Plaquenil- Herxing?

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I was prescribed Plaquenil approximately a month ago. The first week was very difficult, kidney/back pain, salivary gland swelling, body aches, fatigue. By week 2 most symptoms had resolved. Now in week 4 there back- my face, head body aches, incredible fatigue, little nauseous just basically feel like crap. My question is " Does plaquenil cause a herxheimer reaction and if so, to virus? or am I dealing with bacteria or fungal infection?

I started this journey in April with a high CPK due to skeltal muscle damage. Doxyclycline, prednisone did not help. We assumed it was due to high EBV, Coxsackies, Herpes virus titres. Now months later, I am on LDN 4.5mg, Valtrex 1000mg. Prozac 10 mg, all these antivirals and I am not feeling too much better.

I still have the feeling that the reason behind the high viral load is because of some kind of bacterial/fungal infection! That the source of CPK was never found, and all these antivirals have been of very little use! Feeling very frustrated!

I also want to point out my main symptom was extreme leg weakness which resolved after moving from moldy house. So what does extreme mold sensitivity, plaquenil herxing, and a high CPK have in common? It sounds fungal in nature but I don't have any fungal symptoms???? So confused, sorry for rambling......
 

IreneF

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I was prescribed Plaquenil approximately a month ago. The first week was very difficult, kidney/back pain, salivary gland swelling, body aches, fatigue. By week 2 most symptoms had resolved. Now in week 4 there back- my face, head body aches, incredible fatigue, little nauseous just basically feel like crap. My question is " Does plaquenil cause a herxheimer reaction and if so, to virus? or am I dealing with bacteria or fungal infection?

I started this journey in April with a high CPK due to skeltal muscle damage. Doxyclycline, prednisone did not help. We assumed it was due to high EBV, Coxsackies, Herpes virus titres. Now months later, I am on LDN 4.5mg, Valtrex 1000mg. Prozac 10 mg, all these antivirals and I am not feeling too much better.

I still have the feeling that the reason behind the high viral load is because of some kind of bacterial/fungal infection! That the source of CPK was never found, and all these antivirals have been of very little use! Feeling very frustrated!

I also want to point out my main symptom was extreme leg weakness which resolved after moving from moldy house. So what does extreme mold sensitivity, plaquenil herxing, and a high CPK have in common? It sounds fungal in nature but I don't have any fungal symptoms???? So confused, sorry for rambling......
You are probably not herxing, for several reasons: It occurs when you take an antibiotic against endotoxin-producing and similar bacteria; the reaction begins shortly after you start the antibiotic; it usually goes away by itself.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarisch–Herxheimer_reaction

Plaquenil is an anti-malarial and anti-inflammatory, so unlikely to cause an inflammatory reaction (and the malaria organism is not a bacterium).

You can have high CPK levels when you are healthy, plus medical tests can give a false positive.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine_kinase

People with CFS/ME typically feel lousy in the absence of overt infection. Valcyte or Famvir (not Valtrex) may or may not help; if they do, it can takes months or years. Doxy never helped me; I don't know if it's helped anyone else. I took Plaquenil for a long time, then stopped because I was worried about the rare but irreversible side effect of blindness. I don't know about Prozac. I am currently taking LDN. I was starting to do better but I crashed after a series of social events.
 
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Wonkmonk

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I was prescribed Plaquenil approximately a month ago. The first week was very difficult, kidney/back pain, salivary gland swelling, body aches, fatigue. By week 2 most symptoms had resolved. Now in week 4 there back- my face, head body aches, incredible fatigue, little nauseous just basically feel like crap. My question is " Does plaquenil cause a herxheimer reaction and if so, to virus?
Hello, roxnhead, if you're still here: I decided to give Plaquenil plus Valtrex a try last week and it feels very much the same as what you describe. I also have kidney/back pain, swollen tongue and hands, body aches, sweating, and feeling a bit nauseous.

Maybe it is not a herxheimer reaction like with antibiotics, but I am wondering if this is actually a real negative effect or if it may be part of the effect of the drug, i.e. a sign that it might be working. For instance, Dr. Lerner wrote in his studies that an initial worsening upon starting with Valtrex for EBV predicts good response.

Did you continue the treatment? Did it help?