posted
I've been on cefpomoxime and tindamax and just started bactrim two days ago. My muscles are very, very sore and I've had a bad pressure headache. I think this is a herx. My doc is treating bartonella. Can anyone else please share their experiences with bactrim? Thanks!
Posts: 463 | From Sandusky, Ohio | Registered: Jan 2012
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posted
I should also include that I'm not starting it at full dose but ramping up slowly.
Posts: 463 | From Sandusky, Ohio | Registered: Jan 2012
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posted
I thought Bactrim helped me, in particular while I was on it my hot flashes mostly disappeared. However, it gave me terrible stomach upset/esophagus irritation, to the extent that I couldn't eat and lost weight. We tried lower doses and pulsing but I just couldn't tolerate this side effect, so I had to stop it. (My tummy has completely recovered since then.)
The symptoms you describe sound like herx symptoms. Back off a little more, if you can? It seems to be a useful drug if you can tolerate it.
BTW, tindamax is great for me but I herx on that a lot too.
Posts: 261 | From Nebraska | Registered: Jan 2010
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Summer3
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 35286
posted
I started bactrim ds and biaxin at the same time. I had mild herxing in the 1st week, great improvement in the 2nd week and then very bad herxing in the 3rd and 4th weeks before returning to my baseline level.
My bad herx consisted of chills, exhaustion, joint pain, anxiety, OCD, depression and muscle pain, weakness and spasms among other more typical symptoms. It was pretty rough, but it did get easier.
Catgirl
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Member # 31149
posted
I herxed badly on bactrim (tried it twice).
-------------------- --Keep an open mind about everything. Also, remember to visit ACTIVISM (we can change things together). Posts: 5418 | From earth | Registered: Mar 2011
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TF
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Member # 14183
posted
My doc got rid of my babesiosis using Bactrim DS and pulsed artemesinin. That was 8 years ago now, and it has never returned.
See this website where it lists Bactrim as hitting babs:
So, because it hits 2 coinfections, it often is killing an awful lot of germs for a person. That causes the bad reactions (herxes).
To minimize this, use all your detox techniques like lemon water, glutathione, etc.
First my doctor treated lyme and bart. Then, he gave me Bactrim to treat babs. (This was because I could not take mepron/zith, the preferred babs treatment.) So, all I was dealing with was babs when I went on the Bactrim.
Still, it made me unbelievably ill for 48 hours out of every week like clockwork. The "illness" would start on Friday evening and lift on Sunday evening.
If you notice such a pattern, please know that when I reported it to my doctor, he said that babs has a 7-day cycle, and that was what I was experiencing. He called them babs flares.
During the days of the weekly flares, I was totally unable to function. I lay there not moving, not talking, not going to the bathroom, not drinking or eating. I went in and out of consciousness during that time. And, I felt doomed!! I truly believed each week during the flare that I would always feel this sick and never feel any better. I couldn't reason with my mind about this. I was doomed forever!
When I reported this to my doc after 1 month, he added art to my protocol to encompass these flares. I took it Friday through Sunday. It was like a miracle! The first week I took it, the flare was reduced to 6 hours instead of the normal 48 and it was so mild it was nothing to write home about.
When I took Bactrim, I was working a 40 hour week with not too much problem, so to be totally disabled this way when I started this drug was not what I expected, but I persevered (especially since the flares were happening on non-work days!).
I got rid of babs on the Bactrim and art, taking about 8 months to do so. I had no side effects. But, I DID suffer during these horrible, horrible flares.
Hope this helps you in some way. I believe you are doing a lot of killing right now--probably of both bart and babesia. Wish you the very best.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
Thanks! My doc didn't mention art. I've never taken it. What does it do? Maybe I need art!!! because I feel like CRAPOLA.
Posts: 463 | From Sandusky, Ohio | Registered: Jan 2012
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Art kills babesia. Evidently it is able to kill other blood parasites as well, such as malaria.
Feeling like crapola is par for the course when you first start treatment. Detoxifying yourself is key to getting rid of the die-off, feeling better, and herxing less.
Has you doctor told you techniques for detoxifying or given you meds or supplements to detox? For example, drink lots and lots of water and squeeze fresh lemons into the water.
Here is Dr. H's remedy for a herx, given at a lyme conference a few years ago:
Herxheimer reaction (from 2010 Lyme Conference, Dr. H):
Take-home message: DETOXIFY YOUR LYME PATIENTS!
It does NOT matter what antibiotic you give people, they will NOT get better without detoxification
For Herxheimer reactions: 2 Alka-Selzer Gold (no aluminum) in 8 ounces of water with lemon or lime followed by 6-8 capsules of glutathione or 1500 mg of oral liposomal glutathione.
70% will feel better in hours
On the topic of water: Dilution is the solution to pollution. This suggests that in order to help our bodies detoxify, we must drink more water
posted
I've been in treatment for ten months TF..not just get started. I do the lemon water, a. seltzer gold, baths, etc. Plus I take a detox formula from my doctor. He wants me to start liposomal glutathione but I haven't gotten that yet. Is it the same as l-glutathione do you know? I checked the health food store and only saw l-glutathione.
Posts: 463 | From Sandusky, Ohio | Registered: Jan 2012
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
OK, feeling like crapola is par for the course when you first start any new med.
A new med has a new killing profile (is killing germs the previous med didn't), so generally you will herx with each new med.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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