I started taking rifampin/azithromycin about 2 months ago. The first couple of days were great...I almost felt normal. Since then, I have slowly been getting worse. Although my internal trembling when waking has pretty much subsided, within 1 hr of waking, I get SEVERE joint cracking and pain; muscle pain, twitches, muscle vibration feeling slightly different than the internal trembling; and I generally feel unwell, like I have been run over by a truck.
I am having no "good" days at all. I'm wondering is this a bad reaction to the medicine, or is this a herx like reaction?
Has anyone experienced this? My son started this combo at the same time, and he is fine, although, his bart streaks are still there, maybe slightly lighter. He is on a lower dose.
It is becoming very difficult to work and get through the day. Help. Posted by faithful777 (Member # 22872) on :
Rifampin is tough on most. You might need to ramp up slowly on the drug if the herxing is that bad. I did not have any good days either. This all takes time and everyone responds differently.
When I was on Rifampin, the herx hit me hard on day 6. It was continuos for two weeks and then it was random.
I stayed on it for 5 months and then my LLMD changed me to Cipro. The same schedule was done with my husband. Bart streaks take time to go away.
We both have bart but I didn't get the streaks, but my husband did.
Posted by Ellen101 (Member # 35432) on :
Rifampin is a tough drug to handle. I have tried it twice and both times I have had to stop due to severe muscle pains and awful depression.
Posted by amk33 (Member # 13206) on :
faithful777, what were your herx symptoms? Do mine sound like what you experienced?
Ellen101, thanks. Yup, I have muscle pains/twitching, and am getting depressed because of feeling so terrible, and feeling like my hopes have been dashed again. Posted by faithful777 (Member # 22872) on :
I had all of the above symptoms and more. I would get a pain in the side of my head out of where. My left ear would hurt on and off.
As far as the muscle pain, that has been a problem from the beginning for me and yes, the rifampin seems to make it feel worse.
What helped me was to soak in a warm bath of epsom salts and baking soda. If you have access to an infrared sauna, that really helps too.
I hope you are taking detox supplements. Die of makes all this worse and Rifampin is powerful. If you can tolerate it, it works wonders.
Posted by amk33 (Member # 13206) on :
Not really detoxing. I've been eating organic, cutting out gluten, taking some green drink with chlorella. I have french green clay, but, haven't started using it, yet. It's just so hard to keep up with everything, while trying to get through the work week.
I think that I read that rifampin has caused thyroid issues while taking it. I'm thinking maybe this is happening. I've gained weight for no reason, and am soooo tired between 3-6pm, so, may be thyroid? I have armour that I did for a little while before this round of abx. It seemed to make my adrenal issues worse, so I stopped. I may try it again as a trial.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)