Topic: Doing SO well on Mepron... now 4 bad days = herx?
disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
Gah, I feel awful.
I started Mepron October 16th and it was like a 'miracle' for me. Helped me feel better RIGHT away. I had many, many good days on it. Most days were good rather than bad.
Now, for the past four days, I've felt pretty awful. Not sure if it's a herx. It's not like an obvious babs herx I don't think, but I just feel so zombie-like, out of body, dizzy, very bad neck stiffness and upper back discomfort. This morning I have a HORRID headache (sinus-like since it's located all in top of head, forehead and temple area), and I haven't had a headache like this for a long time. Ibuprofen hasn't helped at all.
Last night I had a chiropractic adjustment (not the first time) and was told to drink obscene amounts of water because it took her a great many trys to pop my back. She finally did, but only after she rubbed some type of cream on a trigger point in my back (that was pretty painful in itself too). I drank a ton of water. Not sure if the adjustment is what has caused today's headache or not.
All I know is the last four days have been HORRID. The Mepron was helping soooo much. It was like amazing to me. I don't want that to end!!!
Sound like herx maybe?
Anyone else had such good luck with Mepron?
I know many people feel horrid on Mepron right away, but it has seemed to do the opposite for me. I want it to continue.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Hi there, I am having similar events but in the morning I feel like I am hungover. Seeng as I have not had the pleasure of drinking the wine I really really object to this. Been on Mepron and Zith for 4 weeks....
Posts: 234 | From BC Canada | Registered: Aug 2008
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
Liz - the Mepron helped you right away, too?
As soon as I started taking it, bam! made me feel so much better than before. I was having many more good days than bad. So this 4 bad days in a row is sad to me!
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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lymednva
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9098
posted
Usually Mepron herxes are about every three weeks. That would pretty much coincide with the timing of this.
My guess, and hope, is that it's a herx and you'll be feeling better soon. I found babs herxes to be hard, especially in the beginning.
-------------------- Lymednva Posts: 2407 | From over the river and through the woods | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
Disturbedme: Sounds like a herx to me. I actually started Mepron the same day or the day after you. My LLMD started me on a half dose for a week and I noticed no difference during that time. A week after going to the full dose, I started to feel like I was herxing. At first I just felt more tired than usual, and for the past week it was progressed first higher fevers and then to the headaches like your describe.
Liz: I was just telling my friend yesterday that I've been waking up feeling hungover for the past several days! I've waking up with the classic hangover symptoms: pounding headache, dehydrated, slightly dizzy, and just plain yucky. After a few hours, the headache goes away, my head is cleared, and I feel significantly better. Have your symptoms followed a similar pattern?
Also, does anyone know if spiking fevers indicate a Mepron/Babesia herx? I tend to run low-grade fevers, but this past week I've consistently been at least at 100 degrees. I also feel really flu-ish, or more so than usual. Maybe that is why I've been waking up with a headache and the other symptoms.
Posts: 27 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2008
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
/\/\/\
Anyone else?
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
Hi all, Was over the moon after taking zith and mepron at first. The crushing fatigue lessened, was not so depressed, sprang out of bed in the morning and felt there was light at the end of the tunnel. Have been feeling 'off' now for a week. Hurting, cranky, depressed. Hoping it will end soon and give me a break before battling the next round. No wine is making me veryyyyyy cranky. Liz
Posts: 234 | From BC Canada | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
DizzyUp, Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like we share a lot of the same symptoms...wonder if it is the Babesia?
I've been hyperventilating for the past few days, and at first thought I was having anxiety attacks, but then talked to a Lyme friend last night who just started Mepron too and is having breathing difficulties.
I just did a search on here for "Mepron" and read your post regarding "air hunger" after starting Mepron...sounds exactly like how I feel! Has the air hunger improved?
I'm sort of freaking out because I also called my pharmacy tonight to ask about Mepron side effects. When I said I was having shallow breathing, the pharmacist told me to go to the ER!
I'm not going to the ER, but wonder if I should stop the Mepron until I talk with my doctor. Or is this breathing issue just a harmless side effect that passes with time? Since air hunger is listed as a Babesia symptom, I would think that the Mepron is just bringing out the Babs and I just stick it out.
I guess I just want to know if I'm in any real danger with the breathing issues. I notice my breathing is ok if I'm sitting quietly, and the problems start only when I am talking or doing any physical exertion (even walking upstairs).
Sorry for the long, somewhat panicky post.
Thanks for the help! Posts: 27 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2008
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DebAz
Unregistered
posted
Hello Wow. i have not heard of someone responding to Mepron like I did. The first two months on Mepron was like I was in wonder land and i got so much hope. I will say my doc tried me on 2 x a day and I did not feel well from it but at 4 x it made a huge difference and instead of herxing it was the opposite. If I missed a dose I stopped feeling as well. It was like the med is what helped me stay feeling better.. But then ... not the typical herxing happened but.. The mepron way of what I call herxing happend. I go the headaches. Bad bad.. ANd I could feel the mepron going through my brain and it hurt.... after a couple weeks of that it stopped. But then all the joints in my body were burning in pain and it felt again like the mepron was going to them.. Then after a couple weeks that stopped and i then hurt inside of me like in my heart and lungs etc.. even kidney area and stuff.> Weird stuff but i was told it was traveling around killing the stuff off. SO wow. I was amazing and happy. The only negative was that. I got what is called the MEPRON BLUES> Heard of it?? Well suddenly you feel depresed and like bad and irritable and almost like a panic sets in. I was warned so I knew what it was. I was told to stop the med for a week and itwould clear out. SO i did and it did.!! And I went back to the mepron and it kept on. After six month.. well things evened out but I started backsliding on the fatigue and overall symptoms. My doc and I did a test and stopped the mepron and I felt better.> So we determined it was a herx affect but by doc said it sure seemed to be late in the treatment.. SO he gave me the choice to stay on Mepron or Try Ketek. I choose Ketek but now I miss the merpon and wish I had kept giving it more of a chance. The Ketek is so much different. And I am having bad herx of the more typical kind and only can do the Ketek for one week on and one off because it is so bad and I am only on half the dose.. SO yes. WEird about the MERPON. Oppsosite of most meds for me. For one I had to TAKE more and more and not less and less. And it felt better taking more.. and instead of herxing so bad I had to stop .. It is interesting stuff. I am going to ask my doc if I can cycle both meds.. Ketek one week and mepron the other and back and forht. I am afraid I will lose out on the six months I started. I have heard and believe the stories of how you have to stay on a abx and if you stop it all comes back. There seems to be no cure but just a way to keep it at bay ... or slowly slowly eradicate.. but.. in cycles and steps forward and steps backward as it catches up or takes advanage to opportunites.. etc. I got the Flu last winter and all my infections had a hay day or week I should say or Month I should say..And they all came out to play and multiply and make more and more of themselves. Some i thought were gone came back and some from 20 years ago even came by to say.. hello again. Hope this helps.
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Vermont_Lymie
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Member # 9780
posted
Hail Mepron buddies,
How are you all doing? I would like to know -- disturbed, Dizzy, Liz?
I hope you are well and that the mepron is working some magic for your recovery.
I just started it yesterday, and on day two, it is not so bad so far. Sleep was a bit disturbed, but not terribly.
You are all about three weeks ahead of me, and I am wondering if your herxing ended and you feel better now? Sounds like Week 3 is the tough time to get past.
Wishing you all great health and would like to hear your update.
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MariaA
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9128
posted
I've had a lot of what you describe (including the elephant on my chest).
Air hunger and the ER: I went to a non-LLMD and had the respiratory stuff checked out because I was worried that it might be fluid buildup or something- he said it was probably neurological as it wasn't showing up as any problem he could hear through the stethoscope in a basic exam even though I was having a bad air hunger attack while in the office (they couldn't do a pulminary function test or a blood gases test there, but other people on the forum have reported that their PulmOx tests are normal- ie it's not a lack of oxygen anyway for them).
The elephant eventually went away after 2 months. It comes back once in a while but nowhere near as bad as originally.
I've had 'emotionally bizarre' teary, reacting wrong to things sorts of psychological attacks once or twice since then. They weren't a problem before the Mepron/Biaxin. I have read that Biaxin and Zith cause this for some people. I have also read that babesia REALLY causes this too.
I seem to be on the 3 week cycle as well but it's getting overall a lot better. I just adjusted my expectations. It's great to be so much better overall after no antibiotics seemed to help for months and months before the Mepron.
-------------------- Symptom Free!!! Thank you all!!!!
Vermont_Lymie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9780
posted
Carla, Thanks so much for your update! Mepron is new for me and so a bit scary.
But I do want to beat babs, and get on with it! So it is a bit surprising to feel so dang great after one day on Mepron.
Of course, the first time that I treated babs it was around week 2 or 3 that things got tough, so I really appreciate your update!
I hope that adding zith works well for you next week. Zith has been something of a wonder drug for me, after a couple of initial weeks of feeling awful right after starting it.
Whether it was a zith-herx or adjustment, I do not know, but when I first started taking it I felt sleepy all the time but could not sleep, and had increased brain fog.
That passed after about two weeks, so hang in there with the zith and see if you can get past the initial few weeks!
My current tx, ceftin, zith, plaquenil and Raintree's Spiro (herbal antibacterial tincture) has been working incredibly well for me, and I was afraid of stirring things up with Mepron. One day in, it is great!
MariaA, thanks for your update. I am glad to hear that Mepron is working for you now, after air hunger and other difficult reactions. I have heard that babs is responsible for alot of psychological symptoms too. Hope you feel better and better!
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Vermont_Lymie
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Member # 9780
posted
Hi Mepron buddies,
Day two of Mepron; it is just like Disturbed said -- I feel so unexpectedly good.
Great even, despite some definite sleep disturbance last night from the mepron.
I cannot believe that I was so afraid to start the mepron that I delayed it for months.
It is only day two, so too early to tell, but I feel better than I have felt for years. How could mepron have such a quick effect? (Note, I am on several other abx too. No stomach problems so far.)
Hoping to avoid the 3-week herx, but kind of waiting for all h*ll to break loose eventually...
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DebAz
Unregistered
posted
Hi > I had an immediate affect on mepron too. I felt so good in the beginning.. I then had some herx reactions that were there but tollerable. Such as Headaches and then joint pain but it was very obvious what was hurting and it was like the medicine was traveling around my body. But I still felt ok while it washappeing. I was good. i was alert and not feeling sick or anything. I had a lot of hope on it. I will say after about 6 months it seemed to stop working at all and I just went back down hill> Not sure why for me but the med gave me new hope I had not had before.. I hope it continues to work for you... I switched to ketek but my doctor said I could try to stay on mepron. Not sure if made the right choice now as I am so sick I can not barely take it due to the Herx reactions of severe just sick and bedridden.. So.. though you know sometimes those doctors say if we react badly to a med its good.> But my doctor also was happy I felt good on Mepron>> Are you as confused as I am??
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Vermont_Lymie
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Member # 9780
posted
DebAz,
Sorry to hear that it sounds like you got a relapse, while still on mepron.
It IS confusing. I guess all we have are our doctors and then our community to guide us through this.
Sounds like a few of us have shared this experience, of starting mepron and feeling great right away. On Day 3, I feel so good that it is almost scary. I did have some increased joint pain on day 2, but on Day 3 nothing bad yet.
Were you taking zith at the same time as mepron? If not, maybe some resistance issue happened, and that is why you plateaued and then backslide.
Whatever happened, hope you are feeling better now and that the ketek works for you!
Posts: 2557 | From home | Registered: Aug 2006
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DebAz
Unregistered
posted
yes I was also on Zith.. and took it consistantly.. SO that was not the issue. But i wish I knew what was the issue... Again I miss that feeling your having ..even if for a day or week .. ENJOY and I hope it continues for you. Thinking of going back and trying again.. : O)
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MariaA
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Member # 9128
posted
dizzy,
My situation was very similar, and it's improved greatly in a couple of months (I keep swapping symptoms out one for the other, but at least I don't have all 6 or 8 major symptoms at once anymore! more like 3 at a time at the most). Hang in there!
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