Herxing/Die-off with treatment

[AmySLP]

Everyone keeps citing herxing & die-off of bacteria with Lyme ABX treatment. I think we may be going through this with my 7 y/o daughter. Are there any articles/papers written on this I could read to understand this effect better?

 

Thanks, Amy

[LNN]

I don't have any papers, per se. But I did a quick google on herx and this was one of the first hits I got. It's from a Rheumatioid Arthritis site, thus the RA focus. But the idea is the same. If your child comes from Pandas, a herx is going to result in an increase of at least some of the things you think of as "Pandas".

 

Education / Brochure Sheets / Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction

 

The Jarisch -Herxheimer, or Herxheimer reaction, was named for the German dermatologist, Karl Herxheimer (1844-1947). Dorlands Medical Dictionary refers to the Herxheimer reaction as a transient, short-term, immunological reaction commonly seen following antibiotic treatment of early and later stage [infectious] diseases which [may be] manifested by fever, chills, headache, myalgias (muscle pain), and exacerbations of cutaneous lesions. The reaction has been attributed to liberation of endotoxins-like substances or of antigens (a substance which causes an immune reaction) from the killed or dying microorganisms.

 

A TRANSIENT SHORT-TERM, IMMUNOLOGICAL REACTION

 

What does this mean in layman's terms? The Herxheimer flare reaction may be the first indication that the antibiotic is reaching its target and is therefore considered a good sign. In his original book, The Road Back, the late Thomas McPherson Brown, MD noted that the reaction caused a temporary worsening of symptoms.

 

The amount of medication may be directly related to the intensity of the flare. Medications which have no effect on mycoplasma (or other microbes) do not provoke this reaction nor do these medications generally have a favorable long-term effect on the disease. Unlike the RA flare, which can last for weeks or even months, the Herxheimer flare reaction is often of short duration. (Scleroderma patients who do not exhibit inflammatory components to their disease generally do not report a Herxheimer of clinical significance.)

 

Large doses of antibiotics may initially caused a worsening or flare reaction in many of the rheumatic diseases. The rheumatic diseases which are most hypersensitive (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriatic arthritis, etc.) have shown similar, distinct and often severe flare reactions from even a low dose of antibiotic. According to Dr. Brown, when the resulting released toxins go to the joints, joint pain is the result; when they go to the brain, depression may result.

 

Dr. Brown found the Herxheimer effect showed a number of important principles at work. It demonstrated that the disease was a hypersensitive reaction, not to the drug itself, but to the toxins that a microbe creates in response to the drug's presence. And, it opened the way to a chemical attack (with medications) on the whole area of arthritis and rheumatic diseases.

 

Therefore, the focus moves toward mopping up the toxins to relieve the misery, commonly referred to as "detox".

[AmySLP]

Thanks!