Artemisinin and Mean Herx Reactions
By Bryan Rosner on Nov 13, 2008 in Research
I would like to take a poll: Of those reading this blog, how many of you have taken artemisinin for Babesia and related co-infections, and how many of you have herxed on it - and how badly? Furthermore, did it lead to any noticable improvement? Please reply by leaving a comment below…
On Nov 13, 2008, alex sanchez said:
I have been taking Dr. Zhangs artemesia for 3 months. I started at 1/8 of a pill and increased gradually to 1 in a week and then added 1 a day. I am currently taking 12 a day and have have consistently herxed on it. The herxes are more intense after a couple of hours of taking it. I experience fatigue, slight chest tightness, sleepiness for about 1-2 hours then it improves. Every morning I experience muscle, joint stiffness, fatigue that improves in an hour or two. I take carnitine and glutathione losenges which also helps. Lately my herxes have diminished by 60% after taking Dr. Zhang’s A13 herb. It’s an amazing product! I only take 1/4 of a pill a day. I have seen more improvement by treating babesia for 3 months than I did on a year of antibiotics for lyme. I never had a positive test for babesia just igenex lyme Igm.
On Nov 13, 2008, alex sanchez said:
I have been taking Dr. Zhangs artemesia for 3 months. I started at 1/8 of a pill and increased gradually to 1 in a week and then added 1 a day. I am currently taking 12 a day and have have consistently herxed on it. The herxes are more intense after a couple of hours of taking it. I experience fatigue, slight chest tightness, sleepiness for about 1-2 hours then it improves. Every morning I experience muscle, joint stiffness, fatigue that improves in an hour or two. I take carnitine and glutathione losenges which also helps. Lately my herxes have diminished by 60% after taking Dr. Zhang’s A13 herb. It’s an amazing product! I only take 1/4 of a pill a day. I have seen more improvement by treating babesia for 3 months than I did on a year of antibiotics for lyme. I never had a positive test for babesia just igenex lyme Igm but have all the symptoms. My frylabs showed the usual haemobartonella or mycoplasma but they missed babesia that was hiding in the slide.
On Nov 14, 2008, Deborah Thiebaud said:
What does the A13 herb consist of?
On Nov 16, 2008, JaniceHoldershaw said:
I did Dr. Zhang’s co-infection panel which included artimisinan. My herx reaction was profound. Tremors, stabbing and burning in my head - there was also allicin in that mix.. It was something else.. my mom had to look after me and I was in living hell for about three week-one month.. then I flat-lined for a month and now I’m doing the Flagyl/Biaxin as I await my rife machine… I herxed with the pharmas too… but nothing like the fireworks with Zhang’s… Trouble is - I flat-lined and I had a specific insight that the parasites got taken care of and the bacteria was hiding. I can hardly wait to add rife to the mix.. tomorrow I make my decision - Coil or GB. Any experience out there with both?
On Apr 27, 2009, Tori said:
I did Dr. Zhang’s allicin and artemisin, A13 and something else (I forget the name). I herxed like mad for 2 mos., had to cut down the dose of allicin to half. I felt like the herx was only from the allicin. I couldn’t tell if the A13 did anything or not. I did have a positive FISH babesia test. When I took artemisin alone I didn’t feel anything, but I didn’t take it for extended periods by itself.
After that I did treatment with an LLMD with Malarone (no abx) and again herxed (a long, drawn out 2-month painful one but not “fireworks” like Zhang’s) then was FISH tested again and the test was negative.
On May 8, 2009, Danielle said:
Yes, started taking Pyloricin by Pharmax several months ago, it contains artemisia and other strong herbs. I do herx. One time when I first started taking it I threw up and felt like I was dying. Now I just take about 3 three times a week, and I feel sick after I take them, but this is a good thing, as I am ever so slowly improving, considering I have had LD and co-infections for most of my life.
On Jun 10, 2009, Danielle said:
Can anyone tell me if the Zhangs herbs contain magnesium stearate or titanium dioxide as a filler? I learned this stuff isn’t so good,
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/14/Why-Taking-Supplements-Could-be-Hazardous-to-Your-Health.aspx
although Pharmax has it, Dr. Klinghardt recommends Pharmax- but is against these fillers. Also, what is the website for Zhang?
On Jul 3, 2009, Prana said:
I’ve been prescribed Artemisinin 300mg three times a day and I’m completely shattered on it. Profound fatigue, chilling bone pain, malaise, chills, chest coldness - when I inhale it feels as if I have a chest cold - pinching sensations all over, back and neck pain. It’s definitely targeting something. I can barely turn my head and am confined to my bed.
I read about the relation between Artemisinin and Iron. I know my iron levels are low but iron supplementation drives me to severe fatigue. I just ate some red meat, hoping it will help.
Does this sound like typical Babesia die-off? I read that Artemisinin can be effective against Bartonella and Lyme to a certain extent.
On Aug 2, 2009, Bev Parks said:
I was treated for babesia with Mepron for 6 months. At the end of that period I felt a little stronger, but not herxing. When I rifed for babesia, I noted a lot of sensations. In mentioning that to my LLMD, he knew I was not over the babesia, so he put me on artemisinin. Wow. The babesia herxing made the lyme herxing look like a party. I became so spacey and ill I stopped the rifing. My body was on overload. I passed out for over 2 hours and ended up in the emergency room. The panic attacks are horrendous, as well as the headaches, shakes, light headedness, dizzy,heart stuff, aching eyes and head and ears, squiggly lights that aren’t there, zero memory (especially short term). The list goes on and on. I’m on artemisinin for 3 days, then off for 11, then back on for 3. After a couple months the herxing is lessening, so I’m back to rifing twice a week. I now herx each time afterwards and experience multiple sensations during each session. I also should mention that I tested NEGATIVE for babesia, but luckily my LLMD knew I had it by the symptoms. I know I will eventually get over this hurdle, but had NO idea how debilitating babesia is. I hope this may help other who also have the terrrible disease.
On Sep 10, 2009, Beth said:
My llmd started me on 600 mg. a day. After a little over a week, I’m majorly herxing. Severe pain in thoracic, cervical & occipital regions of my spine & head. Migraine for 6 days straight. Scripts have helped migraine some…even gets rid of it for a while & then BAM it’s back. I haven’t taken any Artemisinin for 2 days now. It’s a little better. I’m not taking any more until severity is gone. Then I’m cutting way back.
On Sep 18, 2009, Edie said:
Does anyone know if it is safe to use Artemisinin if one is using warfarin. I couldn’t find anything in medical journals, but did find a recommendation from one artemisinin supplier against using artemisinin if one is on warfarin. From the above reactions, I suspect the coumadin pharmacist I see would be very concerned about the reactions in someone on coumadin. Any insights?
On Sep 25, 2009, Nancy said:
I started Dr. Zhang’s Aremesiae earlier this summer, starting at 1 capsule per day and gradually working up to three per day.
I actually started out taking three per day and began having times when I would be in a severe “zone” and be sweating profusely with a distinctly sweet odor.
I stopped and then started again at one per day, gradually working up to three in about two months’ time. During that time I had severe herxing and would have to back off for a bit and start again. (…and lots of sweats with that same, strange, sweet odor.)
Then, at around two months, I reached a period when I began having glimpses of feeling really, really well. I think I was still having to take breaks from time to time — still couldn’t tolerate continual dosing — but somewhere in there I was having some days of feeling really great.
Then, on a dime, I got a bad cold and things went from bad to worse. I began having all sorts of inflammatory issues — pustular exzema on my hand, chest congestion, classic allergic rhinitis, — miserable, but tolerable in the sense that all of the issues tended to be things “normal” people experience, just to the extreme.
Then, however, the inflammatory issues became more systemic and morphed into more menacing, autoimmune-type issues — joint pain, cognitive issues, digestive issues, needle-like pains in my bowels, general things that are just hard to describe but that have become intolerable to the point of having to stop everything.
Dr. Zhang’s Circulation P did help the exzema quite a bit, and the AI#3 did seem to help a bit, but it’s been a drop in the bucket compared to how severe this inflammatory state has been. I understand that it takes time for the AI#3 to affect the immune system, so it would not be fair at all to say it hasn’t worked; it’s just that the inflammation has been so very severe that I’ve just not been able to tolerate waiting long enough for the AI#3 to do its thing. At present I’m a bit in limbo as I try to figure out what to do. The Artemesiae seemed truly to be working wonders, fully worth the herxing I had experienced prior to that two-month mark when I started feeling so well. …so I am really, really bummed to have to stop it. It may be that even though I was tackling the Babesia with Artemesiae, my other infections (Borellia, etc.) were not being properly addressed and have caused this. …still trying to figure that one out and am in transition between docs. …so, of course, don’t take any of this as medical advice, just the experience of someone trying to figure out which way is up.
I would love to know if any other of you who have taken artemesia have experienced severe systemic inflammation.
I’d also appreciate any thoughts as to whether this inflammatory/autoimmune experience is likely a)a continued herx from the Artemesia, which means — yea — something is working, or b)a sign that even if the Artemesia is working, something else isn’t/i.e.,some other bug is getting the upper hand and causing the trouble.
I would also love to know if anyone has any experience with Actos to reduce inflammatory issues and how it has compared with using AI#3.
On Oct 6, 2009, vitamin b said:
While artemisinin has been the primary herb used to combat Babesia, a couple of others are emerging to challenge its sovereignity. These may be more effective and/or safer than artemisinin, though not enough evidence has been compiled yet to definitively determine this.
The first is a brother of artemisinin, called artesunate, which is also a derivitive of the whole herb artemisia. It is thought to be four to five times more active in the body than artemisinin, and just as safe, which makes it potentially more effective than its sibling.
On Mar 27, 2010, JB said:
Keep in mind that your reactions to artemesinin may not be a herx but an actual toxic side effect of artemesinin itself!
On Jun 14, 2010, Emily said:
I was finally diagnosed with Lyme & Babesia (after 4 long years of suffering) back in December of 09. Until now I have been on strictly antibiotics. Now my LLD has added 100mg of Artemisinin twice a day to my regimen. I am to be on it for 3 weeks then 1 week off. I am starting my 3rd week today, and for the past few days I have been Herxing like crazy. By far the worst Herxheimer reaction to date. I have pain in my ears and neck. Tremors/shakes/chills. Stabbing, shooting pains in my head (very scary). Chest pain. Headaches. Nausea. Floaters in my eyes. Anxiety. Fatigue. And vertigo. I am a stay at home mom of a 1,2, and 3 year old. It’s very, VERY difficult to care for them when I feel like this. I just put a call in to my LLD to be sure that everything I am experiencing is normal. Waiting for a call back. I’ll be sure to sign back on here and post an update. But this is shear TORTURE! The only good thing is having the peace of mind knowing that this is happening for a good reason. Gotta get worse before you get better right? This Herx round makes being ill with Lyme without treatment look like a walk in the park. WTF???!!!!!
On Jun 30, 2010, George said:
Hello, I have been treated for Lyme,Bartonella and Babesia since early November 2009. My Babesia treatment began in March and I am currently on Mepron, Zithromax, Bactrum, Flagyl and Artimensin as well as probiotics and magnesium. I have experienced intense sweating almost daily since March as well as vertigo which began in May. The sweating lasts from 3-9 hours each day and is often accompanied by a low-grade fever. In an effort to find the cause of the sweating, my LLMD, in whom I have complete confidence, took me off of Bactrum and then off of Zithromax with no relief. I am now off of all meds, today is the first day, and the sweating has decreased considerably, but is still present, and the vertigo remains and is quite bad. Has anyone else experienced sweating during the day with babesia? And, as Emily mentioned above, could Artimenisin cause such a herx and possibly be the culprit? My LLMD seems to think that babesia usually involves night sweats but mine are almost always during the day and triggered by the slighest exertion or stress. I am a professor and usually must change my shirt three or four times a day and it is quite embarrassing in front of my classes. Thanks in advance for your comments, insights and advice and I wish all of you the best as we battle this dreadful ailment. Thank you, George
On Jul 31, 2010, Ned said:
I would like to ask Alex Sanchez a question about his artesunate. I am taking zhangs artsunate 3x a day but it is a capsule and i didnt know he had a pill form. His protocol involves staying on 1 pill 3x a day for 2- 3 months. Just wondering how you take 1/8 of a pill and are now on 15 a day. what protocol is that? Thanks
On Aug 5, 2010, Christina said:
I take artemisinin 200 mg in the evening. It causes burning of my stomach and heartburn sensations. I have been on it since April, and not sure how much longer I can tolerate it. Has anyone else had this reaction?
On Aug 19, 2010, Ray said:
To all:
Please post your final results or outcome of your Herx “treatment” if you have experience one, beneficial or not.
Although, it is essential to know the symptoms and precautions I hardly see any outcome or results of the Herx reactions in all the postings. Consequently, it is difficult for me, and maybe for other, to consider initiating such a protocol if no results are posted.
So, thanks ahead of time for your “result’s” input.
Ray