Sick Since IV/AP Treatment

[tcregon]

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!
Need some thoughts/comments on a situation with a friend of mine. My friend went to Dr S for IV treatment approx. 6 weeks ago and started on mino. Felt a little achy after IV but within a few days felt really good for about a week. The only other meds she is on is Pred which she was on 10 mg a day and has dropped back to 5mg a day. Approx 2 weeks after IV treatment she felt like she got a cold/flu but mostly problems with her lungs/breathing full breaths etc. She took a different antibiotic for 5 days (not sure what it was) but for pnemonia type treatment and Dr S told her stop mino while you take this antibiotic which was only for 5 days. Since that time she has not had much improvement and still feels like she is battling flu, originally had fevers, achy and not full lung function. Although she made some improvement it has been a month and best I can tell she is still really battling this. Any thoughts on if this could be a true flu/cold/remains of pnemonia or possibly a type of herx???? Prior to that she had not had a cold or flu for many years and this is the worst she has felt for as long as she can remember. Also, had not traveled via airplanes/airports, hotels etc. where we all know these germs are all over thos places and possible she just picked up a bad one. I’m writing this because I’m getting a little concerned she hasn’t kicked this yet. Really open to thoughts suggestions on what this might be.
I hope for everyone here we have Healthy, Happy New Years in the Year to come.

[Maz]

@tcregon wrote:

Any thoughts on if this could be a true flu/cold/remains of pnemonia or possibly a type of herx???? Prior to that she had not had a cold or flu for many years and this is the worst she has felt for as long as she can remember. Also, had not traveled via airplanes/airports, hotels etc. where we all know these germs are all over thos places and possible she just picked up a bad one. I’m writing this because I’m getting a little concerned she hasn’t kicked this yet. Really open to thoughts suggestions on what this might be.

Hi TCregon,

A few thoughts popped to mind as I read your post…not sure if it will help or not, but will pass them along to you in case.

There is a horrible flu going around that is taking people out left and right at the moment. It comes with a high fever, difficulty breathing and heavy chest congestion. All my family up in Canada are down with this at the moment, including my 85 year old Dad whom we are worried about, as he also has prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. My brother picked it up when he and his family were in FL at Disney a week or so ago and his wife has been in bed for 2 weeks now. Here in CT, it’s going around, too. My youngest daughter has had this bug for a good month now, still hacking up chest phlegm. A good friend, a surgical nurse, has been in bed days with this flu. So, just wondering if your friend might be suffering a run-in with the same bug?

She could well be herxing, as the timing fits with starting IVs and oral therapy. My initial herxing went on for several months (I have only ever been on orals). If it is herxing and it’s become intolerable, she may want to speak to Dr. S. to ask about lowering her dose a little. I think it’s in the Brown documentary where Brown mentions how some patients would present with recurring pleuropneumonia-like lung issues when on AP (he talks about mycoplasma being pleuropneumonia-like organisms or PPOs in the book).

Any chance your friend might have Lyme, along with the coinfection, babesiosis?

Last, if this isn’t the flu and this doesn’t pass, then there is a pretty rare reaction that can occur with mino, called drug-induced cell-mediated hypersensitivity pneumonitis. Similar to drug-induced lupus, it is a drug-induced state that resolves when the offending drug is stopped.

http://www.annals.org/content/117/6/476.abstract

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8052345

http://hdlighthouse.org/see/drugs/minocycline.htm

My best suggestion would be for her to contact Dr. S., explain what is going on and ask if she should have any labwork run (to check for hypersensitivity reaction) and/or chest x-ray to look for any signs of peripheral eosinophilia (see second link). I kind of wonder if it’s probably just this nasty flu going around, but it’s a good idea to rule any other possibilties out, too, just to be on the safe side. If it does turn out to be a drug-induced problem, then a switch to doxy would like solve the problem.

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