I called in sick for work tonight. The second time in the two months I've been working there. The first time was a week or so after I had started, and I felt bad but I ended up being sick all weekend long. Tonight, though I feel terrible, I'm not so sure if it's the flu bug that's going around, or a herxheimer reaction, in this case I hope it's the flu and it will go away shortly.
Fortunately for me, I have been pretty well off not having many herx reactions while being on medication, and for those who don't know what a herx or herxheimer reaction is, I will gladly tell you. Basically, for people who have Lyme Disease that are being treated for it (and there are other diseases out there as well that cause this), whether it's through antibiotics or some other treatment, their body has a reaction while the bugs are getting killed off. So really, you can feel like crap, but it's a good thing because the Lyme bacteria is getting it's butt kicked.
There are so many different kinds of reactions that people have, for very short or very long durations. For me, when I first started on antibiotics, I would get bad headaches, and have horrible insomnia. The first month I was on doxycycline and azithromycin, I wasn't getting much sleep, and whatever sleep I was getting was not enough. I was exhausted and I felt like crap all the time. I couldn't fall asleep and if I did I couldn't stay asleep for more than a couple of hours. I was on and still am on an anti-anxiety to calm my heart palpitations and make me fall asleep, while I was switching between Lunesta and Ambien, both of which weren't doing what they were supposed to be doing. I finally found a sleep medication that worked for me, doxepin, and now I don't even need to take it. It was a very long month to say the least.
Things have gotten better since then. Just the fact that I'm off one less medication makes me happy; but, at the same time I wonder if this is the calm before the storm. My body has been too quiet, and I wonder, am I going to have any more herx reactions before the end of it? My opinion on my health and Lyme has changed quite a bit since before I was on antibiotics. Ask my boyfriend, he would tell you. Like everyone, I got books, researched, read other people's blogs and I started to freak myself out on if I would ever get over Lyme Disease. I've read how debilitating it can be for some people. Because most of my symptoms were more neurological I was afraid if my memory wasn't going to get any better, if I would keep forgetting conversations I had in the past 2 years, or longer for that matter. I was afraid I would get to a point where I wouldn't be able to work or have a normal life; it was very scary. It was keeping me up at night. Forget the insomnia, I was afraid I had spent the first 25 1/2 years of my life being normal and active and I would spend the rest of my life never being able to be that person again. So I stopped, because my boyfriend suggested it, and because I was scaring myself with things that I had no control over.
Fast forward four months and 11 weeks of being on antibiotics, I don't have those fears anymore. The first month was rough, to say the least, but I got through it. Each week, except for today, I'm feeling better and feeling stronger. When I went to see my doc last week he decided not to put me on Tindamax, another antibiotic, because of how well I'm doing. My symptoms are fading away, and there are only a few out of the 20+ that I started with that I have left to deal with. He told me another 6 weeks to 3 months of being on antibiotics and I will be done. Seeing an end in sight, an actual number gives me so much relief and hope and thankfulness that God has gotten me through all of this and it's hopefully almost over.
When I first saw my doctor last summer, and after I was initially diagnosed in August, I asked him how long it would take for me to get over Lyme Disease. He told me it could take 13 months or 3 years, it just depended on how I reacted to the treatment. And I at the time I was just starting to prep for the prep of my treatment. Seven months of taking probiotics, vitamins, supplements, and all the other medication I was already on since the year before when I first got sick. It took seven months just to prepare for taking antibiotics because my system was so completely messed up at the time. Now that I'm on the right track and treatment, I'm hopeful this will be only a short period before I'm off of the antibiotics and everything else. We'll see about my heart palpitations and thyroid (another blog for another night), but for right now, I'm hoping it's just the flu and nothing more.
