Slight undulation in symptoms about once a week with Sundays as typically the worst.
Once a month say around 20+ days real spike in symptoms. Fever, major fatigue, neuro.
The monthly spikes seem to gradually recede over a few days.
Anyone else see the same?
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Yes. I had a clear weekly cycle when treating babesia. For me, it started on Friday evening and left me on Sunday evening. 48 hours each week of feeling like a zombie.
When I reported this to my lyme doctor, he said babs has a 7-day cycle and a 14-day cycle and this was the 7-day cycle.
He had me add in artemesinin to encompass the weekly flare. So, I started taking it on Friday morning and took it through Sunday night.
It made a miraculous difference that first week! Wow. The flare went down to 6 hours or so and it was very mild. Every week was better.
Eventually, I got the babs flare every OTHER weekend (the 14-day cycle). Eventually, no flare at all, not even a need to take a short nap on the flare weekend. That is how we knew I was rid of babs.
Then, I treated it for a few more months and I was finished!
With lyme, I had a 28 day cycle. I could count ahead and know the approximate day I would start feeling bad. The monthly lyme flare lasts at least a few days. For some it is longer.
The 28 day lyme cycle is well documented. You can read about it in the Burrascano Lyme Treatment Guidelines, for example.
So, keep track of these things and you will be able to see if your treatment is working or not.
"It has been observed that symptoms will flare in cycles every four weeks. It is thought that this reflects the organism’s cell cycle, with the growth phase occurring once per month (intermittent growth is common in Borrelia species). As antibiotics will only kill bacteria during their growth phase, therapy is designed to bracket at least one whole generation cycle. This is why the minimum treatment duration should be at least four weeks.
If the antibiotics are working, over time these flares will lessen in severity and duration. The very occurrence of ongoing monthly cycles indicates that living organisms are still present and that antibiotics should be continued.
With treatment, these monthly symptom flares are exaggerated and presumably represent recurrent Herxheimer-like reactions as Bb enters its vulnerable growth phase and then are lysed. For unknown reasons, the worst occurs at the fourth week of treatment. Observation suggest that the more severe this reaction, the higher the germ load, and the more ill the patient." (page 17)
I second the 7 days Bab cycle, I also have tough weekends after a full workweek.
As far as the 20 to 28 day cycle, you may also want to check for a full moon cycle. Next full moon is this Friday on V-day. It should be a strong one... I was up at 2am this am and couldn't get back to sleep. Alarm was set for 5am
gmb
Posted by LisaK (Member # 41384) on :
I had tons of fatigue when I treated for babs, but I didn't keep track so I dont really know if there was a pattern.
I am now treating for strep and the overall body fatigue seems to be gone, but I have 24/7 pain pain pain everywhere. and it doesn't seem to cycle.
note that my treatments are all 18 days long, so this would create a different scenario I guess than what you are asking