I can relate! I'm very irritable at times too. It gets worse as the day goes on. I don't even really watch TV anymore because even the sound of certain pitches in someone's voice, or certain other types of noises aggravates the heck out of me!
I've developed road rage. Sad but true. I DESPISE driving anymore! Seems like I always get stuck next to the idiot that doesn't know how to drive.
I was making dinner earlier tonight and my hubby tried to help. But he turned on the TV and every time he would open a cabinet, he would close it too loudly! I tried to remain calm but eventually snapped. Told him to get out. He meant well.
I seem to have trouble dealing when there is too much going on or if things are too loud. So ya see, you're not the only one!
I feel for ya. I really do. This disease most definitely can change your personality! But I think my anger issues are more related to bart than they are to lyme.
It will get better. It is just gonna take time.
Posted by lada (Member # 32618) on :
I'm new to this but I can say that I am as cranky as can be. Eveything bothers me when it never did before. I'm going to have to say yes. Not sure why but it would make sense.
Posted by anonymiss (Member # 32018) on :
Pretty much exactly what philly78 said for me, too! I have been extremely irritable. People making too much noise irritates me (and by "too much", usually means "any" LOL). My poor kids have had to deal with "mom rage" way more often than usual, and I am normally very laid back!
Driving, oh, don't even get me started! If I have to go out in public I am generally on my last nerve by the time I get home. I tell the kids "it's quiet time, Mommy has had more than she can handle", and send them into their room to watch a movie QUIETLY, please! =)
My fiance, who is SO SO patient and loving and concerned and only wants to help, often gets snapped at for no particular reason or sometimes for being TOO helpful!
I am feeling much more like myself this week, though. No outbursts to speak of, yet!
I have heard of people being diagnosed with bipolar disorder or anxiety and panic attacks when they were really infected with Bb and just didn't have the tell-tale symptoms or their doctor blew them off or whatever. I think the "panic and anxiety attacks" I was having back in Feb/March were actually due to the lyme infection. I have not had a panic attack in quite some time, come to think of it. I'd say I haven't had a "panic attack" since my "arthritis" episode that lead me to believe I was infected with borreliosis.
Posted by scorpiogirl (Member # 31907) on :
I don't know about personality change but if you're in pain 24/7 for 2.5 years how can you STAY the same person as the one before you were sick w/ Lyme!!
Take a healthy person w/ NO health problems, make him not sleep for a month and see if he's the same person! Lyme attack so many organs and functions so it's no surprising that we no longer our normal selves!
Posted by BoxerMom (Member # 25251) on :
Well said, scorpiogirl.
Posted by thehause (Member # 21237) on :
I went from being very patient, happy, and laid back for the most part to being very awkward, out of it, agressive, and anxious. Its been hell. I want the old me more than I want to be cured.
Posted by Igor's mom (Member # 29191) on :
I used to be full of energy, athletic, outgoing and funny-over the last two year oddessey of diagnosis...the pain, sleep and anxiety changed my personiality. I took anti-anxiety and sleep meds, those and the ABX and now the herbs are helping me reclaim the old self i liked. Its just slow going and the progress is not linear.
Posted by thehause (Member # 21237) on :
Igor - how long for you to start getting back to you?
Posted by JeniferM (Member # 31996) on :
Oh my gosh, yes! My significant other always seems to follow me into the kitchen and start doing things when I'm trying to cook dinner. Irritates the heck out of me with him in my way and making noise. There are days when I want to tell him to get the heck out of the kitchen, but I haven't yet.
Sometimes I get so irritable that I can't stand to have him even touch me because it seems like every touch is painful or irritating. Luckily, it hasn't come to that as I can't imagine how he would take it if I said that to him.
And driving! Ack. Doesn't take much to trow me into a rage and then I get all shaky. I usually get exhausted after getting to work from getting all worked up in the car. I wish I could be like the guy I work with where he just tools along just under the speed limit like he has all day to get somewhere and nobody bothers him.
This irritation seems to wax and wane, so I'm suspecting it's Lyme related because it has no bearing on reality really. I mean, why should it bother me if he's putting dishes away while I'm cooking? It's irrational, but I can't seem to help it.
Posted by lmedler (Member # 32429) on :
Thanks for all the replies. Good to know I am not exactly crazy, or at least in good company.
I am exactly the same with driving. Wow, especially now that I have to go through this construction EVERYDAY to get home, ugh!
I have noticed that loud or what I perceive as loud noises really make my irritation worse. I also had to leave the room last night when my husband was chewing, and he's not really loud. Ay-yi-yi, this is awful.
I am beginning to wonder if I do not also have a co-infection going on.
Thanks again for letting me know at least I am not alone. Posted by Jamers (Member # 28016) on :
This is me to a T! I can't focus on conversations, I hate people now, Im irritated easily, I have super hearing and loud noises drive me crazy. For me, this surfaces with Bartonella.
Im not positive for it but I have all the symptoms. Anxiety, anger, and irritablility are very common with Bartonella.
Posted by Roger1700 (Member # 29719) on :
+1 to every post here on here.... we are all having the same issues...
Posted by Igor's mom (Member # 29191) on :
the hause, it has taken since November of last year for me to begin to be like my old self ....I was pretty far down the dark hole there ..I use anti-anxiety and antidepression meds now and I like L theonine, I am trying to lower my use of clonazapam, down from 3 to 2 pills, steady on the Remeron and Wellbutrin. I don't know what to tell you except it gets better....I think killing parasites helped as did the abx and lots of sleep. Just know that you will get better a little bit at a time. Some days are better than others.
Posted by Jin (Member # 11735) on :
Dear Everyone, I am the exact same way! Every little noise is so loud! Some of it is better now that my adrenals are being treated, but I cannot take this! I can hear my father drop a fork on the carpet in the kitchen on the other side of the house with the bedroom door closed! That cannot be normal! It is about to drive me insane!
It makes me really angry and upset. Our three dogs barking certainly does not help! I have tried those earmuffs for when you go to shooting ranges, but I can still hear things way too well! Sometimes I just need to scream or throw something. I have always had a bad temper, but the noises make me more aggressive. As others said, you cannot control your frustration. To make matters worse, my parents could not hear an elephant crap in their ear! LOL! They are always yelling back and forth.
Dear Roger1700, OMG! We live in the same town! I do not believe it. It is nice to see someone else on here from Evansville. Let me guess, you have a jerk for a doctor, too. My PCP could not care less, considering she gets paid regardless.
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