Has anyone experienced personality changes at all? I was once very social, very funny, goofy, creative, and people really liked me. Now I am awkward, have nothing to say, very quiet, reclusive, and do not have a drop of creativity or charm. I'm kind of a vapid zombie. I am flat and vacant. Has anyone experienced anything like this? Anyone recovered from it? It feels like I have permanent brain damage.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
OH yes, for sure. Make sure they check your thyroid carefully. Not all doctors are good at that and the tests can come back negative even though you need meds.
Sounds just like Lyme, right!?
Lyme does affect the thyroid.
Also get copper levels checked.
Posted by Ksoup798 (Member # 46322) on :
Oh I am already hypothyroid. I take 3 grains of nature thyroid and don't feel any better.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Many here call it "depersonalization."
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- As you clearly notice this and are sadden by it, my hunch is that it is not at all a personality "change" or even "depersonalization" - you WANT your body to be able to perform as before so your spirit, your personality can participate again. But your body cannot.
It's that you are ill.
How do people feel / act / respond when they have a very rough flu &/or inner ear disturbance? Add to that adrenal exhaustion.
They shut down. And they are not pleased about it, either. The big difference is scope, time, medical / social understanding of course. Just because lyme is a "crime" does not mean the same kind of effects as with any serious illness would be felt any less.
Your body is simply protecting you and it comes first, before personality can have fun, sadly. You body simply cannot do more.
Being social (like driving, walking and even talking) is a great deal of work for all body systems, really. Body is on shut down for the "extra" stuff while it attends to the emergency (which, with lyme can be longer than we'd wish).
It can get better with direct treatment, good support and more patience than we used to think we could ever muster. Focus on nurturing and nourishing for now. -
Posted by Robin123 (Member # 9197) on :
Yeah, I was low thyroid too and didn't feel present. I started taking Armour thyroid, which is another glandular form of thyroid and have done much better. So maybe it's a matter of trying different thyroid meds? As well as Lyme treatment to come...
Posted by tulips (Member # 44773) on :
When my Lyme was really bad, I experienced a loss of my personal will. I was also like a zombie. Thank you for the word, depersonalization.
I was drifting along, barely able to stand up and not doing anything to try to get better. Not going to the Lyme doctor, filled with fear and anxiety,
not taking herbal remedies; just existing. I think that Lyme causes people to drift along not taking any abx or herbs, or doing anything to try to get better
until it reaches a crisis point where they experience unbearable suffering and finally realize that they have to do something to make themselves better.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Be very, very, VERY careful with the use of the term "depersonalization" for it probably does not mean to you / us what that term means to the medical profession.
It is a very harsh diagnosis of mental illness. Even a whisper of that term to the wrong doctor or nurse could bomb your medical care / chart for life.
Yes, lyme can bring about some symptoms of depersonalization yet using that term can bring about serious trouble.
Do speak about all symptoms with a LLMD or LL ND but no other doctors who are not absolutely LL or would share your file notes with any other non-LL doctors, etc.
Again, though, some of the symptoms is not the same at all as the full blown mental health diagnosis (accepted by traditional doctors) of that term, depersonalization / derealization disorder. -
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- While not the same, the symptoms discussed in the thread below can be similar . . . and some of the techniques used to help the not "wanting" (or more precisely, "able") to engage in social activity - or at least to look at how it happens with lyme:
Adrenal, nervous system, vestibular (inner workings of the the ear / balance), and cardiac involvement discussed. -
Posted by Golf Tick44 (Member # 6029) on :