Posted 7/5/2012 6:04 PM (GMT -5)
So I posted a few days ago about finding a detox program, and the reviews were helpful. However I now have a bigger problem. (The following information is from my previous post and is again posted here to give a slight background just to send the responses in the right direction)
[I live a very healthy lifestyle (organic soaps, shampoos, etc), I eat really healthy - I have the past few years - Lots of fruits and vegetables, fiber, raw foods, small meals throughout the day; probably 60-75% organic foods, mainly plant sources with the exception of chicken about twice a week and occasionally beef. I'm very familiar with nutrition and health and I have done a ton of research over the past few years. I recently ordered the lyme disease solution by Singleton along with Recipes for Repair (don't have them yet), and I'm considering looking more into and possibly switching to some type of paleolithic diet hybrid of my own design (although it may not be as strict as some, as I think here in 2012 we are too far removed to accurately follow it anyway.)]
Last Friday (a week ago) I started treatment for lyme (no co-infections.) My LLMD prescribed me CEFDINIR 300MG, 2 capsules twice daily for a total of 1200mg / day. I've also been taking four probiotic pills (acidophilius for now, other strains coming in the mail any day) 4 pills twice a day, at least two hours away from the antibiotic. Each capsule has 3billion cfu so a total of 12 billion, twice a day (although I realize this is only at the time of manufacture.) The day after I started treatment (Saturday) I felt a little off but overall the same as before I started treatment. Sunday was also the same. Sunday night however my I had a really upset, bloated stomach with cramping. I woke up multiple times that night feeling uncomfortable and I eventually woke up again around 7:00am monday morning with the most uncomfortable "sour" stomach feeling I've ever felt, combined with a fever at 101 degrees F, extremely sore muscles in my lower back and very sore hips. I also had a headache and went on and off from the chills to sweating. My heart rate was also fast all day, around 85-90bpm, whereas I'm usually around 60. No nausea, no congestion, no sore throat or coughing. The really bad lower back / hip pain combined with the EXTREME sour stomach and cramping feelings was possibly one of the most uncomfortable feelings I've ever felt, and from there what basically happened was that I would feel like I was on the edge of explosive diarrhea but as soon as I would sit on the toiled it would just feel worse and every so often brown diarrhea would come out, not a ton, but not a little bit either; and it was honestly one of the worst things I've ever smelled. A very distinct, horrible smell. This stomach issue went on 2.5-3 hours, then relax and stopped for 2-3. Then started again. I went on all day Monday (3rd day of ABX treatment) like this until the evening when the diarrhea slowed down a lot. I must specify it wasn't exactly like typical diarrhea, more so the feeling of diarrhea with very little satisfaction of much being accomplished and the horrible feeling that comes immediately before diarrhea staying with me. All day I was fatigued and tired from not being able to sleep because of my symptoms. All of a sudden around 1030pm the fever just disappeared and almost all of the symptoms went away minus the diarrhea although the severity lessened and it became much more infrequent.
Around 9:00 am on the same morning this all started I called my LLMD and he said it was either the herxheimer reaction or the flu and told me to stop treatment for two days to see if it was the flu then to start again at half the dose per day. I decided it wasn't the flu and it was the herxheimer reaction, as it just didnt fit any kind of flu I've ever had or heard of, and obviously I was right because the fever and 95% of the symptoms only lasted about 14 hours.
Anyway, in the days following (tues, wed, and today, none of the symptoms have returned except the diarrhea which never left and strikes me every 6-12 ish hours. Although its not even diarrhea at this point, its almost straight mucus and nothing at all really comes out besides that. Just some mucus that's yellowish / clearish.
Has anyone else experienced anything like this after starting antibiotic treatment? Is this mucus at all typical? Could I possibly have c difficile colitis? Any help or input I would greatly appreciate. I know that it is definitely herxing, as my joints are also more painful than they have been, I'm really just concerned about my bowels. I've always had a weird stomach (picky) and have had IBS the past few years, although eating healthy pretty much got rid of that.
PS. I've also been doing the detox baths, along with following the Lyme inflammation diet.