i have a very very bad time with constant thinking, racing mind that only shuts off when i sleep, and the thing is that until i say the thought out loud to someone, it keeps circling in my mind, i dont forget it! so i have to talk so much and thank God i have a mom who is so patient and understanding, well, is this a symptom that any of you have or have heard of? and is there any med or treatment to help shut the mind off and cut down on the talking? any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much to all of you, radha
Posted by krazykt1 (Member # 3739) on :
Racing mind is a very memorable (bitten in '84) symptom of mine. I was awake for 16 days and nights when I was first bitten...couldn't sleep and couldn't get warm. I have lyme/babesia
Posted by char (Member # 8315) on :
We have had that. I think the lyme treatments can cause it or at the least make it worse.
Racing thoughts is one symptom of depression, so you should probably get evaluated for this. There are definitely meds that can help.
Wonderful that mom is understanding. I have lyme and my daughter is patient with me,too! Thank God for supportive family!
Char
Posted by farah (Member # 8496) on :
Hi Radha,
I had that symptom through long sections of my battle with Lyme Disease. I would make a concentrated tincture of valerian root, St. John's Wort, and scullcap in my coffeemaker. I would take 1/4 cup of it one to three times a day, and it helped to control anxiety, racing thoughts, insomnia, and depression for me along with the essential oils I used.
Farah
Posted by Ann-OH (Member # 2020) on :
I have met lots of Lyme patients who suffer from verbosity. I experienced the racing thoughts and the over-rambling talk myself.
There is actually a journal article about Lyme patients being over talkative, which, of course, I can't find at the moment. I see if I can relocate it.
St. John's Wort was a wonderful help for me. It took away the sort of frenetic thoughts and helped me relax and be able to concentrate on one thing at a time.
You should be careful and check if St. J. W. will conflict with other meds you are taking.
Ann - OH
Posted by Radha (Member # 8464) on :
i am not taking any treatment for the lyme or babesia because i cant take the herx, which i already posted about, but i do already take st.johns wort, and i know i dont have depression, at least not the clinical kind, just well, what is to be expected when you are so sick all of the time, this talking and constant thoughts are a major problem for me and it is nice to know i am not the only one! i do take valerian and other herbs at night to help me sleep, the racing mind and anxiety are definately worse first thing in the morning, but mind just never shuts off, and gets worse the less sleep i get, thanks so much for replying, i really really depend on all of you since i cannot travel to the specialists, so your input helps me so so much, and i so appreciate it! radha
Posted by Radha (Member # 8464) on :
oh i forgot, please ann, let me know if you find that article and if anyone knows of any other treatments or meds other than antidepressants, since i really dont want to start those, please let me know, thanks radha
Posted by Dalphia (Member # 8305) on :
Radha, I'm concerned to read you do not receive any type medical treatment for Lyme Disease. What does your doctor think or is he concerned that you do not receive treatment for this dreadful disease.
I'd be afraid to just let it take it's course, being undiagonsed for 14 years has really taken a toll on my body and created numerous problems which are almost overwhelming.
Please, shouldn't you reconsider getting the treatment you need for this disease.
Good Luck, Gaye
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Radha: I do know of two things that can help this.
One is the drug class SSRI, or "Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor." This includes medications like Prozac.
This class of drugs will calm the racing thoughts. If you see a psychologist about this problem, he can recommend to your family doctor that you be started on a medication.
The other is low dose Dilantin. This drug acts to stabilize bioelectrical activity in the cell.
When taken in large doses, such as 400 mg several times per day, it is used for epileptics. When taken in small doses, such as 50 to 100 mg, it works to calm and focus the mind. This improves concentration, eases racing thoughts, relieves headache, and has other actions.
You can read all about it in the book, "A Remarkable Medicine has Been Overlooked," by Jack Dreyfus.
The book is available at Amazon.com, used, for ridiculously low prices. Just reading the reviews at Amazon is quite informative.
Hope this helps. Carol
Posted by pq (Member # 6886) on :
the constant talking can be a manifestation of the liver being affected. i don't remember the source of this statement, but it was in non-lyme,medical lit.
essay(s)/treatises by jonathan bleiweiss,m.d.("when to suspect lyme");virginia scherr, m.d., and; robert bransfield,m.d., the last two being lyme-expert psychiatrists, should be helpful in identifying this as symptomatic of lyme, and/or other tbds.
check writings of dr. v. scherr first.
Posted by pq (Member # 6886) on :
forgot to say i had this for probably 3 years at variable 'levels' of intensity, and it did not stop until after i had considerable abx treatment.
as an adjunct, farah's suggestion sounds excellent, but should be checked for interaction of effects, and contraindications for ANY meds your taking or will take.(uh....duh).
Posted by Starphoenix (Member # 2402) on :
I have Lyme, Bart, and Babs. I also have Bipolar Disorder. The symptoms you describe are quite common with Bipolar Disorder.
I may have BD because of the Lyme, etc., or it may be because of my family history: two parents with it means a 50/50 chance of getting it! Anyway, it is worse with Herxing.
A mood stabilizer would be ideal. I am taking Neurontin. I am tapering off my antidepressant (Lexapro) as it can exacerbate the mania.
I suggest a psychiatric evaluation. I've found it invaluable.
Steph
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
Yes, OCD is a symptom of lyme disease. I've had many different compulsive/obsessive behaviors pop up in the last 6 yrs. That wasn't me before lyme.
Right now I'm fighting the organizational freak episodes because they burn up my master energy.
This too shall pass.
Pam
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
Flood control causes me to have double posts???????
Pam
Posted by lymelady (Member # 6207) on :
yep. that's me: racing mind (like hamsters on a wheel) constant talking, jumping from one subject to the next, and not remembering any of them two minutes later and horrible OCD (cannot stand one speck of anything on a counter or the floor must pick it up).
Good side is for the first ime in my life, I read directions which I have never done in my life (too bored and impatient). Reading directions makes life much simpler I must admit as opposed to schmucking along and making it up as I go.
Lymelady
Posted by Marnie (Member # 773) on :
Glutamate level too high. Rapid firing.
CoQ10 Deficiency caused by lack of other vitamins (like Vitamin B6) the body needs to manufacture CoQ10. If CoQ10 is deficient, nerve cells in the brain and elsewhere may not have the ability to withstand the overstimulation caused by excess glutamate.
COQ10 regulates the ATP -generating capabilities as an electron carrier. Recent studies have shown that it transports protons for the proton gradient used to drive oxidative phosphorylation.
Hard breathing, aerobic exercise, increases oxidative phosphorylation to make ATP which may boost our immune by virtue of reducing PFK and dependent pathogens.
In addition:
``The body makes most of its own CoQ10. Physical exercise increases the body's CoQ10 supply. The remainder of CoQ10 necessary for the body is obtained from dietary sources.''
CoQ10 (enzyme) may help, but it's expensive...very...in the doses needed.
Xanax can help slow down the rapid firing.
The SSRIs are serotonin reuptake inhibitors. When our body needs serotonin, it is there. When it doesn't need it...it is sorta put back into the "closet". The SSRIs keep it out of the closet...
However, taking 5HTP provides the nutrients to make serotonin and lets the body decide if it needs more or not...If not, the nutrients are shuffled off to make niacin.
L-tryptophan is the main precursor to serotonin, so if you take tryptophan, along with B6, B12, C, calcium, magnesium, and zinc necessary for it to metabolize first into 5HTP and then into serotonin.
(Serotonin is converted to melatonin by 2 enzymes.)
Due to the blood-brain barrier, no serotonin can be "imported" from outside the brain. The blood-brain barrier serves as a protection device to prevent toxins from entering the brain, yet this protection comes at a price. Even friendly molecules needed by the brain, such as amino acids, are limited in their access to the brain.
Nutrients are ferried through the blood-brain barrier by transport molecules, like passengers on a bus.
This creates a special bottleneck for serotonin. Serotonin itself cannot pass through the blood -brain barrier, while its precursor tryptophan must share its transport "bus" with five other amino acidsleucine, isoleucine, valine, tyrosine and phenylalanine.
In any normal diet animal protein-based or vegetarian tryptophan is the least plentiful of all 20 food amino acids. Thus, tryptophan is typically outnumbered as much as 7-9:1 in its competition to secure its transport through the blood-brain barrier into the brain.
Eating a high protein diet in an attempt to increase dietary tryptophan (a typical diet provides only 1-1.5 grams/day) only increases its competition even more. Ironically, the only dietary strategy that increases brain tryptophan supply is to eat a high carbohydrate, low protein diet.
When large amounts of carbos are eaten, the body secretes large amounts of the hormone insulin to lower the ensuing high blood sugar. The insulin also clears from the blood most of the five amino acids that compete with tryptophan for a ride to the brain. Tryptophan then has the "bus" to itself, allowing plenty of tryptophan to reach the brain. (10)
This strategy is instinctively known and practiced by many Americans who eat large amounts of carbos, candy, cake, pie, bread, chips, ice cream, etc.when they are feeling stressed, depressed or anxious.
The increased brain serotonin this produces lowers arousal and anxiety, promoting a (temporary) sense of well-being and security. However, this strategy comes at a price. The same insulin which enhances brain serotonin also enhances the conversion of the fats, carbos and aminos cleared from the blood into stored body fat! Hence the carbo addiction/obesity-serotonin connection.(10)
When neurons convert tryptophan into serotonin, they first use a vitamin B-3-dependent enzyme to convert tryptophan into 5-HTP. A vitamin B6 -dependent enzyme is then used to convert 5-HTP into serotonin.
As Zmilacher et al note: "There are several advantages of considering L-5 -HTP as opposed to L-Tryptophan as being the major determinant in elevating brain serotonin levels: L-5-HTP is not degraded by the tryptophan pyrrolase to kynurenine, the major pathway for peripheral degradation of L-tryptophan (about 98%).
Furthermore, L-5-HTP easily crosses the blood-brain barrier ... ." (1) Additionally, it should be noted that 5-HTP is not incorporated into proteins, as is tryptophan; nor is 5 -HTP used to make vitamin B-3, as is tryptophan. Thus, in comparison to tryptophan, 5-HTP is virtually a "guided missile" directly targeted to increase brain serotonin.
The SSRIs and 5HTP should NOT be taken together. You choose which one you want to take...It's an either or thing: Prozac OR 5HTP.
George Eby, developer of zinc lozenges, cured his own manic depression using large doses of Mg. He is the author of a huge, documented website.
Posted by lymie tony z (Member # 5130) on :
St johns wart has it's own precautions as do many psychotropic drugs...
Lexapro(which is what I take) after having tried other ssri's and anti seizure meds that did'nt work for me, seems to have my mania and depression under control.
The additional IV abx I've had since my last manic/depressed or bipolar episode I believe also helped. A lot.
You do what you will radha but I think that you definitely need some abx of some kind to erradicate the infection in your mind.
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
I take Xanax to try to control my OCD. 2-3 daily My muscle testing doc is going to do some work on me to see if he can nip it in the bud.
Pam
Posted by 5dana8 (Member # 7935) on :
I used to have racing mind earler in my lyme but now I have a blank mind most of the time. I don 't know what is worse. Klonipin used to help me with this. Take good care
www.positivepause.com I listen to this over & over & sometimes it quiets my soul.
Posted by map1131 (Member # 2022) on :
Thanks Dana. That is really nice.
Pam
Posted by johnnyb (Member # 7645) on :
Xanax used to help, but the last time I took it, my hands went numb and I felt like all my blood drained from my body and I might pass out. No more Xanax for me..... Valerian helps calm the nerves. Magnesium good for this (and lots of other stuff) also.
- JB
Posted by pq (Member # 6886) on :
in one of his last paperbacks, purple-colored cover background w/ silver print, the late carlton fredricks mentioned magnesium deficiency correlating with ocd, and a restoration of magnesium with an abatement of ocd Sx.
Posted by Radha (Member # 8464) on :
thanks to all of you for taking the time to reply, i cant thank all of enough, i already take 5 HTP, and st. johns wort, and i would love to take abx, but as i already explained the herx is just way too strong, even just one pill! and my symptoms are so severe already, just dont know what to do, but its nice to know i am not the only one with this problem of racing mind and talking too much, and i will look into the dilantin, and dana, i really liked that website right now, thanks again for all your replies, the problem is without saying out loud, or unloading the thoughts, they dont just go away when i watch t.v., radha
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
Radha, You said, "...the problem is without saying out loud, or unloading the thoughts, they don't just go away..."
Well, get a small tape recorder, and dictate what's on your mind. You could also try keeping a journal.
I found that writing things down when I was upset about something helped alot.
Best, Carol
Posted by lymeloco (Member # 7192) on :
It's also a symptom of A.D.D. Good article, and I'm sure there are some that can relate.