Herx after Chiropractic Adjustment?

Question

I have lyme and bartonella. About 6 weeks ago I went to the chiropractor and a day afterwards had severe muscle spasms and back pain up until now (6 weeks later). My non-LLMD Dr. said the chiro didn't injure me but my body overreacted. A week ago I had a light massage and it made the pain even worse and I was nauseous/threw up and my myclonic jerks/ticks increased. Now the pain in my back is very sharp and stinging. Could the massage and adjustment caused a release of too many dead lyme toxins? I find it hard to believe they both injured me. Maybe my Lyme is hiding in my back (it was sore to the touch)before this.

JackieCalifornia · Answer

Sorry you're hurting!  As I recall, Lyme bacteria love to hide in cartilage, because the blood flow is low there, so the immune system doesn't have such an easy time getting to and killing the Lyme bacteria.  So whether it's dead Lyme releasing toxins or live Lyme being cranky, I dunno, but wouldn't surprise me if it's Lyme-related in some fashion.

mojogal · Answer

I Herx from a massage and use to from chiropractor. Drink lots of water even while still there

Winnie1040 · Answer

Thank you! I'm going to detox heavily and see if that helps.

Winnie1040 · Answer

I got an MRI the other day and used hearing protection but now my ears hurt so bad! It was so strange - I had horrible back pain from a massage (most likely Lyme related) and it all shifted to my ears! No more back pain like that! I think my body is very sensitive to anything done to my body right now. Does Lyme just move around to whatever is irritated in the body or do you think the MRI caused actual damage?

JackieCalifornia · Answer

You say above:  "I think my body is very sensitive to anything done to my body right now. Does Lyme just move around to whatever is irritated in the body or do you think the MRI caused actual damage?"

It's not unusual for your body to go 'on alert' and be very sensitive -- to my understanding, Lyme (and its several possible co-infections) is not an isolated infection in one part of the body -- it can affect different people in different ways (some have more joint trouble, some have more 'brain fog', etc.)  

And since Lyme affects everyone differently, your symptoms may not be like anyone else's. 

Did they find anything on the MRI?  From what I read, it would be used to rule out other ailments, but is not particularly useful in confirming or ruling out a Lyme infection.

mojogal · Answer

I have sharp ear pain on and off on the left side. I say to myself it's the bugs crawling around causing problems. Ugh

kathloj · Answer

Very interesting question! I saw an Osteopath over a week ago and went through the same thing; increased pain and symptoms. On top of that it was a blood moon phase. I've read that massages can cause herxing, but now that you mention it, some of my big flare up last week was likely the result of the Osteopath's work, which was my first visit. I go again on Monday so it will be interesting to see if the same thing happens. I hope not, but I think it's doing overall good.

Winnie1040 · Answer

JackieCalifornia- got the MRI because of my back pain after the chiropractic adjustment (I wanted to rule out injury). They did find 2 bulging disks in my spine that had never bothered me before the chiropractor. I'm assuming the adjustments must have activated them or something as he would have to have applied alot of force to cause them to bulge. However, alot of people have bulging disks and mine aren't pinching nerves so they really shouldn't cause pain. I'm thinking of having my ears checked just in case they were damaged. The pain is constant. They also itch and feel full. Sometimes it hurts them to swallow. At least now it's in my ears and not my back! Very strange! I'm pretty sure it's just the Lyme or co-infections..

Winnie1040 · Answer

Kathloj- keep me posted on if this happens to you again. Massage was the worst for me. Increased pain for over 2 weeks (that was originally caused by the chiropractor).

JackieCalifornia · Answer

Nothing's easy, is it--!  Because the Lyme bacteria like to hide in areas of low blood flow (the better to avoid the human's immune system), it might be connected with your back pain -- lots of [low blood flow] cartilage in the spine.

"My non-LLMD Dr. said the chiro didn't injure me but my body overreacted."  Looked at through the other end of the telescope, one might say that your body was reacting appropriately to the Lyme bacteria that were stirred up by your treatment.  

It's not unusual in Lyme to have flare-ups of aching and joint pain that are Lyme's way of letting you know they are still lurking.  Well, okay, maybe they don't think about it that way, but the Lyme bacteria do sometimes react badly to medication (antibiotics) or manipulation (massage/chiro).  And Lyme also has a fairly predictable reproductive cycle noticeable more to some of us than others -- it gets hard to figure out what is triggering what, but it's likely all looped together in some way.  As treatment proceeds, these side effects will go away.  

And you might try Epsom salt baths if you are hurting ... Lyme bacteria use up magnesium in the body, which can leave us with aches in the joints and other high-cartilage areas.  Epsom salts are basically magnesium, and a good soak in a tolerably warm bath and magnesium can help calm the Lyme bacteria down (all the while the antiobiotics are out hunting the critters).

There are different patterns for each of us, depending on our body's way of doing things, on what (co)infections each of us has, and what meds we are one.  Hang on!

Winnie1040 · Answer

Thank you so much for your help! I've been taking epsom salt baths and they have been helping. It's so hard to know what is Lyme and co-infections and what isn't. However, given how sensitively my body is behaving I would chalk it up to Lyme. It's such a crazy disease!

JackieCalifornia · Answer

Another quick note ... if not mentioned above already, magnesium (Mg) supplements can be helpful too -- esp. when there's no time for a nice soak in the tub with Epsom salts.  I started taking Mg capsules when I was in treatment for Lyme, and I still take them now.  My doc isn't big on vitamins or supplements ("just eat a balanced diet"), but I read elsewhere that the American diet is often low in Mg -- partly from current farming methods, I read somewhere, but dunno.  I also read somewhere that if you get diarrhea, reduce the dose -- but I've never had a problem taking the daily dose the bottle label says, and I'm pretty sensitive to a lot of things.

Anyway, I take good quality Mg capsules (not pills) every day, and have no side effects that I was warned about.  (I avoid the pills because they are so big to swallow, and also because I don't know what they bind the Mg with to make it hard enough to be in pill form.)  

Any version of Mg that ends in "-ate" is supposed to be most absorbable:  Mg malate, orotate, aspartate, citrate, etc.  I currently take Mg malate, but also like one brand that has citrate, asparate and orotate all in one.  And I go for the capsules  rather than the hard pills.  Whatever works.  And I switch them up sometimes when it's time to re-order.

And you're right:  Lyme IS a crazy disease!  Hang in there! :)