Hi 3love.
It can be hard to tell what is a Herx, what is a regular symptom and what is a side affect.
I have Lyme, Bartonella and hypothyroidism. The symptoms for these all overlap. Fatigue, depression, weight gain, pain, fevers, mental slowness, etc. Heck - I've felt so bad for so long that I can't tell which disease or side affect or illness a particular symptom belongs to.
I know it's tough.
I can tell when I'm Herx'ing. It took a while, but I learned to keep a daily diary of my symptoms, but only the top 5 most obvious symptoms. Some of my symptoms will never change, for example, loss of balance. I would write "felt dizzy and walked into walls" every day!
My chart had:
- burning eyes (my eyeballs burn so badly!!)
- fever
- pain
- rashes
- fatigue
I would rate them on a scale of 1 -10. I put 10 as the best. But you track your symptoms anyway that works for you.
Keeping this chart was torture for me mentally.
My short term memory was so bad I would drive to the grocery store, take my keys from the ignotion, put them in my pocket, open the door and get out, pat my pocket to make sure my keys were there, then turn around, shut the door and start to walk away. Then I would freak out because I couldn't remember where my keys were.
No joking - that happened to me all the time!
I was able to track Herx's because my symptoms would get really really bad, my rash (or rashes) would explode and sometimes new symptoms would appear.
Not fun - but it made me feel that all the effort and time and money I was fighting this disease with, made it worth while because a Herx means that those darned stupid life-ruining bacteria were dying!!
Also, you can ask your doctor and/or pharmacist about whether you may be Herx'ing or not.
Hope this helped!
Peace and health to you,
Mickie
p.s. Biaxin was the first antibiotic I was on. I didn't know that I had to kill the co-infection Bartonella first, so I was frustrated when the Baixin did nothing for me. How are you doing on it? Notice any change good / bad?
