Feeling Terrible...Babesia Treatment

So as a lot of you know from my other posts I restarted Mepron/Zithromax after taking a month off for travel (before that I did two months of the combo). I am now two weeks into this combo again and am feeling awful.

Last night I went to bed at 8PM. I could barely get through my work day because I was SO exhausted, all I wanted to do is sleep.

Now this morning I just feel so weak like I can barely lift my arms and legs. I also feel pretty spacey/dizzy (lightheaded).

I guess I have a little air huger but most my symptoms right now feel like bart - twitching, foot pain, tingling in my face.

Does this sound like a true typical babesia herx or is the exhaustion and lightheadedness just side effects from the meds?

If you have had successful babesia treatment, how long did it take for you to make a breakthrough?

Exactly like Babs. I have lessened the effects a bit by going very slow, starting with smaller doses and waiting 5-7 days to increase. But I'm still heavily reliant on anxiety meds and a nighttime ritual to get me to sleep. This round seems to be going to my head (depression, anxiety) rather than my body (though fatigue and muscle aches are definitely there, just more mild so far).

Thanks for the bump Girlie - how long have you been back on treatment? Are you doing ok?

BabsBunny - I feel a lot of muscle pain around my shoulders and shoulder blades. I am not really depressed, but I am veryyyy moody and anxious feeling. My head also feels like it's going to explode which is how it felt the last time I was on it..

tickbite666 - since I did two months of treatment before I took a month off, I hope that it doesn't take 9 weeks to start turning the corner.. hopefully it's a little quicker since I have 8 weeks of treatment under my belt.. I think this herx came on quicker than it did when I first started. Like you said it was around week 4 when things really got bad the first round. Now since restarting I'm only on my second week and its bad.

I hope to hit bartonella after a few months of this. Especially if I don't see any improvement. If I do, then I will continue probably for 5 or 6 months.

NicHostetler said...
Thanks for the bump Girlie - how long have you been back on treatment? Are you doing ok?

BabsBunny - I feel a lot of muscle pain around my shoulders and shoulder blades. I am not really depressed, but I am veryyyy moody and anxious feeling. My head also feels like it's going to explode which is how it felt the last time I was on it..

tickbite666 - since I did two months of treatment before I took a month off, I hope that it doesn't take 9 weeks to start turning the corner.. hopefully it's a little quicker since I have 8 weeks of treatment under my belt.. I think this herx came on quicker than it did when I first started. Like you said it was around week 4 when things really got bad the first round. Now since restarting I'm only on my second week and its bad.

I hope to hit bartonella after a few months of this. Especially if I don't see any improvement. If I do, then I will continue probably for 5 or 6 months.

I just started on Monday...
Actually I don't know if the first go at Babesia wasn't successful. Don't know if the leftover symptoms are babs or bart.
The Practioner has put me on babesia treatment...anyway...
So we'll see how it affects me this time. It's double the dose of Mepron...holy moly....

Girlie said...

NicHostetler said...
Thanks for the bump Girlie - how long have you been back on treatment? Are you doing ok?

BabsBunny - I feel a lot of muscle pain around my shoulders and shoulder blades. I am not really depressed, but I am veryyyy moody and anxious feeling. My head also feels like it's going to explode which is how it felt the last time I was on it..

tickbite666 - since I did two months of treatment before I took a month off, I hope that it doesn't take 9 weeks to start turning the corner.. hopefully it's a little quicker since I have 8 weeks of treatment under my belt.. I think this herx came on quicker than it did when I first started. Like you said it was around week 4 when things really got bad the first round. Now since restarting I'm only on my second week and its bad.

I hope to hit bartonella after a few months of this. Especially if I don't see any improvement. If I do, then I will continue probably for 5 or 6 months.

I just started on Monday...
Actually I don't know if the first go at Babesia wasn't successful. Don't know if the leftover symptoms are babs or bart.
The Practioner has put me on babesia treatment...anyway...
So we'll see how it affects me this time. It's double the dose of Mepron...holy moly....

Oh geesh that sounds rough!! I think I read in another post that you had some tendon pain behind your knee? I am getting that now behind my right knee. Maybe I am thinking about someone else

Knee region.. hmm.. we can count that. lol!

I am glad you resolved some symptoms. Are you going to take Rifampin for bart at some point? I wonder if that will help with the rest of your symptoms.

Did you ever have a dizzy/off balance feeling? I cant stand that symptom and brain fog that I have.. really hoping the babesia treatment stops it. Could be bart too I guess..

Hmmm. This is all very interesting to me. So you all are saying fatigue/exhaustion and muscle pain is from babesia.

I've had significantly increased symptoms since coming off 7 days of Augmentin 2 months ago. Shortly before that I had added bidens to my protocol. I kept thinking I was having a bad bart herx or flare, as my foot pain, joint and muscle stiffness came back and got a lot worse along with skin symptoms and some other things.

I also have had a lot of muscle soreness, especially in my shoulders and the top of my forearm. I thought it was from bart and was connected to tendon symptoms. Some mornings I'd wake up feeling like I'd been swinging baseball bats all night in my sleep. I also had much more weakness and fatigue than I usually have. I didn't think I was having any babesia symptoms since I haven't had any night sweats or noticeable air hunger since started treatment. It's been over a year since I've had either of those.

Maybe their is some babesia and the Bidens is hitting it.

I guess I'll just keep taking all my herbs and keep treating all 3 B's simultaneously.

WalkingbyFaith said...
Hmmm. This is all very interesting to me. So you all are saying fatigue/exhaustion and muscle pain is from babesia.

I've had significantly increased symptoms since coming off 7 days of Augmentin 2 months ago. Shortly before that I had added bidens to my protocol. I kept thinking I was having a bad bart herx or flare, as my foot pain, joint and muscle stiffness came back and got a lot worse along with skin symptoms and some other things.

I also have had a lot of muscle soreness, especially in my shoulders and the top of my forearm. I thought it was from bart and was connected to tendon symptoms. Some mornings I'd wake up feeling like I'd been swinging baseball bats all night in my sleep. I also had much more weakness and fatigue than I usually have. I didn't think I was having any babesia symptoms since I haven't had any night sweats or noticeable air hunger since started treatment. It's been over a year since I've had either of those.

Maybe their is some babesia and the Bidens is hitting it.

I guess I'll just keep taking all my herbs and keep treating all 3 B's simultaneously.

Not me.
Fatigue and muscle pain can be Lyme too.

I’ve not had fatigue - well maybe minor - since I’m not as energetic as I used to be but that’s also due to pain and other symptoms that dampen my spirit.

I had muscle pain briefly - went away quickly with Lyme treatment.

Girlie said...
WBF - I think this is why Dr J treats all three B’s.

They all interact and some can be low symptomatic or even asymptomatic.

For me - it would have been much quicker dealing with all three B’s within the first year or two of treatment than prolonging Lyme and Bart treatment.
Yes Babesia treatment can be harsh - BUT so can prolonging treatment and having Babs run rampant.
And prolonged treatment is hard on our heart and soul.

Thanks, Girlie. This is so helpful. Makes me feel like I'm doing something right. I'm glad I'm doing something to treat them all. I'll just keep paying attention to how I respond and the clues I find on here and adjust as I go along. I don't know what I would do without the good folks on this forum. There really is nothing like real life personal experience to help guide people through all this.

All,

Thanks for the great Babesia thread, it has been extremely informative.

I have been slowing increasing my Artemisia Annua dosage the last 3 months and Cryptolepis the last 2 months. Each time I slightly increase the dosage I go through a Herx cycle for a least a week sometimes a little longer. I am up to about 540 mg of Artemisia Annua and 180 mg of Cryptolepis. Though I have been getting the Babesia symptom flareups including bad anxiety and many more the during each Herx cycle, the muscles around my right shoulder have gotten extremely tight, sore, and are full of trigger points which has given me rotator cuff issues. Some nights the pain is so intense I can't sleep more than a few hours at a time before having to get up out of bed and massage these shoulder muscles with a tennis ball, theracane, or my fingers to try to loosen up my trigger points and muscles. Now after reading this thread I now know this is from the Babesia. I guess the treatment is hitting those wretched parasites hard. I just hope I reach the end of the Herx cycles, it seems like they are never going to end.

.

Post Edited (battler) : 12/6/2019 4:36:03 PM (GMT-7)