Rifampin ~ A Scary Ride

Well, I thought I would make a post tonight before I go to bed. It's been a horrific day symptom-wise, and I still have one more round of meds to do in 30 minutes. Since I don't want to fall asleep and then have to wake myself up again, I am going to give you an update tonight. Plus, since I didn't get any homework done today, tomorrow will be busy.

As you can tell by the title, I started Rifampin this week. This drug hits the co-infection Bartonella that I have along with Lyme Disease and Babesia. For those of you who just thought I had Lyme, nope...the tick decided that it wasn't enough to bless me with one type of infection, I got two others in the process. Bartonella is something that my doctor thinks I have big time. After experiencing what I did today, I will agree 100%. Let me back up and start at the beginning of the week.

Tuesday evening was my first day to take Rifampin. I was not looking forward to it. I had heard horror stories of this drug from friends who had taken it. So although I was hoping I would not be adding to that statistic, I thought I had done a pretty good job of preparing myself for what might come. First, we had to get past the initial test. As you all know, I don't have a very good track record of being able to take medicines and supplements without having allergic reactions. However, since we have found NAET, and I get weekly treatments, I have had more successes in the last couple of years. Last week I had an NAET treatment to this drug, and so thankfully, I took it and did not have an allergic reaction. Yay! In fact, I honestly couldn't even tell that I took it. I didn't feel any different than I normally do. Wednesday evening was the same and so was Thursday evening. Granted, I was only taking half of the dose I was supposed to be at because I always start low and work myself up, but honestly, I couldn't even tell this drug was part of my treatment protocol. Thursday evening Brian and I were talking about it, and I told him how shocked and thankful I was that I wasn't getting any symptoms from it. In fact, I actually mentioned that I was a bit concerned that maybe it wasn't hitting the Bartonella like it should. Brian said to not speak too soon as I hadn't taken the full dosage yet. Well, I am kicking myself because I definitely spoke to soon. I woke up on Friday morning and my body just decided to fall apart.

It started when I first got up. I noticed that I felt really dizzy and nauseous. Now, this in itself, isn't anything new, but it was a bit more intense. I usually drive myself to an NAET appointment every Friday (the only place I am physically able to go by myself), but after getting 5 minutes down the road, I had to turn around and come home as I knew I would never make it to that appointment.

I got home at about 8:30 and within an hour I was experiencing a symptom that I hadn't experienced since I first got sick. Six years ago, when I first got sick, I experienced a horrific symptom of my throat randomly swelling. Sometimes it was related to what I ate and sometimes not. It got so bad that it brought my diet down to chicken and a special kind of water. I couldn't go anywhere or be exposed to anything without having an adverse reaction. Those six weeks were a nightmare. I never knew if the next thing I was exposed to or the next thing I would put in my mouth would have the ambulance at my door step. It was a time I NEVER want to relive, so you can only imagine my fright when that symptom popped up this morning. I started having trouble eating, swallowing and it affected my breathing. From there, it got worse. By about 11:30, I could barely get out of bed I was so dizzy. The room would not stop spinning. My face, arms, hands were completely numb. I could still operate them, but I couldn't feel a thing. By 1:00 my heart started beating extremely fast, and I was experiencing constant fluttering. It was at this point that one of my dear friends urged me to call my Lyme Disease physician. I am pretty stubborn about calling the office, and always second guess whether it's necessary or not, but this time I didn't fight it. I was literally in my bed with the covers pulled up as far as they could go just praying that God would take away these symptoms. I literally wanted to crawl out of my skin.

The nurse called me back within about 2 hours and told me to stop taking Rifampin for about 4 days. They want me to try and start it back up again next Tuesday. Everything in me wants to scream NO WAY after what I experienced today, but at the same time, I now know that this infection is probably what has caused me to be so sick after all these years and that we have found a drug that will fight it (and that I am not allergic to). I know that if I can do it, I need to push past the symptoms to get to the other side which might just lead me on the path to wellness. So, I will try it again. If this is what I have to do to get well, I will do it. God is my protector, and He will keep me safe and bring me peace.

Today, when I was in the midst of it all, one of my sweet friends texted me Psalm 41: 2-4. I thought I would type it up so that hopefully it will be as much of an encouragement to you as it was to me...

"The Lord protects them and keeps them alive. He gives them prosperity in the land and rescues them from their enemies. The Lord nurses them when they are sick and restores them to health. Oh Lord. I prayed, have mercy on me. Heal me, for I have sinned against you."

Such a good reminder of the protection that we can only get from the Lord. He is our true source of strength and healing. We are blessed to have been given such continued grace even though we deserve so much less.

Well, it's about time for me to take my meds tonight, so I need to get going. Thank you for those of you who prayed today. It was such an encouragement to receive your responses on Facebook. Please continue to be in prayer for this next week. I really need to be able to take this drug successfully. It looks like I have a very difficult road ahead of me, but as I said before, I will do whatever it takes to get well. We so desperately want to be out in the world again. :)

May you have a blessed weekend!