Topic: Throat closing up......herx or allergic reaction
sutherngrl
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posted
I started taking Minocycline and 2 weeks in I became ill and had to stop the mino and take zith, then I started back on the mino and a few days in I started getting that feeling of my throat closing up or at least tightening up. This has been a symptom I have had even when I was not on medication, before I knew I had LD.
Anyway, it became so uncomfortable that I skipped the Mino last night to see if it would help. My throat still feels the same today. I took some benadryl yesterday to, and it helped just a little.
I don't have any other symptoms of an allergic reaction, like hives or itching or swelling anywhere else. So could this just be a herxheimer reaction? Could it be that I took the zith and mino too close together and they don't mix well or something? Any ideas?
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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sutherngrl
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Before I knew I was sick 10 years ago (babs, bart and lyme) I would cough and have weird throat sensations. Also tested for allegies 3 x . It was the tic diseases I found out after being treated. I relaped this fall and started with the same symptom cough and itchy throat and allergy like symptoms. I was positive for lyme and babs again and am being treated again. The docs tell me it's the babs. If you had that symptom before started abx and it gets worse it is probably a herx. In my opinion part of my allergic type reaction is due to the fact that my immune system is compromised with the babs and lyme so I become hyper-sensitive to everything. Afterall an allergy comes from the immune system(i really can't explain that properly; but it has to due with immune system.) Hope this helps in some way. God Bless..Theresa
Posts: 479 | From nj | Registered: Nov 2000
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sutherngrl
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This feeling of my throat closing up is driving me nuts. I want to continue with my treatment, but its very nerve racking not knowing if this is a herx or an allergic reaction.
I guess it's just a trial and error thing. You would think if it was an allergic reaction there would be added symptoms like itching, swelling, hives, etc.
Thanks Theresa. I guess I am leaning toward it being a herx, but it still makes me nervous not knowing for sure.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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tdtid
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Not being a doctor, I can't really advise you, but I do know that in my particular case, I did have a bout a couple times on one particular med where my tongue started swelling and my throat started closing up.
This WAS an allergic reaction in my case and sadly needs to be taken very seriously. I just don't know if this is the same thing you are discussing.
Drug allergies are very serious though. I know the hardest part of this entire illness is trying to figure out what are lyme symptoms, what are herxes and what are drug reaztions or drug allergies.
Around and around we go. Sadly, you may need to be talking to your doctor on this one since I would hate to lead you down a bad path and say it is herx or the disease when in reality you could be having an allergic reaction that could totally get out of hand on you.
Keep us posted.
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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sutherngrl
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I have decided to skip the med a few more days and see what happens. If it gets better, I will try it again and see where it leads. I have never had an allergic reaction to any meds, so I tend to lean toward herx.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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TerryK
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sutherngrl, Please call your LLMD or whoever prescribed the mino. Anaphylaxis can be a result of an allergy and it can be life threatening.
You can get testing to see if you are allergic to certain abx. I'm not sure about mino but I would think that is a possibility.
Ask your doctor what to do if your throat swells closed. Perhaps have benadryl on hand or an epi pen that your doctor can prescribe? http://www.aafp.org/afp/20031001/1325.html
Anaphylaxis is listed as a possible side effect http://www.drugs.com/sfx/minocycline-side-effects.html "Hypersensitivity reactions: Urticaria, angioneurotic edema, polyarthralgia, anaphylaxis/anaphylactoid reaction (including shock and fatalities), anaphylactoid purpura, myocarditis, pericarditis, exacerbation of systemic lupus erythematosus and pulmonary infiltrates with eosinophilia have been reported. A transient lupus-like syndrome and serum sickness-like reactions also have been reported."
Not saying that is what is happening but please be careful. Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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sutherngrl
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The reason I don't think it is an allergic reaction is because I took Mino for 2 weeks before I had to stop because I got sick with the sinus stuff and I didn't have this then. I then took heavy doses of zith to get rid of the sinus crud and then right back on Mino, so maybe it was the combo of the 2 just being way too much.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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sutherngrl
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Okay, I decided to call LLMD. I am awaiting his call, may be later tonight. Will update later.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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TerryK
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So glad you are calling. Better to be on the safe side.
Mino gave me hyperpigmenation. I still have it after more than 2 years. Also look for tooth discoloration as I know that some have had that problem with it.
I hope it all turns out to be fine for you and you can continue to take it. Please let us know what your doc says.
Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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I'm new to this forum and found your post. My 16 year old daughter was on minocycline and cipro for a short time until she felt that her tongue weighed 20 pounds and it felt like her throat was closing. This happened overnight and she didn't wake me up.
She had one IV Rocephin treatment four days later and the same thing happened. The doctor rushed in and monitored her. He said that it was not an allergic reaction because if it were, it would not have reversed itself. He couldn't explain why it happened, but stressed that it wasn't an allergic reaction.
I can tell you that she has had problems with her throat since the onset of lyme. After the IV reaction, she went hoarse and lost her voice for a week. Very strange.
I thought I would let you know our experience. Hope you are feeling better soon.
Lisa
Posts: 51 | From Connecticut | Registered: Sep 2008
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Am wondering what your LLMD advised you about this?
My daughter experienced the same reaction last night.
She said her throat felt "funny."
She was afraid to eat for the rest of the night, so I decided to hold off on giving her her nightly meds.
She isn't taking mino. She's taking Zith and Mepron. Yesterday was her 7th day on Zith and her 4th dose of Mepron.
She had said she was feeling very heavy all day Friday and Saturday and very achy.
I figured she was herxing.
When she complained about her throat, I wasn't sure what to do. She had had the same experience on Augmentin, which we stopped thinking it was an allergic reaction.
I figured I would give her her meds again today, but her throat still felt weird, slightly better but still not back to normal.
So I held her meds again today and won't start them again until tomorrow.
I will call her LLMD first thing in the morning. I am too nervous to try her out on it again on a Sunday when I can't reach anyone.
Do you think this is a herx or an allergic reaction?
Oh, she said her ears feel sore too--so I will need to talk about the ototoxicity with the doc too!
Anyway, just wondering if your doc felt it was a herx or allergic reaction--I know it doesn't mean it is the same for my daughter, but I'm just curious.
And I hope you are feeling better!
Thanks.
Posts: 648 | From northeast | Registered: Feb 2009
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'Kete-tracker
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Because you had been on it for a while & then started back on it- and THEN had this occur "a few days in", I Suspect it is Not an allergic reaction to the minocycline.
I know that for me I had a similar issue- for a week or 2- while on doxycycline. It was more noticeable in the early morning & evening.
1 of my docs agreed with me that since my thyroid was hit hard 4 weeks after the initial bites, it could have been a local herx resulting from a die-off of BB in the thyroid area, which of course is in the lower throat area (just below where you swallow).
Stopping the mino for a few days & restarting it sounds like a good idea. Let your doc know about this, too!
Posts: 1233 | From Dover, NH | Registered: Sep 2008
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sutherngrl
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amomwithhope, well in my case I ended up making the 6 hour round trip to my LLMD Tuesday. He did a throat culture and found 2 things. Yeast in the throat and a weird bacteria called Fusobacterium. I guess the 2 of those together was enough to make my throat feel like it was closing up.
Anyway, I did have this same feeling before I even started treatment, so I think it can also be a neuro symptom. So it would make sense that it could also be a herx reaction. To be on the safe side, I would let the LLMD take a look. I had no idea what my doc was going to find. I sure wasn't expecting him to find some strange bacteria that I have never heard of before and I didn't know that yeast in the throat felt so horrible either.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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posted
How did your LLMD test for fusobacterium and the yeast? How is the fusobacterium being treated, i.e., what antibiotic? And the yeast?
Is this bacterium something that all LLMDs would know about and know how to treat?
Thanks for your input.
Posts: 648 | From northeast | Registered: Feb 2009
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disturbedme
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posted
I've had this sensation many times and sometimes have it on days when I do not take any of my abx. So I know it's not due to an allergy. Sometimes it'll just come on out of nowhere and sometimes even last for only a few minutes and then go away. It's definitely scary!!!!
I have no idea why it happens... I never noticed it though until I started lyme treatment.
-------------------- 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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Vermont_Lymie
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Definitely, give your doctor a call and ask.
In my own non-medical opinion, it could be a herx or a symptom of all the TBDs.
Good to have benadryl on hand too.
Babesia often gave me that throat closing and cannot breathe feeling. Have you been treated for babs?
Posts: 2557 | From home | Registered: Aug 2006
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sutherngrl
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posted
I had a throat culture which found both the yeast and the fusobacterium. Most people have a little fusobacterium, but he said I had a lot. I was treated with Flagyl for the fuso and Clotrimazole for the yeast infection.
LLMD said many doctors do not look for fusobacterium. Mine actually looks under the microscope himself.
After 2 weeks it is still not better, so I am now taking 2 weeks off of the Mino, still on the yeast med, finished with the Flagyl; then going back to LLMD.
Don't know if the yeast infection is just being persistant or if it is possibly just a Lyme symptom, since I had this symptom early in my illness before I knew I had LD.
I do tend to have constant sore throats and swollen glands. I really don't know what to think at this point.
I go back to LLMD next Friday, so I will update then. I don't like being off the Mino because I feel my Lyme symptoms flaring back up. I hate this illness!
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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timaca
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It is possible that you have enterovirus. That can cause a swelling of the throat...a feeling of it closing up. Antibiotics won't treat enterovirus.
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