PLEASE HELP! This is for a friend with Lyme disease. Hers is in her brain and for months now she has been suffering extreme anxiety, panic and severe depression. She has brain fog to such an extent she is not able to focus or think clearly. While many things are going on such as Lyme, heavy metals, etc, her #1 - must fix it now before she goes over the edge- issue is the anxiety, depression etc.
So can anyone else who has suffered Lyme in this way please share what worked for you to relieve the anxiety etc and what doctor should she be seeing for this? Any experience and information you have will be greatly appreciated.
Posted by glm1111 (Member # 16556) on :
Anxiety and panic is on the symptom list for parasites. My anxiety was really lessened when I went after parasites. Google parasite symptoms and check out Buhners herbs and the chapter he has on parasites. Also check out the PARASITE WARRIORS SUPPORT THREAD.
Gael
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
So many things to consider .. she could have a copper imbalance, histamine intolerance ... bartonella....
I just hope she has a good LLMD??
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
I understand completely. And, I agree this is the #1 must fix symptom right now!
I suggest she go to her primary care doctor and tell him she has anxiety and depression and would like to try something like Zoloft. Don't mention lyme at all.
Zoloft can work very quickly for some people--like me. I noticed a difference with the first piece of a pill that I took. I woke up the next day and my mind was not racing with millions of thoughts! It was heavenly.
Before I knew I had lyme, my gyn gave me Xanax for my lyme anxiety, thinking it was menopause induced. It worked for about 2 years. Then, stopped working.
I highly recommend the Zoloft. Her primary may give her Xanax along with the Zoloft until the Zoloft kicks in (usually takes 2-4 weeks for it to fully work).
These meds generally work very well, even if the anxiety and depression are lyme induced.
Posted by beaches (Member # 38251) on :
Lexapro worked very well and very quickly for me. Anxiety was my first sx of lyme/cos. Course I didn't know that back then.
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
While Zoloft, Lexapro and other SSRI's may work for some people I would be extremely cautious of taking those meds if lyme and other coinfections are in the brain and nervous system. Serotonin is converted to the neurotoxin quinolinic acid in the presence of brain inflammation.
In the Healing Lyme book Buhner suggests Japanese knotweed to block this conversion pathway. It was the only thing that helped hubby sleep. By taking that herb he could take p5p (activated B6) and l-tryptophan until his neurotransmitter levels stabilized.
It took at least 6 months for his sleep to normalize at which point he stopped the l-tryptophan but continued with the p5p at a lower dose and added melatonin and other sleep herbs.
Prior to the Japanese knotweed, p5p and l-tryptophan caused him to wake up with seizure like episodes in the middle of the night and then he could not get back to sleep for hours even though he was extremely tired and wired. He tried several SSRI's early on in his illness and had very bad reactions even at low doses.
Tickborne patients are frequently deficient in serotonin and also GABA. Working with a nutritionist and/or ACAM doctor is often more helpful than psychotropic meds in my opinion.
SAM-e can be very helpful for depression and it also helps if one has a methylation defect. St John's wort can also be helpful.
Bea Seibert
Posted by catwoman13 (Member # 45472) on :
SAM-e helped me. It can take 3-4 weeks to do its thing, but then so do antidepressants.
If your friend goes on anti-anxiety meds or antidepressants, please tell her to be very cautious about how she goes off them. Most docs don't know beans about safely getting off these meds. The benzodiazapines in particular can be very hard on you if you go off them too fast. Benzos include xanax, librium, valium, klonopin, atavan, restoril, ambien, lunesta. I got help from benzobuddies.org. http://www.freedom-center.org/ has a thorough guide to getting off psychiatric drugs.
Posted by luvs2ride (Member # 8090) on :
Thanks everyone. I am passing these suggestions on to my friend. I really appreciate your information.
Posted by WPinVA (Member # 33581) on :
Lexapro didn't work for me either... it really messed with my sleep and that was in really low doses. Now after reading Bea's post, I finally understand why.
I would advise your friend to either work with her LLMD (does she have one?) or try to find a Lyme literate psychiatrist. There are more out there than you'd think - I found one without even trying.
Given all the nuances with Lyme patients, I would absolutely not go to any doc for this type of treatment without mentioning Lyme.
With the symptoms she describes, is bartonella treatment in the mix? The med that helped the most with my mental/emotional symptoms has been Rifampin.
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
In the book "The Lyme Disease Solution," which is written by a lyme doctor, there is a chapter on "Treating Depression." (page 368)
Here, he mentions diet, supplements, exercise, lifestyle and finally conventional medical approaches. Here is a quote:
"If needed, there are conventional medical approaches that really do work. I strongly recommend that you consider them as temporary ways to deal with the biochemical imbalances in your brain that can be caused by Lyme and the TBDs. The following prescription medications, taken as directed under your doctor's supervision, can also be helpful in relieving depression:" (page 370)
He then goes on to name Amitriptylline (10-100 mg at bedtime), Cymbalta (up to 120 mg per day), Lexapro (10-20 mg once per day), Paxil (20-50 mg), Wellbutrin (150-300 mg once per day), and Zoloft (25-100 mg once per day).
About the Zoloft, he says "This is the overall best-tolerated antidepressant drug in my practice and is the one that I most commonly prescribe. Most people prefer taking this medication at night." (p. 371)
This doctor's practice is 100% lyme disease patients.
Hope this gives you a certain comfort level about your friend taking these meds.
Posted by lpkayak (Member # 5230) on :
My mom had undx lyme when she was elderly. Anxiety was one of the worst sx. The physically shook so much the bed would shake
Regulr docs had her dx as atypical onset dementia and gave her high doses of vistaril for the anxiety. Its really an antihistamine but worked well for her
Later when i was dealing with lyme i began to wake early having anxiety attacks so bad i shook and made the bed shake just like her
I was able to take a very small amount of vistaril and it controlledthe anxiety for me. I found out the generic did not work at all but i still take real vistaril today 20 yrs later
Its and older drug and many docs seem ?, to only want to use thenew drugs. Good luck , to you