Does anyone else share my "up and down" response to antibiotics?

[pine108kell]

I've been sick for upteen years so I'm sure I have posted on this somewhere before but I never gotten much help with it. As one who was diagnosed with lyme disease (but clearly seem to fit into a cfs profile even more than lyme) I have taken many antibiotics.

I always get the same response with the antibiotics I take--usually the doxycycline family or Zithromax--after an hour or so I start feeling much better, especially mentally. I get mentally fatigued and overstimulated easily but antibiotics really give me more mental endurance--at least for a few days. I don't think I am more physically functional but mentally better and have a "lighter" feeling. I have read at one point that minocycline in particular has been used for "brain fog" in AIDS patients. However, as I continue taking them I get the response that is usually attributed to a herx (herxheimer) reaction that lyme patients talk about--very substantial increases in fatigue, achiness and eventually irritable basket case. Even after stopping this goes on for days before I just go back to my crummy self. I don't get the usual "side effects" listed for antibiotics--ie gut stuff.

I've never been able to convert this experience to any real help. I am seeking that feeling I get when I first take antibiotics, which I have always assumed was some kind of immune suppression, without the supposed herx or whatever post-reaction I get and without the long term adverse effects of antibiotics.

My first question is does anyone else respond this way--way better at first and then much worse with antibiotics? It's so profound with me. Second question--any experience or ideas on what could give the benefits antibiotics seems to give me without the negative response or adverse effects of long term use? Any ideas are appreciated as I have never gotten any help with this with doctors or forums before.

 

[Wishful]

I've taken various types of antibiotics without any noticeable effect on my ME/CFS symptoms. My guess is that you're responding to changes in gut biota, which alters immune system activation, nutrient absorption, etc. My suggestion is to experiment with probiotics, prebiotics, diet, and other things that affect gut function. See if any of those changes affect your symptoms, positively or negatively. If none do, it might be some other change that antibiotics do.

I suppose it's possible that you have a chronic bacterial infection somewhere in your body. There should be tests for that sort of thing, though it might require an expert to find some of the tricky ones.