posted
Its weird. The only time i KNOW i had a herx it only lasted a few hours.
Just like the med journals described. Fever, chills. Followed by a marked improvement in symptoms.
Since then i've had doctors tell me i was herxing and i know i wasn't because i continued to have flare up type symptoms after stopping treatment.
Posts: 339 | From Outer Space | Registered: Aug 2009
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TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
In the strict technical sense I believe that Jarisch-Herxheimer is the wrong term for what is happening to Chronic Lyme patients.
My understanding is that Jarisch Herxheimer is associated with treatment of the initial acute stage of lyme disease and typically is short lived.
Jarisch Herxheimer like reactions have not been studied in Chronic Lyme disease since Chronic Lyme disease does not exist in the minds of those who get the majority of the money for studies. Doesn't mean it isn't real.
It seems the longer one has been infected, the more severe and lengthy the reaction to treatment can be so if you haven't been infected for very long, your reaction will likely be very different from those who have been infected for years to decades.
The length of treatment reactions seem to vary a great deal between chronic lyme patients due to many factors some of which may include immune system function (including the ability to remove endotoxins or endotoxin like substances), concurrent infections that are also releasing dead bug debri, heavy metal toxicity (dead bugs seem to release heavy metals) which are difficult to remove for some people. AND let's not forget that many note flaring of other infections when treating for lyme. I had severe viral symptoms at first.
Also the number of intracellular pathogens and the ability to get them out of the cells will likely make a difference. My doctor ran a test that showed that my intracellular debri was very high (not uncommon in chronic lyme). My LLMD felt that meant that we were killing lots of pathogens but the debri was not getting out of my cells very well. We treated that with homeopathic drainage remedies and that helped a lot.
We are all working in the dark to figure some of this out because Chronic Lyme does not get the credibility and thus research funds. Hypothesis are formed based on science, history of similar infections, clinical experience etc.... Short of finding a billionire who wants to fund lyme disease research, that's probably the best we can do without the support of mainstream medicine.
3030club wrote: Since then i've had doctors tell me i was herxing and i know i wasn't because i continued to have flare up type symptoms after stopping treatment.
The symptoms can be identical. It is hard to tell the difference because they are probably both caused by increased cytokines.
Terry I'm not a doctor
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
You also have to be careful that you aren't calling side effects a herx. When I started Minocycline, I started getting CRAZY vertigo. I thought it was a herx, but it was a side effect, and we immediately switched meds. I also think the same thing is going on with Mepron. Just because you feel worse doesn't mean it's a herx.
-------------------- Lyme, Bart, possible Babs Currently on IV Doxy, Bactrim, Zithromax, Nystatin, Mepron Been on nearly every antibiotic since 10/09
"It seems the longer one has been infected, the more severe and lengthy the reaction to treatment can be so if you haven't been infected for very long, your reaction will likely be very different from those who have been infected for years to decades."
I agree!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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