posted
anyone else going through this? I just started treatment, and am on low dose, but am so anxious to get higher dosage, get and IV abx... I just cannot wait until my next doc visit.
I keep crying because of the new symptoms, worried if this is really a herx, or maybe 50 mg of mino is not killing anything and the bacteria is multiplying and new symptoms pop up.
IS 50 mg of mino KILLING the bugs? or maintaining them ? I see the doc in 10 days. Jenin
Posts: 455 | From Maryland | Registered: Jul 2007
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D Bergy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9984
posted
The crying, if it is out of character for you may be a sign that the treatment is working. My wife had these bizarre mental episodes when the Lyme was being destroyed. I assumed it just meant the Lyme was in her brain and causing some disturbance when it was being killed.
Hang in there, it usually gets worse before it gets better.
D Bergy
Posts: 2924 | From Minnesota | Registered: Aug 2006
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treepatrol
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 4117
posted
Just hang in there and watch some funny Tv Hang in there itll pass. Try to take your suppliments and drink plenty of water also try this but never take abx's at the same time as suppliments or this give it a try Minocycline Herx and Lemon Juice - It Works by BorreliaBrain
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
It is such a terrible feeling. Please remember that something is working if your feeling so horrible.
I just had a horrific herx. Feeling better but I still have that shakey on the inside feeling.
Try to take it easy. I found that going for a short walk at a fast pace helped with my anxiety. I always took someone with me in case I couldn't make it back though.
I don't know if your well enough to do that..but if your physically okay you might want to give it a try.
Drink drink drink...plenty of water.
Hope this passes soon...kit
Posts: 655 | From Pennsylvania | Registered: Jul 2006
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5dana8
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7935
posted
hi jenin98
I just sent you 2 pms.
Sorry you are feeling so bad
In the beginning, if you have a high germ load ,you can herx off of that dose of mino. I often get depressed & anxious with my herx's. I just keep telling myself it's the herxing & it will pass soon
If your germ load is high & it sounds like it is from herxing off the 50 mino than IV may not be right for you right now. Some doctors like to get the germ load down first with orals then possibly IV in the later.
I forgot to mention in my pm that I was on oral doxy for a long time before I did my IV... Sorry my lyme brain forgot that. "bonk"
Try to like tree suggested drink plenty of lemon water & detox as much as possible. Do anything to try to get your mind off things for now. I know it's hard when your herxing .
The only good thing about herxing is it is temporay & doesn't last forever ~ although it can feel that way. And when you are done herxing think on how you will be feeling better one day cause the kets are dying off. They are loossing the war.
Funny TV or movies, music meditation are good when I am herxing. I really tend to like to space out to sitcomes till it pass's.
posted
so, 50 mg of mino DOES kill the bugs, not inhibit from spreading? Jenin
Posts: 455 | From Maryland | Registered: Jul 2007
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Cobweb
Unregistered
posted
Hi Jenn-in the beginning of my treatment I was not able to tolerate Mino. the effects or perhaps the herx was so severe I thought I was going to die.
Now-after two years of other orals and IV I am taking a low dose mino-and at least can function. Although I did have quite a boohoo day last weekend.
You can't think in terms of killing the bugs in a hurry before they get away-not when the horse has already left the barn.
Relax and know that your LLMD will chart a course of treatment, strategies have to be laid out. Lyme treatment is like a seek and destroy mission-it takes time, patience, perseverence-and prayer.
If you're in a hurry you will only make yourself more anxious , more stressed and more vulnerable to the enemy.
I suggest a recliner for half an hour with harp music playing-very healing. A friend of mine was in ICU for 3 months for pancreatitis-she was expected to die. They operated everywhich way on her . Most of all she remembers the Harp player who came in by her bed and played for 45 minutes each week.
It was an actual part of her treatment. Only so much can be done medicinally-the rest of healing occurs by treating ourselves spiritually and mentally.
5dana8
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7935
posted
Jenin98
If you have a high germ load 50 of mino is high enough to do some damage. Sounds like you are herxing from this & your doc will probably ramp you up slowly.
Ask him about this & Also let him know how you are feeling.
take care Dana
-------------------- 5dana8 Posts: 4432 | From some where over the rainbow | Registered: Sep 2005
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
My daughter has been in treatment for 18 months, and she started with 50mg of mino twice a week. It KICKED HER BUTT. It began with neuro/psyche problems, then got better.
If your doctor says it's okay, stay at fifty until you feel you can move up. Kill the bugs, not the patient.
posted
A friend of mine is going through the same thing. The psycho side of Lyme is often underrated. You will be fine. You have support here and elsewhere. You will be fine. Find a good book, even an anxiety/depression self-help book (Feeling Good, by Dr. Burns) will help.
Keep us posted.
BT
Posts: 299 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Jul 2007
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
There is evidence that minocycline is actually neuroprotective.
What that means for you is that it would probably be WORSE starting on a different antibiotic.
Taking the germ load down slowly is important. As noted above.
Don't expect to feel better immediately. Take your reaction as a good sign! As CaliforniaLyme (Sarah) says, there's no way out but through. Keep reminding yourself you are getting BETTER -- feeling worse first means it is working.
Hang in there and don't lose hope. Read some success stories!
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I was doing 300mg of Mino with 600mg Rifampin-- it made me bawl constantly; it also caused the worst anxiety I've ever had in my life.
I couldn't take it. I quit.
Posts: 390 | From Oakland, CA | Registered: May 2007
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Cobweb
Unregistered
posted
Just wanted you to know- at this stage in the game-if i have a weepy day-I don't fight the tears-I just let them flow- knowing the sun will come out tomorrow.
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posted
Sorry that you are having to deal with this. (but I am also glad to know we are not the only bawl babies around) My kids and I have been experiencing the anxiety and tear outbursts a lot lately!
Escape... funny movies, the funny posts that make you laugh out loud in the "off topic" section, any mindless silliness will do.
I may cry more than normal but I have found that I find things funnier than normal too. Be sure to allow yourself to laugh out loud at stupid things, it helps!
-------------------- Every victory, no matter how small, deserves to be celebrated. Please excuse me while I do a little dance. Posts: 25 | From North Carolina | Registered: Jul 2007
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lymeinhell
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4622
posted
So sorry to hear of your situation. I went through a few bouts myself when I started Flagyl.
Here's something that might make you feel a bit better - one of our smarter posters had this info up several months ago.
by Charles Downey Did you know that tears contain toxins? Sounds like crying may remove byproducts of stress from the body. What does this mean for mind-body health?
Humans are the only animals who shed tears of emotion. Why do we cry? Are there any physical or health benefits from crying?
Years of tears
"Until the Industrial Revolution, crying in public was pretty normal, even for men," says Tom Lutz, Ph.D., an associate professor of English at the University of Iowa and author of Crying: The Natural and Cultural History of Tears. "Heroic epics from Greek times through the Middle Ages are soggy with weeping of all sorts," Dr. Lutz says. "Through most of history, tearlessness has not been the standard of manliness."
For instance, when Roland, the most famous warrior of medieval France died, 20,000 other knights wept so profusely they fainted and fell from their horses. Long before that, the Greek warrior Odysseus cries in almost every chapter of Homer's Iliad while St. Francis of Assisi was said to have been blinded by weeping. Later, in the 16th century, sobbing openly at a play, opera or symphony was considered appropriately sensitive for men and women alike.
Tearless generations
The industrial age needed diligent, not emotional, workers. Crying was then delegated to privacy, behind closed doors. Children learned that weeping itself was the problem and not the result of a problem. People everywhere became more uncomfortable with public tears.
In 1972, public crying was still so unacceptable that candidate Edmund Muskie was driven out of the U.S. presidential race when he shed tears during a speech.
The purpose of crying
Throughout history and in every culture, people cry. "Weeping often occurs at precisely those times when we are least able to fully verbalize complex, overwhelming emotions and least able to fully articulate our feelings," Lutz writes.
Crying can also be an escape; it allows us to turn away from the cause of our anguish, and inward toward our own bodily sensations. Scientists feel that weeping is probably necessary because no human behavior has ever continuously evolved unless it somehow contributed to survival.
"Science has proven that stress is terrible for the health of your brain, heart and other organs," says William Frey II, Ph.D., biochemist and tear expert of the Ramsey Medical Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. "It isn't proven yet, but weeping has most likely served humans throughout our evolutionary history by reducing stress."
Studying the waterworks
In one oft-quoted study, Frey studied five different groups of people. The people kept records of all emotional and irritant crying episodes for a period of 30 days. Information such as date, time, duration, reason for crying, thoughts, emotions and physical components, such as "lump in throat," watery eyes vs. flowing tears, etc.
Frey found that 94 percent of the females had an emotional crying episode in the 30-day recording period, as compared with only 55 percent of the males. Eighty-five percent of women and 73 percent of men reported feeling better and more relieved after a good cry. Dr. Frey's lab also chemically examined tears produced by onions and compared them with emotional tears. While chemical tears (caused by onions) were 98 percent water, emotional tears contained more toxins.
Though there was no difference between men and women in average duration of crying episodes, men and women cry differently. Men cry quietly and their eyes brim neatly with tears. Women, on the other hand, make lots of crying noises as the tears stream down their cheeks. "Our testing revealed that men weep an average of 1.4 times a month while women cry about 5.3 times monthly," says Dr. Frey.
Why do people produce tears?
Some people believe that the rapid breathing associated with sobbing would quickly dry out the sensitive mucous membranes if tears did not keep them moist and that mucosal dehydration in the absence of tears could increase the risk of infection. While this may be one of the functions of emotional tearing, the clinical experiences of Dr. Frey and others indicate that sobbing is not a component of all crying and tearing episodes. And humans don't excrete tears while running or engaging in other forms of rigorous exercise where rapid breathing is also increased.
Tears are secreted through a duct, a process much like urination or exhalation. Frey believes that like these other processes, tearing may be involved in removing waste products or toxic substances from the body.
Perhaps that is why so many people report feeling better after crying. Not only is the venting of emotions liberating, but the actual chemical composition which is known to be different from tears produced from cutting onions may be involved in this increased feeling of well-being.
"Crying is natural, healthy and curative," according to Barry M. Bernfeld, Ph.D., director of the Primal Institute in Los Angeles.
"[But] crying which should be the most natural, accepted way of coping with pain, stress, and sorrow is hardly mentioned in psychiatric literature. Now we seem finally to recognize that crying is good for people."
Are times changing?
"In just a few short decades, we've gone from the view that crying is just a loss of control and a sign of weakness to a common perception that there might be some value in open emotional crying," says Dr. Frey.
For instance, a weeping, unashamed New York Yankee Darryl Strawberry fell into the arms of manager Joe Torre on national television.
Gwyneth Paltrow was so tearful on national television that she could barely speak when awarded her Oscar for best actress. President Clinton routinely sniffles openly, and presidential candidate Bob Dole choked up while recalling how people in his home state helped him with his war injuries.
"Today, it might even be a plus for politicians to cry," says Dr. Frey. "People now like the idea that our leaders can be open about their feelings."
One of the main obstacles to good mental health is that by stifling crying, a person must also hide or shut down valid feelings and emotions. When legitimate emotions are not fully recognized and expressed, insensitive acts from rudeness to school shootings can result.
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-------------------- Julie _ _ ___ _ _ lymeinhell
Blessed are those who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed. Posts: 2258 | From a better place than I was 11 yrs ago | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
There are times when I cry for no apparent reason and I've been in treatment now for three years. Years ago I would never have cried for the stupid reasons that I do now. Sometimes the slightest thing sets me off. Don't let it upset you so much. We all go through it.
My son's teacher called me last year because my son was crying in class but couldn't give the teacher a reason why. He really didn't have a reason. The teacher was compassionate about it and kept an eye on him for me. The point is that it can hit at any time. It really does happen a lot in the beginning.
I believe its anxiety from finding out so much all at once about this disease and then starting the treatment. You'll become a hardened veteran soon enough but I'm afraid even the toughest of us still cry without warning. Have you thought about seeing a Lyme educated psychiatrist to talk to about this disease and your fears? I saw one for awhile and it helped a lot.
Posts: 547 | From Maryland | Registered: Mar 2005
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When I'm at my worst (like now), crying is one of the only things that makes me feel better, if only a little bit. Posts: 390 | From Oakland, CA | Registered: May 2007
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posted
Ah I think i emailed you from the NatCap site too !(Andy)
I need to post because during my Lyme I had terrible anxiety, which caused depression and MORE anxiety. And it was terribly isolating, and I'd hate for anyone to feel how I felt.
There is no denying that the symptoms are real and terrible and frightening. But it is important to remember that you may have to get worse to get better. That's a common sentiment I've felt and heard, at least.
Don't be afraid to just cry and get it all out. If you are able to, take off of work / school and be by yourself or with a close friend /family member. Cry it out, acknowledge your feelings and your body,and just let it happen. And then try to refocus on something that you enjoy. Find satisfaction in little things. At the height of my symptoms I was such a recluse. For a college student this was particularly embarrassing and frustrating.
But I could make myself tea, I could read poems, I could take hot showers, I could stretch, I could watch birds, I could watch movies, I could crochet. That's me though.
Unfortunately, there's absolutely nothing anyone can say to make it completely better for you. But I feel for you, certainly. You will be stronger for it in the long run.
Posts: 17 | From MD | Registered: Aug 2007
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sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
Crying was the first sign of my first few herxes. I am not normally a "cryer", but I would cry for no reason as my first herxes were coming on.
If you're anxious, you might ask your LLMD if you can take Valerian Root. I found it relaxing.
If the mino is making you herx, it's killing bugs. I would be afraid to ramp up too quickly if that small dose is having such a huge effect. But, do ramp up as directed by your LLMD.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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