Herxheimer… or THE DETOX

When one of our kids gets an owie, and I clean it out with antibiotic, and they scream at the pain, I always tell them it hurts because the medicine is killing the germs.

Ditto for when one of them is sick and I give them Tylenol and make them lie down and they whine that they STILL don’t feel better. I tell them they feel bad because their body and the medicine is in a big war with the germs.

I’ve always kind of suspected that the germs/medicine war isn’t really true, but Hergenrader children are suckers for a good story, so it works for us.

But guess what? It’s true. It’s true for me, too.

As I’m sure you know, I’ve been struggling with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for just about a year. It’s caused by two nasty viruses. My doctor has been using injections and medicines to try and strengthen my immune system to fight the viruses. I also take some anti-virals to keep the chronic viruses under control.

None of this has worked, so she changed my prescription to a potent anti-viral. Her new theory is that we should unplug the space heaters causing my immune system to blow its fuse before we work on the circuit breaker. The chronic viruses are the space heaters. Eliminating them from my body is like unplugging them.

Is anyone still reading? Is any of this making sense?

What I didn’t count on with the whole killing-the-viruses was the DETOX. Also called the Herxheimer Reaction (that’s Karl, the discoverer above). When the virus and anti-virus have a war, it makes me feel worse. It’s a detox of the virus, making me sick, sick, sick.

BUT, because I’m the eternal optimist, I know this is hope. Thanks to Mr. Hexhemier, and this reaction, and the nasty anti-viral, these even nastier viruses should be gone soon.