Lyme Log: Some Seriously Strong Stuff

Well, the emails and phone messages keep coming in with the questions:

How are the shots going? How are you feeling? Are you herxing? Can you tell if they are helping?

I figure it's about time I get to it and answer these questions on my blog--as typing the same answers out individually probably won't happen in this millennium!

The last time I posted about the bicillin was after my first shot, at which point I wasn't herxing at all and wasn't sure what this meant.

As always, I got a little too excited a little too soon!

Let me just say that this is some seriously strong stuff! Here's the scoop...

After the second shot I did herx, and have herxed after each shot since then. Each time, the herxes got worse as the medication built up in my system. A couple of times, I herxed almost immediately--within just a few hours of getting the injection I begin to feel sick. Otherwise, it hit the next day.

After one of the shots, I woke up at noon, got up to pee, opened the shade in my bedroom and turned off my white noise machine. I said to Mom, "I don't feel very well. I'm just going to lie down for a few more minutes before I try to get up." The next thing we knew it was 3:00 in the afternoon! Oops!

This has pretty much been my pattern since the herxes started. The first two days after the shot, I pretty much sleep all of the time. I'm so exhausted and miserable. Mom's been quite accommodating to me eating meals at all hours of the day! Lunch at 3? Okay, ring me on my cell phone if I'm not home.

The blessing is that, for the most part, I am sleeping after the injections. Today, though, I feel miserable but haven't been able to get the sleep. I would much prefer being able to sleep through it than lie around complaining and whining about how lousy I feel and not being able to find anything to distract myself--which is how today has turned out.

Another blessing is that I usually get a break between the shots when I feel a touch of 'Spring' and feel like I can get ready for the next round.

On Tuesday of this week, I received dose number 6. Yup, I'm counting. We started with 1/4 of a dose (300,000 units out of 1.2 million units). This week we did 1 1/2 times that amount at a dosage of 450,000 units. (Don't ask me who came up with 1.2 million units for a dose instead of something a little simpler!)

I do have a sense that the shots are working because my 'good days' are better than they used to be.

I chose to increase my dose this week because after dose number 5 I did not herx as badly, which I felt was a sign that I was ready for more medication. I found this encouraging, since I was never able to increase the minocycline so soon or successfully.

Unfortunately, it's Friday night and I'm feeling worse today than I did earlier in the week--which is different from my previous pattern. I'm really hoping that I'll turn the corner tomorrow and be able to visit with some 6 week old puppies on Sunday. That's my 'dose of joy' that I'm hoping to get in before I start another week of herxing.

Blessings,

Emily

P.S. How do I educate spellcheck on the words herx, herxing and herxed? :)