Herxing 102.

One of the other years that I wrote Lyme month blog posts, I wrote a post about herxing. I went back and I read that post, and realized that I really only gave you half of what it really is. So I'm going to write another one for you. So, as a follow up to a not so fantastic herxing 101, here is herxing 102...

Herxing, or having herxheimer reactions, happens when your body is introduced to a new treatment or medication and your blood and tissues are flooded with the toxins that were previously just hanging out in their hiding places throughout your body. Then, your body reacts to the fact that it's being taken over by all of these toxins and it tries to get rid of them as fast as it can. Seems good in theory, right? But, in reality, the body can't react fast enough to it's own freak-out that it's having, and instead of just killing off the toxins, it starts killing off the toxins' host cells, too. In response to that, your body goes into defense mode--defense mode for the body means a vicious inflammatory response. (If you've seen the movie Monsters University, picture the scene where they are running through the place with the little spiky things that make them puff up if they touch them. The way they look after they've touched them...that's what I picture herxing to look like. Except not nearly as cute.)

The other problem with herxing is that it doesn't just happen in response to medication that you are taking for Lyme. For example--you get an ear infection, you go to the doctor, they give you antibiotics, you come home and start taking them, two days later your Lyme symptoms are out of control. Why? Why are you even more sick when you just got medicine a couple days ago? You're herxing. The Lyme bacteria reacted to the antibiotics even though the antibiotics were not even there for them. (Just like those Lyme bacteria, right?! Thinking everything is about them!)

During a herx, the reaction is different for everyone--just like Lyme in general is different for everyone--but some general herxing symptoms are: increased fatigue, increased joint and muscle pain, skin rashes, irritability, extreme dizziness, trouble sleeping, migraines, metallic taste in your mouth (or in my case it tastes like I'm eating a sharpie), chills, nausea, heart palpitations, bone pain, and increased neurological symptoms (especially confusion).

Weirdly enough though, even after I just listed all of those not so fun symptoms, a herx isn't necessarily a completely bad thing. It's a completely bad feeling thing--100% yes. But it isn't a bad sign. It means that the medicine is getting somewhere. If it's a short-term antibiotic for a non-Lyme related thing, it's going to be gone soon anyway, and doesn't really make a difference in the long run. But, if it is the reaction to the beginning of Lyme treatment, a herx almost feels worth it because it means something is happening.

It's painful, it's awful, but it's something. And in order for Lyme to die, something has to happen.