I am in the middle of an acute Lyme flareup and in bad shape. I'm on Amoxicillin 1 gm twice/day and Biaxin 250 mg twice/day (trying to work up to 500 mg twice/day.
Every day I get weakness/paralysis in my right arm or leg, shaking, twitching, severe anxiety, inability to stop moving. This always occurs between 11 AM and 4 PM or so. In the evenings I feel better.
Has anyone else had these daily cycles? I'm hoping it's more likely to be from a herx than spirochete replication. Or could it be toxin recirculation in the gut?
Best,
- Andrew
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
There's a connection between anemia and restless leg syndrome. Have you had your iron levels checked?
Also, do you supplement magnesium? That can help with the twitching.
Don't take iron and magnesium at the same time though, they weaken each other.
Posted by Baron (Member # 11666) on :
I also have started getting weakness in my legs. On Sunday it was my right leg, for the last three days it has been the left leg. I'm hoping it is the medicine, as I only began to get these feelings after being on flagyl (1000 mg/day).
Posted by AndrewInCA (Member # 2010) on :
Anyone???
Posted by ByronSBell 2007 (Member # 11496) on :
you could be in a constant herx becuase you are on VERY! VERY! high doses of ABX! I have a lyme friend that was first diagnosed as parkinsons and had your exact symptoms. When he started ABX he got worse for the first 6 months and notice very little to no improvement in that time. Now after almost 1.5 years of ABX for him he is teaching school, coaching a track team, and has a family of 7 little kids. He is still not well (about 70-80%) but he has not been able to take his ABX often because he doesn't want to be going through herxes while trying to teach school. I think after this summer when he has time off he will be able to make alot more progress! Hold On!
I also go through patterns like you, I do best at night usually. As treatment keeps going on you are going to start noticing more trends and herxes will start turning into a pattern.
Posted by AndrewInCA (Member # 2010) on :
If you thought that was high - since I posted the original message I've gone up from 2 to 4 gm/day of Amoxicillin. The Biaxin I ramped up in four days from 250 mg/day to 1000 mg/day.
Is that too fast for most people, or do you go up more gradually? I also felt some nausea today, could be from the Biaxin.
My daily flareup/herx/massive anxiety attack continues to hit late morning to mid afternoon.
- Andrew
Posted by ByronSBell 2007 (Member # 11496) on :
WOW you are going up fast, I can only tolerate 250 MG of zithromax once every 3 days! or I just start herxing too bad.
My LLMD believes that when you herx you should back off a little to let the body clear the toxins from the herx. Some of his patients that keep taking ABX through the herxes trying to be a tough guy get worse and deterioate. It overwelms the immune system.
If you are able to take 2G amox. and 500mg biaxin a day. Then you must be doing really good! that would put me in the hospital for sure!
Posted by AndrewInCA (Member # 2010) on :
Byron - thanks for your reply!
I hadn't thought that I might be over-doing it and giving myself insanely bad herxes. My problems are almost all neuro, and my thinking is severely impaired, especially while going through it (mostly from 10AM - 6:00 PM)
Is it common for herxes from different antibiotics or from week-to-week to be different? A few weeks ago I herxed from something else and got burning eyes, head pressure, extreme fatigue, etc. Now with the abx it is extreme anxiety, agitation, paranoia, shaking, inability to rest.
Can herxes vary that quicky?
- Andrew
Posted by ByronSBell 2007 (Member # 11496) on :
I know my symptoms have varied alot while in treatment, I always have a chronic headache and nausea. But my muscle pain will sometimes feel like it is almost gone then a day later I dont wanna get out of bed! Sometimes I think my tinnitus has gone away then it comes back with a vengence...
Different abx can cause different herxes because one ABX can do a better job at killing a different strain or co infection. I one time switched from ceftin500mg to baixin500mg and it was a night and day difference in herxes especially in terms of severity.
You should be happy to can tolerate such high doses of ABX, will prob. help you get better sooner Posted by AndrewInCA (Member # 2010) on :
I don't recall herxes occuring in daily cycles like this before, but with my Lyme brain, I don't remember anything.
Have others had this daily herx experience? or herxes that run in similar "cycles"?
- Andrew
Posted by AndrewInCA (Member # 2010) on :
I think you were right!
Today I cut down slightly on my Amoxicillin and a little more on the Biaxin. Today I had a smaller and easier "herx period", and actually had energy and felt like a normal person for part of the day.
I think I was hitting the Biaxin way too fast and hard. My body was being trashed. I'm going to continue to ramp up slowly (no more than 1/4 of a pill a day)
Thanks,
- Andrew
Posted by LisaS (Member # 10581) on :
It doesn't matter if I'm on abx or off. Whether it was pre-diagnosed or after, I am sick in the morning no matter what. Then slowly get better throughout the day. By 4 I usually start feeling human. Then I don't want to go to sleep because late night is the only time I feel normal.
Posted by Elinor (Member # 8174) on :
''Is it common for herxes from different antibiotics or from week-to-week to be different? A few weeks ago I herxed from something else and got burning eyes, head pressure, extreme fatigue, etc. Now with the abx it is extreme anxiety, agitation, paranoia, shaking, inability to rest.
Can herxes vary that quicky?''
Andrew this sounds like secondary porphyria and it can make you feel really bad, if you get a build up of porphyrins in your system you need to slow down on the abx and take something like charcoal or cholestyramine to absorb them, don't take near food or vitamins though. There is some info on here, do a search on porphyria or look it up on this site http://www.cpnhelp.org
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