Herx on!

I started my 200mg of Doxycycline for the treatment of Lyme Disease officially as of this past Saturday, November 16th.  Now keep in mind that i am a total baby and never had to really learn to swallow a pill up until now. But for some reason the impending doom of my failing health seemed to be a good enough motivator to grow a pair and go ahead and do it.

So here we are. I am an adult who can swallow pills.. YAY. And no one officially cares because i should have been doing this a long time ago.. 

So these past few days have been quite wonderful. So as i have mentioned in previous posts i am familiar with the Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction. To describe what this reaction is correctly i think it is best to refer to Lemon & Lyme's Blog post: 

"Chronic Lyme patients have to deal with the Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction from antibiotics. The reaction is named after Adolf Jarisch and Karl Herxheimer who published descriptions of the reaction in 1895 and 1902, respectively (Rull).

For short, it's often referred to as "the JHR," "herxing," or "a herx." Not all patients will herx, it depends on the level of infection and the type of treatment, among other factors, but it's something to be aware of before beginning treatment. If not expecting it, a herx can be a terrifying and incredibly disorienting experience....Herxing occurs when dead or dying bacteria release large amounts of toxins into blood and tissues at an alarming rate. "This provokes a sudden and exaggerated inflammatory response" ("Herxheimer..."). Essentially, the body is attempting to eliminate the released toxins much faster than it is able to ("A Body...").The bacteria can also drill into the white blood cells and live inside. Killing these particular bacteria also results in the death of the host cell. The immune system releases the massive inflammatory response, and this will "cause a rise in symptoms in the area in which the bacteria are being killed"". 

Okay so i realize that wasn't the smallest passage. I am all too familiar with this from having manual lymph node drainage massages for a little over the past year or so. Personally when i Herx it feels like something like this:

When in actuality it looks more like this:

Fevers

Hot Sweats

Nausea 

Muscle Pain

Joint Pain

Headaches

Hypersensitivity to Light

Hypersensitivity to Sound

Hypersensitivity to Smells

Anxiety

Depression

Paranoia 

Muscle Weakness/Fatigue 

Mental Exhaustion

Cognitive Problems

Trouble Reading

Slowed Motor Function

Vertigo

Short Term Memory Loss

Tachycardia 

Heart Palpitations

Bloating

Bathroom Problems (Diarrhea -Constipation) 

Hallucinations

SOUND LIKE FUN YET?

The hardest part of all of this is that i look completely normal when the majority of this is happening. Which makes all of this that much harder constantly reminding people that although i may look well.. its not all what it seems.

Invisible diseases take their toll mentally, physically, psychologically. 

I am beat down, tired, nauseous, and tired tired tired... and to believe this is only the beginning of the beginning.

3/21 days down...