connected to this. everything i have read here seems to say tho that lemon water helps relieve a herx, not cause one. so, it's probably just coincidence.
my zith is at 500 mg 2x/day. i forget what my doc says the max is. but i am still in my first month at this level, so, this could be the first time i hit this point in the lyme cycle while on the increased dosage and it could be an actual herx. (she started me at 250 2x/day to be sure i tolerated it. minocycline gave me such bad nausea i could not continue on it)
i guess what confuses me is not knowing how to tell the difference between a bad day and a herx.
and of course in all this i have these cognitive impairment issues, and my brain doesn't think as good as it used to.