I seem to have developed something new in the past few weeks. I really struggle to talk on the phone.
This isn't a physical struggle; it's more like a psychological thing. Whenever the phone rings, I don't answer. And I've gotten bad at returning calls.
I have NO idea what's caused this. I posted before that I've started taking rifampin for Bartonella. Though this weird thing doesn't seem to be listed as one of the symptoms, nor have I ever heard it discussed, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this. If so, what did you do to change it?
I don't think I'd be so concerned about this, but I have a job with a publishing company that necessitates my doing phone interviews.
As a note, I was never shy in the past. In fact, my work as a journalist necessitated quite a bit of phone work.
Thanks for any help or suggestions. You guys are great!
Andie
[ 10. April 2006, 07:15 PM: Message edited by: Andie333 ]
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Hubby had the opposite reaction to Rifampin -- he never quit talking -- yak, yak, yak...
Drove me crazy after his being so silent for severeal years -- it was like his brain just woke up.
I am pretty sure he had increased sound sensitvity while on this med -- this happens more anytime the brain is disturbed in my opinion.
Hubby has problems with talking on the phone because too much talking causes diaphraghm spasms and concentration of any kind (talking, reading, watching TV, listening to music etc) upsets his nervous system.
Maybe you are having trouble concentrating and just aren't aware of it?
Hope this symptom eases up for you soon.
Bea Seibert
Posted by lalyme (Member # 8964) on :
OH MY GOSH!!!!!I cannot believe you are saying this. I don't know if this is the same , but I tested for bart too and over the last year i can't talk to people without having a panicked feeling. I am essentially really nervous when I talk to anyone who is not my boyfriend. Typically I am incredibly outgoing and over the even few years , I've kind of lost that "me", because of weird anxiety and just wanting to stay away from people. Feeling safer at home. It's weird. Sometimes I find if i let out my emotions it helps. Like have a good cry and take myself out of the fear and into a real place it can help.
Posted by Andie333 (Member # 7370) on :
Bea and LA,
Thanks for your responses. After I'd posted, my partner suggested there might also be a correlation between this and an essential oil I've been using to help combat the Lyme.
I hadn't thought of that.
Bea, your post made me (and partner) realize things could actually be worse. I talk enough as it is; I can't imagine what I'd be like in verbal overdrive.
LA, it sounds like you and I are experiencing exactly the same thing. I do seem fine talking with other people, other than my partner. I work with kids, and I have no problems there. This is specific to being on the phone, and it is a weird anxiety.
Interestingly, it doesn't get any easier in the middle of the call.
Bea, like your husband, I also have increased sensitivity to sound. The other night the dog was scratching.....made me crazy!
Just when I think this disease is as weird as it gets, it gets stranger...
Andie
Posted by quaicheng (Member # 8392) on :
Relax, you have a voice..
I have lost mine entirely especially the phone due to 12th cranila nerve damage due to a tick bite. I own a company with dealers across the globe that depended on my daily communications. I was on the phone to Athens, Singapore you just never knew who was calling. Before I knew it was Lyme+co's I thought I had throat cancer, and definately stress.
So be thankfull and relax, maybe get rid of the cellphone entirely. I have employees that have stepped up to fill my job. And I have never had a need to be disturbed when not at work.
One man's "convenience" is anothers "distraction".
I truly hate cellphones and what they have done to people (lyme inducd rant).
Even so far as considering a buisiness to help people "get over it" (c-phone) and regain confidence and depth of character by way of serenity and security of mind free of consumer gasdgets.
quai
Posted by lalyme (Member # 8964) on :
Andy,
I know...it doesn't get more comfortable. Weird Hunh. You I had this a few years ago too and it went away, but this one is different. Mine feels like I'm a nervous dork on a first date. Even with my friends. Hope that made you laugh. We could all use that once in a while.
Posted by cantgiveupyet (Member # 8165) on :
Andie, i have something similar. I just let my voicemail get it. I really really have to force myself to answer the phone. For me it changes from day to day.
It was really bad for a few months....it is starting to ease up a bit. There are phone calls i still havent returned from December.
I think for my my brain and body is just overloaded from the pain...it cant deal with much else.
Posted by Andie333 (Member # 7370) on :
cant,
I've been letting voicemail pick up, too. Trouble is: I need to get better with this, because I'm unable to work.
Part of the job I have is interviewing people for books. I have to initiate the calls and ask the questions.
I've been doing this for the past 20+ years professionally with no problems, and suddenly, now, I'm stalled.
My list of unreturned calls is growing bigger, my partner's bewildered by this behavior, and we need the income.
By the way, I'm already taking an anti-anxiety medication.
It's very comforting at least, to think this is part of the disease, but sheesh...
Andie
Posted by farah (Member # 8496) on :
Hi Andy,
I was telephone phobic for a while with Lyme, and I am normally very outgoing. The bacteria moves around the brain and causes different neuropsychiatric symptoms depending on where it is.
All of the antibacterial treatment, between the rifampin and the essential oils may have stirred them up and caused them to change location.
Symptoms change when the bacteria's location changes. It is still the disease, but it is the disease expressing itself in a new part of the body or brain. The spirochetes get stirred up and move around before they get killed.
I also have a mother who uses the phone like a weapon of mass destruction, which may have added to the phone phobia. She is very screechy and shreaky on telephones.
I used Bach flower essences to get over situations like this. They helped me a lot.
Is there something specifically about phones that disturbs you right now? Talking to people you don't know? The ringing of the phone? Etc.
Hope you feel better soon.
Farah
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
Andie, I don't have the phone thing, but since Nov. have had severe panic attacks that started when in hair salon gettng my hair cut. I now go Mondays only to my niece so NO smells of color, perms, or nails are in the air. I'm taking panic attack pill for that and zoloft for my depression/anger moods. Best wishes to overcome SOON.
Quai, sorry to read your story of losing your voice totally and considering the type of work you had done. Glad you are adjusting to this as well as possible.
Posted by hopeful123 (Member # 3244) on :
andie,
i never had the phone paralysis, however at some point in my lyme tx, i became unable to speak to people at work. i would simply stand around painfully trying to come up with something to say in a group conversation. i thought everyone was smarter and more well adjusted (which might be true, anyway) and for the life of me, could not function!!
This has remitted significantly in the past six - twelve months or so. I was told by people at work I seemed like a new person. I am nowhere near what i once was verbally or intellectually, however, i am doing better.
this too will pass. be kind to yourself.
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
Andie,
Maybe you can find something to relax you that will help. Meditation, yoga, your favorite herbal tea.
I definitely get anxious at times, and it's picked up since starting flagyl. I feel so much better after a yoga class.
Posted by Andie333 (Member # 7370) on :
Thanks for everyone's replies.
Hopeful, your post did give me hope. As I posted somewhere else, I'm now using an essential oil formulated for Lyme. I rub it into my head, and I now realize there's been a correlation in terms of using the oil and that anxiety.
Farah, the anxiety seems to be everything associated with the phone: hearing it ring makes me nuts. I absolutely dread the thought of answering it. And talking to anyone for more than is absolutely necessary, well, it's just not something I'm able to do right now.
Doesn't seem to matter if they're friends or strangers. Even my partner says I'm far less communicative on the phone.
Quai made me realize how much worse things could be. Quai, I'm so sorry for what you've gone through...
Aniek, I'm signing up for a class on medication and healing that's starting in a few months. I'd like to try yoga or tai chi, but I'm still not physically able.
Thanks again everyone! Andie
Posted by char (Member # 8315) on :
Yes, it is very hard to talk on the phone!
I go in fits and starts and of course get the pharmacy and doctor ones in as we must!
Posted by Andie333 (Member # 7370) on :
Char,
In reading some responses and searching on this board, I do think this may have to do with some of the auditory problems I've had since being dx.
Maybe the phone is just too intense, physiologically and neurologically. Add to that the general sort of discomfort I feel, and it does make sense.
Like you, char, I start with the calls I absolutely have to make then go from there.
If anything, though, this seems to get harder.
Thanks everyone!
Andie
Posted by chroniccosmic (Member # 7789) on :
This is such a timely issue for me too.
I find myself losing my train of thought so easily on the phone and in person and then I start to panic. I don't think I have bartonella but I do have babesia.
I'm an ex social worker and nurse and have spent my whole life (prior to lyme) talking with people in person and on the phone. This new phobia/anxiety is very different from who I was.
I stumble for words, have to start over, sometimes start crying. It feels like lyme brain to me so I try to do everything to reassure myself that it isn't permanent.
Something which has helped is self hypnosis and listening to healing tapes at night. Sometimes I use the self hypnosis before I know I have phone calls to make or a technique that my therapist taught me called EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). www.emofree.com
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