Last night I have palpatations which weren't bad but they felt like nothing I felt before....it's hard to explain. It actually felt like my heart was working better, if that makes sense, but it just felt so bizarre, slow palpatations, could really feel them in my tummy, and since starting abx I can feel my pulse alot in my abdomen.
My heart symptoms have lessened, as my heart doesn't race quite as much or as fast anymore...but I've been having night terrors each night now since starting abx...is this normal? I keep freaking out and having really vivid dreams.
Also, I had sharp pain in my shoulder today which only lasted about 10 seconds, and then my heart sped up a bit (not much)...which was probably due to me getting caught off guard and panicking a little.
Also a strange one is my right arm since taking anti biotics just feels useless...it is getting easily tired. It's happening with my left arm too but mainly my right...feels so tired and the elbow aches. I'm also finding my eyes ache a lot from looking at the computer and watching tv.
Does anyone else ever have this?
I've been given a tick from cardiologists that my heart is normal and fine but sometimes still worry, human and all.
I have been getting scared by all this.
Posts: 51 | From Australia | Registered: May 2010
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'Kete-tracker
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17189
posted
This all sounds like [systemic] "herxing" to me. Perfectly normal, esp. at 'Day 4'. I remember thinking at the end of my 1st week on abx: "Why didn't my PCP tell me that these wierd little symptoms would flare up?" (i.e: heart palpitations JUST as I was falling asleep, or my abdominal muscles getting all taught in waves) Had some strange dreams, too. Not nightmares but vivid. And I seemed to always awake out of a dream after 3 hours of sleep, like clockwork.
Things get to be much more on even keel- for most- by the 5th week. Hang in there. Them buggers are being slowly killed off. We've all gone thru this in 1 way or another. There are better days ahead!
Posts: 1233 | From Dover, NH | Registered: Sep 2008
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Pinelady
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18524
posted
I feel for you cos' I know what you are going thru.
Pure H#$% is what I call it...
Know it will get better and you will get better too.
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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I got my results back and it simply said ''Lyme not detected''
I was tested in Australia and the results aren't really reliable...
I feel like crap today. Is it normal for your stomach to feel really upset and my ears are very painful, blocked type feeling.
I'm on day six of Doxy, and am self treating. I was given a script for Doxy a while ago with multiple repeats. Should I take the abx for at least 4 weeks? Maybe more? I'm really at a loss of what to do...
Is it safe to take Doxy for 6 weeks or more? If I am correct, I'm still in the earlier stages of Lyme if I have it. (Have had it for about 7 months)
Any advice is welcome.
Posts: 51 | From Australia | Registered: May 2010
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Pinelady
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18524
posted
I would try to find a doctor who knows Lyme.
Many foreign doctors who are familiar with other countries who have diseases like Malaris, etc.
will have no problem giving you long term antibiotics that you need.
I have seen several news articles coming out of Aus. of people that have contracted it.
They may be able to help also.
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
I had the thing with the useless arms, but it was one of my symptoms before being lyme positive.
One thing that definitely helped me with that was taking more vitamin D3. I take a separate softgel of 2000 IU vitamin D3 a day and have noticed a big difference.
You may want to get your Vitamin D3 level checked, just make sure they check they check both levels with the following test: Vitamin D, 1,25 + 25-hydroxy
posted
I've had similar symptoms with the weird heart rate, tingly/weak arms, very sore eyes/head/neck/shoulders, etc.
Unfortunately, we typically have to get through the rough patches on our way to feeling better.
Hang in there! When properly treated, you should eventually begin to feel better. The symptoms can be very scary at times, but you can pull through!
Best of luck! I hope you continue on the road to feeling better.
Posts: 711 | From Bucks County, PA | Registered: Apr 2008
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'Kete-tracker
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17189
posted
Not sure if you can describe your situation as "still in the earlier stages of Lyme" by your description of symptoms & the fact that you said, "Have had [Lyme] for about 7 months."
If that's so, I'm afraid it's disseminated by now. You're late-stage as far as I'm concerned, though some say you need to have had it for a year to be considered late-stage. Have you had the Western blots done by a good lab? The IgM bands & strengths indicated VS. the IgG bands will often tell a lot.
Self-medicating is NOT recommended. Most here would agree. You need to be examined & given expert guidance. Lyme is a COMPLICATED disease! Nothing to take chances with.
Not sure how prevalent the co-infections are "down under" but it would be wise to have certain tests & bloodwork done. Your health later in life may very well depend on proper treatment now. Best not to play your own doctor. Ever.
Posts: 1233 | From Dover, NH | Registered: Sep 2008
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lymetwister
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19590
posted
I agree with Pinelady...........
Here is what I've learned from all of this crap...
First off, validate your symptoms here as you will see your not alone with most of what you experience.
Second, try not to be scared b/c your not going to die as uncomfortable as things may get.
Try and ride through it all, rest as need, don't push yourself too hard, but do push yourself.
Getting well with this disease is a Journey to put is simple. It's one that all of us would rather not take, but we have no choice.
Fear is in the mind. Despite the symptoms, we do have control whether we will be scared or not. Easier said than done, but it can be done. I have learned that whatever uncomfortable feeling I get will pass.
I use to run to the ER every time I had this and that. I must have made over 50 trips to the ER over the past 2-3 years, but havn't in about 5 mos. or so. I'm done with them, as they don't do squat to help us. Certainly go if you feel like you have a true life threatening situation. More than likely, what you describe is just typical of what many of us have been through.
Just a little pep talk for ya :-)
Gary
Posts: 1227 | From District of Columbia | Registered: Mar 2009
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Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
posted
These symptoms sound like bad herxing, BUT I don't find them 'normal'. A bad herx can kill, it sent many people to hospital already, including myself, people at ER are at loss and send you back home.
Whatever phase you are, I guess it doesn't matter. Just keep treating. My daughter was treated at day one of tick bite (the day we pull her tick off) and it took her 5 months of continuous treatment to get her back to normal. So I don't buy this story of early, middle, disseminated lyme.
Each case is a case and I think one should treat until all symptoms are gone.
I started treatment even before the 7th month, it took me certainly more than a year to get lyme into remission, but I either got bitten again or had a relapse, so I kept falling sick for about 4 years after first tick bite. And being treated, of course.
I really then don't buy this story of treatment length being shorter or longer depending on how long you were sick with lyme.
I guess it was true before, when ticks were infected only with borrelia. With so many coinfections, I wonder how one can plan a simple linear treatment that would cover all coinfections for all. Impossible task.
I guess my advice for you would be to invest on cleansers, binders, to try to diminish herxheimer reactions.
the night terrors, many of us know. It can be either herx or infection itself, in my opinion.
I don't agree with Gary on the 'your are not going to die'. How many already died from lyme?
But I totally agree on 'don't push yourself too hard'. If herxes increase, either take more cleansers and binders or diminish the amount of doxy. With lyme, my motto is 'slow and steady wins the race'.
if you have the financial means, travel and find help outside!
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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The percentage of people with Lyme who die from it is very small, I think. There are not good statistics about it. The people who I have heard of have succumbed after a years-long battle or when they had been untreated for a very long time. I haven't heard of a case happening when somebody just started treatment.
I have read many accounts of people with Lyme who felt very, very bad while herxing, but then eventually got better and reversed most or all of their symptoms. Sometimes they thought they had permanent damage, but it went away with good Lyme treatment.
It's safer to take antibiotics for months or years than to let Lyme go untreated. Six weeks is not enough to get well. You need a Lyme literate doctor if at all possible.
In the U.S., people are routinely put on antibiotics perpetually for years or the rest of their life for minor skin conditions. I know someone who has been on doxycycline for that purpose for 9 years. You should take probiotics while you are on them to help protect yourself from the side effects.
I started treatment within 10 weeks of my tick bite, but I am still sick more than a year later, and just starting to see signs of improvement in the last 2 months.
I have not had really bad symptoms or really bad herxing, but it is still taking a long time to get better. My Lyme doctor is positive that I will, though. I just have to be patient and not give up.
Good luck to you!
-------------------- Don't forget to laugh! And when you're going through hell, keep going!
Bitten 5/25/2009 in Perry County, Indiana. Diagnosed by LLMD 12/2/2009. Posts: 756 | From Inside the tunnel | Registered: Jan 2010
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lymetwister
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19590
posted
LightAtTheEnd......... Touche :-)
Posts: 1227 | From District of Columbia | Registered: Mar 2009
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