I am having extreme agitation/panic right now. I hope that it is a herx, but that doesn't make a lot of sense right now. I am not new here. I have been treating for 15months. I thought that this sort of thing was behind me.
For those of you who have made it through herxes - long anxiety herxes, I would love to know how you did it.
Yes, I am detoxing in every way I can think. I just need it to pass. I have been popping ativan, something I haven't needed to do in many months.
I just don't understand why this is happening again when my other symptoms are really improving. I have slowly been tapering of notriptyline. I was only taking 30mg (most people take 50-150). I am down to 10mg of the course of a couple of weeks. I don't know if that could be contributing.
How can one herx this hard 15 months into treatment when I haven't had a abx change?
Any thoughts, encouragement would be greatly appreiciated. I know nobody out there has the answer. I am just really scared and sick of thinking horrible thougts.
Kathy
Posted by swedish lyme sufferer (Member # 14579) on :
Take it easy Kathy! It can happen, and it happened to me a few says ago, I thought I was going to die. Try to sleep. Betablocker + sleeping meds. That is what saved me.
Posted by sutherngrl (Member # 16270) on :
I am in the same boat. Been on same antibiotic for 6 months. Seems I'm having an awful herx right now. Feeling like I did when I first started treatment 17 months ago.
Maybe we have weakened the ketes to the point that more are dying off at once now. That is wishful thinking on my part.
Sorry I don't have answers or even the right words. I also get very scared and think the worst. All I know to do is keep hanging in there. This seems to be a common accurance with LD, if that is any consolation.
Hope you feel better very soon!
Posted by trigal2 (Member # 20578) on :
I would certainly consider the tapering of your meds as a potential.
Even though you were on a low dose this is a dose your body/ brain became accustomed to. Anytime an antidepressant is tapered there is the possibility of increased anxiety and associated symptoms. Did you taper 10 mg.'s a week? I am not sure of the half life of this med but if it is a long half life it could take a while for a withdrawal effect to kick in.
You might want to speak with your doctor to ensure you are not tapering too fast. Another alternative is to up your notri.and see if that reduces your symptoms.
Just my thoughts....TG
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Kathy, if the only thing that has changed is the tapering off of the nortriptyline, I would try increasing it a little (maybe to 20 mg) and see if that relieves the agitation/panic.
Anxiety is so terrible. I feel for you. I hope this works.
I'll say a prayer for you right now also. So sorry this is happening.
Posted by sutherngrl (Member # 16270) on :
I'm so sorry I missed the part about tapering the antidepressant. Those must be tapered over months and not weeks. The side effects are awful if you don't do it extremely slow. That is probably causing at least some if not most of your anxiety.
I agree with the above suggestions.
Posted by cactus (Member # 7347) on :
Kathy, I think it might be the tapering down too, that's contributing.
Hang in there!
Pm'd you. Posted by venus (Member # 16991) on :
Thanks all. Maybe I should go back up to 20mg. I was told that it isn't like the SSRIs and that people usually taper 25mg every three days. I did 10mg in week and then another 10 in another week.
Maybe you are all right and I should taper in months. I could go back up to 20 for several weeks.
Thanks for all your suggestions. You guys are the best.
Posted by seekhelp (Member # 15067) on :
Better than depending on people here would be to ask your prescribing doc!!
Posted by venus (Member # 16991) on :
You are right, but his answer is that it is possible that it is causing the increased agitation, but it seems unlikely at such a low dose.
Like most everything in this process, it is up to the individual to figure it out and it is impossible to know which of the twenty things that we take is causing what.
Posted by ping (Member # 6974) on :
venus - I know this probably sounds oversimplified, but is it possible that you're picking the wrong time of year to begin this endeavor? Reason being is because the Holidays are so stressful for many of us and it might be more effective and less anxious for you to begin tapering down the first part of 2010.
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