posted
While I was having lots of internal vibrations and twitches I was also developing terrible anxiety - waking up at 2am with my teeth clenched..felt totally upset during the day.
All my symptoms pointed to Lyme but as soon as my doctor heard me say "anxiety" and "panic attack" I swear any other words that came out of my mouth were pointless.
He gave me Zoloft and could care less that my arms and legs were shaking under the skin.
I did take the Zoloft as I was pretty much becoming non-functional due to the anxiety.
Took 5+ weeks to get the anxiety under control with Zoloft. I continue to take it until I get some of my other neuro symptoms cleared up.
Of course the Zoloft didn't cure anything else! But I continued to pursue it, got IGeneX tested, etc. Anxiety is a real symptom of Lyme.
Posts: 257 | From Connecticut | Registered: Oct 2007
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Peacesoul
Unregistered
posted
I've been having pa's since I was 18 (am now 41), got sick 13 yrs ago and diagnosed with lyme in Aug. I actually never associated my anxiety and depression to lyme since I had it well before I ever got sick.
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posted
I was diagnosed with CFS, then FM and then the depression got real bad (within 1 year). For me, the depression was because I was ill. I wasn't ill because I had depression (which is what many doctors think). I was lucky in that my doctor recognized the depression as secondary (but he missed the Lyme disease for several years!).
Robin
Posts: 276 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2006
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
Doc F has a chart showing depression is higher in Lyme patients than in similar diseases- will look up!!!!!!!!!! Here, it is on this page if you scroll down you will see the red and purple chart!!!!
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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joalo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12752
posted
I was misdiagnosed with CFS for 20+ years...
-------------------- Sick since January 1985. Misdiagnosed for 20 years. Tested CDC positive October 2005. Treating since April 2006. Posts: 3228 | From Somewhere west of the Mississippi | Registered: Aug 2007
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bejoy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11129
posted
I'd be surprised to find any people with lyme who have not experienced chronic fatigue, anxiety and depression, with or without a diagnosis.
The chemistry of this illness includes all three, regardless of positive outlook and keeping your chin up.
If someone out there has lyme and has not experienced all three of these symptoms through the course of your illness, please chime in.
-------------------- bejoy!
"Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." -Ralph Waldo Emerson Posts: 1918 | From Alive and Well! | Registered: Feb 2007
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disturbedme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12346
posted
I'd say most everyone since most doctors tell us we need to see a psychiatrist.
After "ducks" kept telling me nothing was wrong and a couple told me to see a psych or told me it was my "spirit", I eventually did go to a psychologist. Not because I believed the "ducks" but because I was so distraught about how ill I was and yet no one was helping me.
I was depressed -- I don't know how much of it had to do with lyme or how much of it had to do with being so ill and not knowing what was wrong with me and not having HELP when I needed it, but it was definitely terrible.
It was helpful though to talk to someone about all this craziness with "ducks". Even when my one "duck" told me he did think I had Lyme even though I had a negative WB, though, my psych told me it probably wasn't lyme. That kind of got to me.
I went for a little while longer to her and then we decided I didn't really need to because it got to the point that I didn't really have anything to say when we'd have appointments. I was feeling better because I had a "diagnosis" even though it was still a negative WB. Even though that was kind of troubling as well. It's hard to have a negative because, at least for me, you'll always have the 'what if???' floating around in your head. Luckily, I got a positive Bartonella co-infection test come back later.
Since then, I really haven't had much depression. I DO, however, still have a day or so of it come and go.
-------------------- One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar. ~ Helen Keller
My Lyme Story Posts: 2965 | From Land of Confusion (bitten in KS, moved to PA, now living in MD) | Registered: Jun 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
-
Yep, I had the dx of depression, then FM, then CFS, then three TBI. But because lyme is not recognized and you can't change medical charts, it was never corrrected.
While usually the depression with TBI is secondary, I think you'll see a far different kind of depression with CFS or TBI than if it were just depression w/o any infection.
I think most of us never loose our desire to go out and do things. I have so much desire to do so much and get sad that I can't.
the stress from the borrelia toxicity and adrenal drop from exertion also drops us in a way that doctors just don't seem to get.
It gets better, though. B-vitamins and liver detox made the biggest difference for me.
this would be an excellent research topic, I'd think, if they look for causes of depression, not just with lyme, but with everything. Some reseachers do, but most main stream doctors don't.
Many people with depression respond beautifully to a nutritional protocol or change in environment. Indoor pollution seems to be connected, too.
-
[ 11. November 2007, 02:27 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
I was lucky in that it was called lyme from the beginning. But I did suffer from depression, fibro, chronic fatigue etc etc.
The primary illness triggers all the other name illnesses. In other words these are the symptoms.
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Thank you all so much for the thoughtful responses thus far. The strange part about my diagnosis is that I have yet to suffer any of the severe symptoms so often mentioned. I only got tested because my wife got the "rash" etc., and, after testing positive, insisted I get tested even though I never had any outward symptoms. Neither of us ever saw an imbedded tick even though we live in a tick-infested area.
Thus - the depression diagnosis was not a result of feeling depressed because of symptoms. I am beginning to suspect that my lack of serious symptoms could possibly be a result of having a very strong immune system. THAT has led me to wonder if I hadn't progressed beyond stage one without ever knowing it.
I have been getting treatment for Depression/anxiety for 2-1/2 years. After a wide variety of meds - nothing has worked even though they all did SOMETHING. Prior to that (and continuing to this day) I had been on a mild dose of Zoloft which is a pretty good mood stabilizer. Going on ten years now.
I plan on listing symptons soon in another post and hope your input/suggestions will be as helpful as it has been so far.
Oh, and FWIW - our treatments consisted of (only) 100 Mg of Doxy twice a day for 21-days. Somehow I doubt that was sufficient.
Posts: 21 | From Upstate New York | Registered: Oct 2007
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