embrace the healing ?

I was quoted asking what i meant by "embrace the herx"
Rather than hijack that ct thread i thought we could have a discussion about opinions on one of its own.

embrace -verb
1.
hold (someone) closely in one's arms, especially as a sign of affection.
"Aunt Sophie embraced her warmly"
synonyms: hug, take/hold in one's arms, hold, cuddle, clasp to one's bosom, clasp, squeeze, clutch; More
2.
accept or support (a belief, theory, or change) willingly and enthusiastically.
"besides traditional methods, artists are embracing new technology"
synonyms: welcome, welcome with open arms, accept, take up, take to one's heart, adopt; More

More the second definition.here ...we support our detox via extranious and some time rigorous or humiliating means ...we open pathways ,regulate ,or support methylation with supplementation.

we are the only group that welcomes colds and test remedies and abx and herbs by "embracing a negitive response as a sign of its efficacy. .."i herxed on xxxxxx so i must have x pathogen that is presenting itself as x sympoms"

When i first began with iv treatment and bvt i would wince at the huber needle piercing my chest or ice the area about to be stung ...the nurse would always ask if i wanted numbing cream or freezy spray and i changed my paradigm.i began to welcome the modalities ,the temporary minute pain for a longer term relief .not in a masochistic fashion but in a silver lining after the storm ...so i began this shift about herxin..
i treat hard ...sometimes i question my smorgasbord protocol but after i while i noticed a pattern .i treat i feel like poo i detox i feel a little more human. ...yes the rifampin is uncomfortable .yes 10 to 15 stings are a little burny .yes the 110` ozone sauna is ruff but i persevere. I am in a unique(probably not alone here) place as i truely feel its them or me and there isnt room for both in this vessel..

So my question statement is embrace !? Do you push through the sweats the anxiety the nasty unreal reality that is lyme treatment ..or do you gently nudge doing what is confortable ..do you blindly follow doctora orders and suggested dosing or do you listen to your body (after years of ignoring it) or is there a happy medium ..one llmd said you aint herxing you aint healing the other said support your organs to handle what you are throwing at it lps and toxin wise ...one said the bugs dont take a break why should we and the other said let your body play ketchup ...

so i ask what school has your thought led you to camp in? ..what are you clutching willing to embrace and support ? This is not a question of epsom salts baths and alka selzer gold but of how we would work out this systemic horror freak show of multiple pathogens out of our existance (coexistance ?) And how mentally ..

Over the holidays i heard the song " a few of my favorite things " a line in it says when the dog bites or the bee sting i think of a few of my favorite things ...i like feeling incrementally better so i push to feel worse temporarily so i may find that pot of golden remission at the end of this very long terror rainbow ...whats your take healing well?

Post Edited (bluelyme) : 3/17/2017 12:21:49 AM (GMT-6)

Great question, Blue!
You likely know which camp I'm in, but the newer members may not.

Detoxing - boy, that's a subject that I could talk about for a long time!! LOL! I got 'rightfully' named 'The Detox Queen' for a while, as detoxing to control the herx is the only way for me and I promote detoxing to control the herx all the time. It's no secret that we all have different levels of response to the treatments and so it should be no surprise that we will have different levels of responses to the toxins created during treatments.

Why? Because I looked into herxing quite deeply after my first treatment failure, where I was left much, much worse off than where I was before I tried treatment - and I needed to know why so I could find my way out.

I learned that herxing is a cytokine storm. Milder herxing that we are mainly just really uncomfortable during, is a low level cytokine storm. The more significant the herx though, the more serious the cytokine storm is. Serious cytokine storms can become life threatening though, so we need to avoid them. No one wants to end up in the hospital, full of steroids just so they could survive the cytokine storm! That would then put us "behind the 8 ball" when we needed to resume treatment.

In my years of being in this community, I've talked to several members that have either nearly entered, or did enter a really bad cytokine storm. I believe I was in a "serious enough" cytokine storm after my failed treatment as well.

These are very, very hard on the body, and very hard to recover from. So, what do we do? Our best to avoid them.

While it can be a good indicator for those that do herx, we should not allow a herx to just go on, and 'push through it' - we are NOT the bacteria, and we do not recover from serious herxing well - those are toxins doing their 'dirty deeds' and the doctors thinking that it will be of some help to just push through shows that the person saying that either has not been that overwhelmed by toxins and sick, or they are just ignorant to the whole thing. This is OUR body. WE have to live in it, not the doctors.

I never pushed through any of my herxing since that first time. It was truly horrid and left me with PTSD like responses to serious herxing. Of course, this 'colors my world' in that I will do many things to avoid serious herxing, but that's not the only reason I say these things. I also did the research to first of all, make sure I understood what herxing really was, then to make sure that I was really herxing. Quite honestly, after my failed treatment, I thought that was the end of it all for me. I didn't know that it was "just" herxing and something that I could come back from until I started researching.

(if I can remember my train of thought...)

Some people are quite oblivious to their states of being, including paying attention to what their bodies are saying. I get the impression that most people on this forum are much more tuned in to what's happening, and might agree with my experience with doctors in general, which is that most of them do not believe anyone pays attention to their bodies. I've had many doctors over the years tell me I couldn't have noticed that, or couldn't have felt this, or couldn't possibly experience that. I suspect more that a few of us share that experience.

So anyway, I am now in the place of believing that my body, my immune system, need to get back to being strong and balanced so they can corral and control the infection(s), and minimize the impact; the Bb had pretty much shut my immune system down. But how to get there....

I realize my LLMD has experience with many different patients and their experiences, and he knows much more about pharmaceuticals than I do, but he does not know me better than I know myself, and there are limits to his knowledge. (Of course!) [Sidebar chuckle: prescribing ayurvedic tea but not knowing black tea has caffeine?]

I am now working with a physician who now only practices acupuncture and TCM. (And he is a Lyme survivor - he says he's about 90% and functioning well enough). His philosophy is that treatment should not make the patient worse.

I am in the middle - I don't intentionally cause herxes, but I recognize they will happen and I plow through them believing I will come out the other side improved in some way. But I grew up in a "builds character" sort of environment so I expect difficulties, and I expect to survive them, and pain and dysfunction are obstacles to be overcome. I don't expect life to be easy. Or fair. (Which is not to say I don't ever ask, why me? or, isn't this enough?)

But I also recognize there are times when I (mind and body) need to rest. That realization took a long time and still doesn't come easily - I suppose it's the Puritan work ethic I inherited. Maybe I'm just getting old and tired and the lyme&co on top of it are overwhelming sometimes. But I do try to take a little time now and then to regroup and recharge. I think it helps recovery in the long run.

Long story short - I think I simply endure it. I see no point and no benefit in running or hiding from it (as if that were possible). Forward, march! albeit slowly and with setbacks.

I have made huge progress from some nasty and lengthy herxheimer reactions when starting a new antibiotic or herbal regimen. I struggled with Babesia for years and my llmd put me on the heaviest protocol he's got and while the herx was horrendous and lasted several weeks, I have had no babesia for several years now.

I do wonder though if the flare ups I get now from increasing herbs by a mere drop is more of an immune response/provocation than a productive die-off.

Because I have never herxed I felt like an outsider. I felt unbelieved and uncomfortable in saying I never herxed.

I began to doubt me and my feelings. So I searched for answers as most of us do.

I found I was not alone.... It absolutely does happen.

This article made me feel so much better about me and my non-herxing. I still am really self-conscious about saying I did not herx. I still feel like a freak.

davidjernigan.blogspot.com/2015/05/doctors-against-causing-herxs-do-no-harm.html

I was just lucky that I was able to maintain a good balance in my body.

Thanks, Trav, sometimes it helps immensely to have someone confirm what your instincts are telling you.

PeteZa, it's a good thing to be lucky! And balanced!! I'm sure you still have (or had) better and worse days, though, and some of that was probably influenced by reactions to treatment. Much of the time I don't even recognize the herx until after the fact... I just know the symptom meter ratchets way up, and I see the correlation after the fact. I guess mind-numbing brain fog comes with the herx ;-)

Hi BlueLyme, and thanks for the question.

I have accepted the fact that I am ill. I understand that because of this illness, change will come.

I have decided in the past few weeks, that what I am willing to embrace, is my own intuition and resolve.

I will need to draw from these resources that are within me, to battle this disease.

I have also embraced this fact:To conquer Lyme, I will need to gather the most helpful resources I can.

There are many resources for me such as, my llmd, ABX, Buhner Herbals, Detoxing, Healthy foods,prayer,smiling and enjoying simple things.

However, I have come to realize that the most powerful resource that can help me get better is this community/forum.

I so thankfully have embraced all that I have learned here. When you face a battle is it not better to have soldiers to call upon for strength, guidance and experience.

I have benefited greatly from what others here have gone through, and what has helped them. I am grateful that all of you have shared your illness with me. I know I'm not alone in this battle.

What a gift you all have given.

Change will come and I will embrace it with all my heart and soul.

Thank you, Sincerely, Jo

I've just started a full Babesia protocol...and am embracing it with all I have in me. Hoping this is the last piece to my illness puzzle.

Have prepared myself for the herxes...and have my detox ducks in a row.

bluelyme said...
go girlie go ...keep us posted on your babs tx...you have been a great warrioress and helped many with your pharmacology knowledge...watch out for those mepron blues

Is this common? (mepron blues) So far don't have that...but nightmares last two nights ....kind of scared to go to bed.lol

Hanging in there so far - altho my head feels like it's gonna explode.

Thank all of you for making me a better person. Sincerely, Jo