This is my hardest symptom to explain, but by far one of the worst. i'm on my 5th day of horrible physical anxiety...I hope this makes sense. My legs can't relax I feel like I want to rip the skin off...along with this is insomnia, ringing in ears, headaches...but the worst is this anxiety..I have to quarantine myself to the couch because I cant stop moving...last night was the worst night I've had in 15 years... I don't know whether to go to ER or what to do, as I need urgent relief...I'm on 2 benzos (clonazapam and Ativan) and they aren't working..not sure what to try now. If anyone has any thoughts, I am desperate. Last night i didnt want to live anymore. Thanks -S
Posted by 2roads (Member # 4409) on :
Did this just come out of the blue or did you change a medication your taking?
Valium might work, but my doctor never gives it to me. My sister says it's less adicitive then Klonopin which I'm on too.
Sorry about the way you feel.
Maybe someone has some insight.
Posted by droid1226 (Member # 34930) on :
You need a slower metabolizing benzo. Valium would work better to get you through now. Sounds like either rebound anxiety from the 2 your on now or just tolerance increase.
I've been exactly where you're at, tried EVERYTHING to put myself down and it just made it worse. The ER will not understand.
Most importantly, you need to do whatever it takes to string together a few nights of good sleep.
Posted by lifewithlyme (Member # 4557) on :
thank you both...I will try to ask my dr for valium although he's an extremely tough sell.
Posted by lpkayak (Member # 5230) on :
vistaril is an antihistimine that also helps anxity
when my mom was really sick with neuro lyme at the end large doses really helped her
when i started with minor anx i started taking much smaller doses and it helped so much
i take it to sleep at night-25-50mg does it----mom was on 300.
and occasionally i will take one during the day..it doesnt knowck me out like the other stuff...i can function-drive. idepend on this
the generic is missing one ingredient and doesnt work you need the real thing/ good luck.
very few if any side effcts
Posted by sillia (Member # 23994) on :
Sounds like me when I get a bad herx. I take a Valium (from hubby's dwindling supply--doc doesn't want to prescribe it for me) and that helps a lot.
Also warm bath or gentle sauna, magnesium.
If you are taking antimicrobials can you stop that for a while until the symptoms subside?
A long term solution to daily anxiety levels is high doses of inositol--you might want to look into this--it's used for OCD, anxiety, depression, and all kinds of things. You can even find studies on PubMed.
I take inositol daily and it has helped my jittery anxiety tremendously, although I still get it when I herx.
Posted by glm1111 (Member # 16556) on :
Check into treating parasites which is now considered the number one co-infection of Lyme by ILADS. Google parasite symptoms. Anxiety is def on the list as are some of your other symptoms.
Gael
Posted by annxyzz (Member # 20404) on :
A low dose of prozac or zoloft ( I rotate from one to the other ) has made painful anxiety a distant memory for me . Thank God! I think that is what I personally needed to have a normal life . I pray you find an answer as it feels like you are going to jump out of your own skin sometime .
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Could it possibly be hyperthyroid? That will cause symptoms like what you are describing.
Take your pulse, especially when you feel so hyper. If your pulse is high, then it is possibly hyperthyroid making you feel this way. It is a horrible feeling and you can't physically relax, can't sleep or stay asleep, etc.
Your doc can order thyroid tests to see if you are in the normal range. T4, T3, TSH, etc.
I was temporarily hyperthyroid and I even felt like I was trembling from it. It also caused swelling under my eyes.
Lyme disease quite often affects the thyroid, so you may want to get this checked out. You can also get a virus that attacks the thyroid and makes you hyperthyroid temporarily (for a few months). Then, it goes away. If you have had this for 15 years, I hope you have had your thyroid checked out. You can't just be hyperthyroid for a long time or it can damage your heart.
Posted by lax mom (Member # 38743) on :
quote:Originally posted by TF: Could it possibly be hyperthyroid? That will cause symptoms like what you are describing.
I wondered the same thing. Recently, I felt such horrific anxiety, the only way I could describe it was that it felt like my adrenals exploded.
I realized that my Synthroid was doubled 2 wks prior. Once I went back to the original dose, my anxiety went back to baseline.
Posted by lifewithlyme (Member # 4557) on :
Thank you everyone...I'm on zoloft and had my thyroid tested several times (they all said "normal" but we know what that means)...The worst part of this is not knowing who to turn to for relief of symptoms. I know I'll have this disease for the rest of me life; but, my god, these symptoms are crippling...
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- It may be that the overall toxicity is causing the anxiety. It sure can. And, with the very drugs that are supposed to help, maybe making it worse:
. . . Benzodiazepines deplete approximately 50% of the glutathione from the white blood cells within five hours, and these cells defend our body from infection and foreign material.
This may explain why prolonged use of benzodiazepines can severely compromise our health. Dr. Jimmy Gutman describes Glutathione as �Food for the Immune System.�
Replenishing the body of critical Glutathione levels not only helps to improve immune function, but also allows the body to detoxify naturally. . .
------ Also be sure to avoid Glutamine, Glutamic acid. Detail here as to how devastating that - and some other things - can be by causing anxiety:
LIVER & KIDNEY SUPPORT & and several HERXHEIMER support links, too. -
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Get copies of the thyroid tests if you don't have them. See if you are near the outer limits of the ranges (high or low), even in the outer 1/3 of the range.
You may want to post the test results for our experts here to evaluate.
Also, take your pulse when the anxiety is bad. See if it is normal. Take the pulse at other times also. See if it is normal.
When I had lyme, the anxiety was bad. It went away with good treatment. I took xanax during all the years I was misdiagnosed as being in periomenopause and menopause.
Have you had your hormone levels checked--estrogen, testosterone, etc.?