A few days ago, it became extreme dizziness and my eyes felt as if they were locked and unable to focus, so that I was seeing double and unable to read. I had to very slowly read one word at a time, because I could not scan the line. And when I got to the end of the line I could not find the next line.

The sensation feels as if I am drunk, though I had nothing to drink. I am on antibiotics and hormones for menopause. It has happened in the afternoon as well as early evening, completely out of the blue. Today it occurred after lunch and I carefully felt my way to the sofa and lay down, then promptly fell asleep for an hour. When I awoke I was much better, though my head has a slightly foggy feeling.

Anyone ever experienced this?

I am making a lame attempt at humor...sorry for your problems, Pooch...and I do sympathize. Honest.

I had terrible problems reading for almost 2 years. I could not keep my place and had to go back and read again, etc. Something I loved to do suddenly became a real chore.
Fortunately, with treatment I am reading again.

I am wondering if one of your antibiotics is levaquin. I have been on that for several weeks now. An hour or so after taking it I get very dizzy, seem to lose my balance, and looking down gives me vertigo although I don't seem to have any depth perception. I head for the couch and it passes.

Have tried to figure out if I am reacting badly to this drug or if it is squirreling out the spirochetes in my brain!

Don't know what is going on, but I'm curious to know if perhaps you are also taking this antibiotic.

Such a "fun" disease!

Good to see you!

Just a guess.. or suggestion really.

How is your yeast?

My yeast, when it suddenly gets the better of me... HITS just like you described... and I am never sure right away what the heck is going on.

When I finally figure it out.. and take the Nystatin to kick it in the butt... within about 2-3 days I am MUCH better.

Are you taking Nystatin or Diflucan on a regular basis?

If not.. it might be worth a try?

If it is yeast.. BINGO!

If not.. at least you have eliminated one of the reasons this could happen.

Or... another thought...

Have you been listening to Willie Nelson and Toby Keith lately?

You know...

Whiskey for my men... beer for my horses!

Hope you feel better soon!

PS.. One more thought...

You ARE taking your meds WITH food... aren't you?

This dizziness might also occur if you aren't.

Just a thought.

OK... ONE more last thought.

I bought some pear nectar from the health food store a while back.

Healthy me... right?

WRONG.

I had never had pear nectar.. and didn't know what it was suppose to taste like.

Soooooo.. I didn't know it had fermented in the unopened bottle!!!!

I felt drunk without the pleasure of any alcohol! But.. finally I figured it out.. contacted the store.. and they confirmed the fact it was fermented.. took it off the shelves.. and I drank the rest real quick before they could take it away from me.

HA! No.. I got rid of it faster than a hot potato! I didn't like feeling drunk on top of the Lyme, etc. Please do check any "drinks" you may have been drinking.

I suppose this is a rare thing.. but it CAN happen!

The lesions are in my frontal and parietal lobes. Don't know which ones that would correspond to vision.

And when walking with this sensation I do have to hang onto things. I feel very unsteady.

My LLMD wants to refer me to a neuro to evaluate for seizures.

I was tested for blood sugar issues, took Diflucan for weeks, yet LLMD said it's the bb causing the fog and getting abx into the fatty brain tissue is the trick. My opthomologist say bb can irritate the optic nerve and cause the vision issues.

because of the drunk feeling and that it happens after Lunch, or in the evening.

This may point to something you may be eating which then causes a yeast explosion...and, acetylaldehyde...which makes us drunk without alcohol.

although....could be somethign neuro.

My family said I look very pale and as if in a trance. My sister-in-law assisted me to the sofa to lay down. She put a cold compress under my neck and gave me some water.

I wonder if it is indeed yeast. Is there scientific evidence about yeast causing an alcohol reaction?

Besides my lesions, I should mention that I have hypoperfusion in my frontal-orbital lobes, more on the right side, and in my left temporal lobe tip.

I posted about these symptoms on a seizure list, and there were many who said this was exactly like what their seizures are like. Who knows what is really going on? It is clearly abnormal.

In my case, I had this problem,exactly as you indicate early on, prior to figuring out I had Lyme and starting IV treatment.

This problem has been given the nickname "drunken sailor syndrome" by some, and is apparently pretty common but in most cases the cause is not identified (Slowly progressing infections like lyme are not even considered unless you have a knowledgable Dr.).

The problem eventually subsided with intial IV treatment but it eventually re-occured after I was on oral ABX for a while. This was followed by complete relapse.

Here is what affected the symptom:

vigorous exercise (ie skiing)made the problem very bad

higher body temperature made the symtoms worse

The symtom also periodically included vertigo, which subsided after sleep.

Also a very interesting observation was that after a bout of low grade vertigo sometimes lasting days, the symptom would "break" and within a few minutes I felt 100% normal.

A few questions:

Is is possible that you are relapsing on the current medication?

It might also be that this is a herxheimer.

Is the symptom getting worse? and how fast? Do the symptoms appear on some sort of cycle?

Was your hypo perfussion improved after intial treatment?

Based on my personal experience I do not believe that orals alone can penetrate the brain sufficiently to effect a cure. I know that there is some controversy on this but IV is still the internationally accepted standard for neuro Lyme. Also from what I have read, with effective treatment the hypo perfussion should be improved, did you find any improvement?

however....
If I remember correctly , you had a 2 week lyme symptom cycle. This is what I had. It appears that cycle time other than 4 weeks is indicative of multiple infections or possibly a different BB strain. I don't recall what co infections you had. I had babesia and likely bart along with Lyme. Apparently if you don'd get them all, when you get rid of one, the other one increases, followed by a reoccurance of the one you initially did get rid of.

I should have clarified that the "drunken" episodes of wooziness and double vision last only for about 30 - 45 minutes, not all day or for days. It has happened every day now for the last 8 days.

Today it was triggered by some fumes coming from downstairs, where the carpenters are applying varnish to a neighbor's floor. That sent me into a conniption fit, because I had asked for 24 hour notice before they used things like that, so I could prepare and be out of the building.

I did notice that when I finally remembered to take an antiseizure medication, Gabitril, which is for my neuropathy, the sensation of being looped and stupid quickly ebbed. I don't know if this was due to the med, or the fact that this would have waned over the hour. Also, this time I did not get profoundly sleepy.

I think I will try taking the Gabitril from now on when an episode happens.

And yes, David, I do think my orals have lost their effectiveness. I am going to try bicillin IM before I resort to IV rocephin. From reading Cave's report, I guess I should expect a huge bout of fatigue after the shot.

I found that for vertigo, it could be suppressed with clonazapam + gravol. I don't know if this combo is acceptable but it allowed me to function during bouts of day long vertigo. I used to have to use it periodically.

Siezure drugs did nothing for me. (I tried them all) nor did it affect the pain.