The Hamilton Bugeikan Karate Club

Update April-2004 (Mainly for the benefit of Sarcoidosis Sufferers)

About 4-weeks ago, I started to feel a very marked improvement – I was participating in training (to a slightly less limited degree) and I wasn’t coughing.

Not only that, there were other things happening that I found interesting: we have cholesterol tests twice a year at work. Mine has always been on the upper edge of normal (5 – 5.5) but recently it has taken a sharp plunge to around 4.1. My Psoriasis was also starting to clear.

My previously uncontrollable blood pressure (normally around 150/100) has stabilised and is consistently around 110/68.

I was actually starting to feel fairly good, very good in fact, so much so that I felt that it was time to introduce the third anti-biotic.

I wrote to SarcInfo to get some details about the third anti-biotic part of the protocol and received the information within the hour – absolutely first class service!!

I noticed the warning that I shouldn’t attempt to add the third ABX until I could tolerate 500mg of Azithromyacin every 8-days (on top of the 100mg of Minocyline every second day) without any noticeable herx. As I was only on 250mg of Azithromyacin, I thought that I would hold off on the third ABX and increase the dose of Azith instead.

This I did and got some pretty pokey herx as a result. The phlegmmy cough returned, as did the breathlessness; the continuously runny nose; the lethargy; and I developed a very strange but significant pain in my right shoulder and both my knees.

My heart also started skipping a beat every so often and the insomnia returned for the first time since I started the protocol but only for a couple of days after taking the increased Azith dose. The same happened the following week but no insomnia after taking my third high dose last Sunday. I also started sporadically choking on my own saliva – very uncomfortable.

In short, I feel as if I have taken a giant leap backwards, a leap that took me completely by surprise: I was not expecting it at all – I am not unhappy about this (quite the opposite in fact): it is just the Herx.

I am beginning to come right again (but still nowhere as good as I was before the increase). When I do feel good again, I shall introduce the third ABX. When I do, I fully expect to feel crap again – watch this space!!

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