No Lyme, but lots of pain

[DiamondTNT]

I used http://centralfloridaresearch.com/lab2/ for my Lyme testing.  What a great place!  Anyway, I'm Lyme negative, so that is no longer a worry for me.

BUT, the past 6 weeks have been He!! for me.  I've only had maybe 4 days of that time that I felt “OK”.  Was on 100mg Doxycycline twice a day since my last Clindy IVs early August and I was feeling not too bad until lately.  When the symptoms started getting mean again, I backed off the doxy dose thinking of herxes, but that didn't seem to stop the increase of symptoms.  I went off all antiobiotics for 2 weeks prior to doing the Lyme blood draw.  Meanwhile, I ended up with my dog biting me (reaction to very painful eyedrops, so I don't blame him) and my Dr put me on Levaquin for 10 days, which I started right after the Lyme blood draw.  The pharmacist said it would not be a problem to take the levaquin with minocycline, so I also started that with 100mg once a day M-W-F.  10 days now, and I keep going down hill. 

Could the Levaquin be another antibiotic that attacks micoplasmas and be causing herxes?  When I was on Mino for 9 months prior to trying the doxy after my last IVs, I was doing so well with few symptoms, especially compared to now.

Every day is getting worse right now.  I'll be doing the Clindy IVs again next week, so maybe that will get me back on track.  But right now, I've been going downhill so far and so fast, every day getting worse, that I can't help wondering what's really going on.

[Maz]

[user=756]DiamondTNT[/user] wrote:

Could the Levaquin be another antibiotic that attacks micoplasmas and be causing herxes?  When I was on Mino for 9 months prior to trying the doxy after my last IVs, I was doing so well with few symptoms, especially compared to now.

Every day is getting worse right now.  I'll be doing the Clindy IVs again next week, so maybe that will get me back on track.  But right now, I've been going downhill so far and so fast, every day getting worse, that I can't help wondering what's really going on.

Hi Diamond,

I'd wager a guess that it could be one of two things – a reaction to the fluroquinolones that can cause serious side-effects (tendon pain/rupture and peripheral neuropathy) – or you're herxing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levofloxacin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoroquinolones

The only way to know if it's a drug-related reaction is to tell your doc your symptoms so he/she can assess what is going on pain-wise for you.

With all the antibiotic changes, it's possible you're just herxing like mad. Levaquin is a pretty powerful, broad spectrum antibiotic. It's used by Lyme docs to hit bartonella (hence why your doc may have prescribed it for your dog bite), but the quinolones were also originally developed to treat malaria and are used by LLMDs to treat babesia, a tickborne protozoan infection. So, in spite of your negative Central Florida Research Lyme labs, unless you were also tested for tickborne coinfections, it's still within the realm of possibility that you are fighting one or both of these infections and the levaquin is just targeting those and hitting them hard.

Diamond, just a suggestion to discuss with your doc, but if this is herxing, you might want to wait a week until you finish your course of levaquin before starting the IV clindy again. A good washout week might be important before facing possible post-IV herxing, too.

All the best and hope you find your answers soon!

Peace, Maz   

 

[Author]

Posts