I begged my PCP for Dilantin in the chewable, pediatric dose of 50 mg to be taken as needed. I took 50 mg in morning & maybe 50 mg in afternoon.

You can also try the 100 mg capsule to see how you feel on it. If you don't like how you feel on 100 mg, then cut back to only 50 mg. That's the only way to make it work.

You can check out the book, "A Remarkable Medicine has Been Overlooked" at your library through inter-library loan.

It is worth the read.

The whole point of this is NOT for physicians to prescribe therapeutic adult doses of Dilantin which is about 300 - 400 mg a day because that will make you a zombie. Please----don't do that.

This is very precise dosing that only the patient can determine during a trial run.

If you don't take enough, it won't help you, but if you take too much------it has just the opposite effect. If I did too much, it made me cry.

You have to make it work for your own brain chemistry. One-size fits all DOES NOT work with Dilantin.

I do not believe in masking symptoms, but if you can't get Klonopin & you really need something akin to that which is not addictive, you might want to research Dilantin.

It also has many potential drug interactions.

You can use www.drugdigest.org to check for those, but not all drug interactions have been studied.

We take so many meds, that probably very few of us could take this, but you might have a family member or friend that Dilantin could be a lifesaver for them.

Be sure & research this before requesting it from your doctor.

Here are two excerpts about Dilantin:

_____________________________________________
Dr. Julian Whitaker's
Health & Healing
November 1993
Vol. 3, No. 11

One Drug You Don't Want to Overlook

Interested in good medicine? Let's take a look at Dilantin (phenytoin), an inexpensive capsule from Parke-Davis that has been used for close to 60 years to treat seizures.

However, it is also effective for reducing anxiety, defusing self-defeating anger, taming temper tantrums, controlling phobias, and improving your power of concentration.

When Dilantin is put on open sores or skin ulcers, it promotes healing and for the diabetic, this could save a leg.

A seizure is an explosion of uncontrollable electrical activity. Dilantin stabilizes the electrical impulses in the central nervous system, thus allowing continuous normal mental activity.

Temper tantrums, loss of concentration, and a whole variety of phobic conditions are like seizures. They occur when the brain is "jumpy," overwhelmed with unwanted, usually self-destructive activity.

More Than 3,000 Studies Say Dilantin Works

In the early 1960s, financier Jack Dreyfus, founder of the Dreyfus Fund, was hospitalized with a potential career-destroying emotional disorder of depression and anxiety.

He described it as mental "worry gnats" blocking his focus and concentration. He asked for and was given a trial on Dilantin. His problem stopped----immediately.

Dreyfus was so impressed with his results that he has spent almost 30 years using his own money to research the many conditions Dilantin seems to help.

In the mid-1960s he wrote, "A Remarkable Drug Has Been Overlooked."

His Health Foundation has published an anthology of more than 3,000 medical studies showing that Dilantin can effectively treat many of our emotional disorders.

I have been prescribing Dilantin to my patients with a variety of emotional problems for over a decade.

The results speak for themselves: an 11-year-old hyperactive boy with attention deficit disorder and a Ritalin failure

immediately rises to the upper 25% of his class on Dilantin, a 35-year-old women overcomes her bulemia and states, "For the

first time since I was 12 years old I can walk into the kitchen and not be afraid of the refrigerator."

In recent controlled studies with prisoners prone to impulsive aggressive acts, Ernest S. Barratt, Ph.D., found that 300 mg of Dilantin administered daily significantly reduced aggressive behavior.

Impulsive behavior, whether violent or not, is usually characterized by a particular brain wave pattern.

All the prisoners Barratt studied demonstrated this pattern, which tended to subside with use of Dilantin.

Speeds Up Both Learning and Wound Healing

Dilantin quiets your nervous system, allowing you to be more efficient at tasks that require timing and rhythm, such as reading, speaking, and typing.

Dr. Barratt feels the use of Dilantin in children having difficulty acquiring reading and verbal skils will not only facilitate

acquisition of these skills, but possibly short-circuit the pathway to violent behavior.

As if its effectiveness on the brain were not enough, the medication in powder form speeds up healing and reduces pain when applied to open skin wounds.

In a study of 100 diabetic patients with open skin ulcers, one-half were treated with Dilantin.

These patients healed within about 21 days, compared to 45 days for the control group.

The only problem with Dilantin is that it lost its patent decades ago.

Though drug companies may be aware of its many uses, they would never promote an unpatentable drug as it would compete with their high-ticket items.

Since the drug companies control what doctors think, most physicians go along with the current fad, and Dilantin sits on the shelf.

This is not just bad medicine, it's terrible medicine.

Recommendation

I've seen many patients who could benefit from small doses of Dilantin, but their phobia of "brain" drugs holds them back.

These are often the same people who readily swallow diuretics, antibiotics, and powerful heart medicines.

If you do suffer from frustration, anxiety, impulsive behavior, attention deficit disorder, or poor concentration, Dilantin is worth a try.

I suggest that you:

1. Get a copy of Jack Dreyfus' book, "A Remarkable Medicine Has Been Overlooked."

Order at:

http://www.remarkablemedicine.com/

2. Show your doctor the book and explain that you only want to conduct a therapeutic trial with Dilantin for a week or so. The usual dose is 100 mg. twice a day------morning and later afternoon.

I recommend performing the "one hour test" described by Dreyfus. You simply write down how you feel, take 100 mg. of Dilantin, and record your feelings one hour later.

I've given 100 mg. of Dilantin to anxious, fidgety, dysfunctional patients whose world had crashed. An hour later, they were making a "to do" list for the rest of the day.

Good medicine is often overlooked.

Dr. Peter H. Langsjoen, Dr. Karl Folkers and Jack Dreyfus found some and as a result, many of my patients are still alive and many who could not cope now can.

The following excerpt is from the book, "A Remarkable Medicine has been Overlooked":

_____________________________________________

The One Hour Test

Part I ------Somatic Conditions

These questions pertain to how you feel now. If you answer yes to any question, grade your symptom, on a scale of 1-10
(1, minimal; 10, most severe).

Do you have a headache of any sort?

Before
Dilantin

________

After
Dilantin

________

Any pain or blurring in the eyes?

Any ache or pain in the neck?

In the shoulders, the back, or chest?

Shortness of breath?

Aches or pains in your arms or hands?

Aches or pains in your legs or feet?

Are your hands or feet hot or cold?

Any tingling sensations?

Any "knots" or "butterflies" in your stomach?

Are you trembling now? Hold out your hands and observe.

Do you feel any trembling inside?

Do you feel a pulse, or beat, or throb inside you?

How is your energy now?

Do you have any pain or discomfort not asked about?

_____________________________________________

Dr. Julian Whitaker's
Health & Healing
January 1993
Vol.5, No. 1

Dilantin: A Remarkable Medication

As a "Health & Healing" subscriber, you'll know that in general I am not a spokesman for the benefits of prescription drugs.

However, I am not against using prescription drugs when they work. I've written about Dilantin before (in November 1991), and because it is so useful, I feel I should mention it again.

The Jones family (all names in this story are fictitious)---mother, father, and two sons---had a lot in common.

They all take Dilantin (phenytoin). I have been following this family for several years.

The younger son, Mark, 11 years old, was nervous, had trouble concentrating, and had an obsession about cleanliness.

He would wash his hands until the skin was red and almost chafed, and would even pull his sweater over his hand before turning a doorknob.

He had experienced excessive anxiety before testing in school. For these symptoms, I recommended 100 mg. of Dilantin daily--a very small dose.

All of his destructive symptoms went away, his grades went up, his obsession with cleanliness was alleviated, he became more social, and he is now editor of the school newspaper.

Their "Flash Anger" Disappeared

His brother, Jim, two years older, used to have "flash annger," just like his dad.

This inability to control impulses affects millions of people, and does nothing to solve the problems that bring on the anger in the first place.

Most temper tantrums only make the problems worse.

Both Jim and his dad take small amounts of Dilantin on a regular basis, which now controls these symptoms.

His mother has cardiac arrhythmia, which is being very well treated and controlled with magnesium.

However, taking small amounts of Dilantin improves her heart function as well as her mood.

Dilantin probably has the safest drug record of any medication available.

Seizure patients have often taken 300 to 500 mg a day for decades with few side effects, and the doses needed to control the symptoms mentioned above are far less.

Actually, these symptoms are like mini-seizures, in that they represent hyperactivity or abnormalities in the nerve impulses in the brain.

Dilantin simply smoothes this out.

Dilantin Turned His Life Around

Dilantin is normally given for seizures. However, Jack Dreyfus, founder of the Dreyfus Fund, credits Dilantin with saving his career, if not his life, back in the sixties.

He was being treated for depression and anxiety, and was even hospitalized for it, but once he took Dilantin on a therapeutic trial, his symptoms went away.

Jack Dreyfus was so enthusiastic about Dilantin that he spent millions of dollars of his own money researching it and getting the word out.

He also wrote a book, "A Remarkable Medicine Has Been Overlooked."

Walter Alvarex, M.D., an internationally known physician from the Mayo Clinic and syndicated columnist, also wrote a book

about Dilantin, entitled, "Nerves in Collision" (Pyramid House, NY, l972---out of print.)

For anyone with anxiety or overly impetuous behavior, Dilantin could be a therapy. Most of the time you don't feel any

difference when taking Dilantin, but if you are unable to control your impulses, or have obsessive behavior, both you and others will notice sometimes dramatic changes.

Recommendations

I encourage my patients to use Dilantin as a therapeutic trial.

Often I'll have patients who refuse to give it a try because of a philosophical stance against taking a "mind-altering" drug.

I explain that Dilantin doesn't do that, it just smoothes out your brain function.

It's very rare that whole families need to take Dilantin, but I also estimate that there is someone in most families that could benefit from it.

Dilantin is a remarkable drug that has been overlooked by conventional medicine.

_____________________________________________

You can get more info on Dilantin below.

(I have ordered their Gerovital H3 tablets for depression. Dr. Aslan from Austria injected her patients with Gerovital for

arthritis & found out that her patients' depression lifted. You only take tablets 12 days & stop.)

=============================================
http://www.smart-publications.com/articles/a104-Dilantin.html

=============================================

Sorry you're having to struggle like this.

Let me look some stuff up for you & I'll reply back.

If you have bruising, Dr. H. always said it was due to vasculitis caused by Lyme.

He said in time that would clear up.

Because you're only getting injections every 3 days, it will take longer for this to clear up,

The vasculitis is throughout your body.

Can you get your next shot on Monday?

Maybe the nurse can draw a big circle around the injection site with an ink pen on both hips.

I found this by Tabbytamer on Lymenet:
http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/023028.html

Here's the excerpt to save you reading that whole thing:

"In school, when we learned to IM injections, we were told to place our pinky finger on the patient's pelvic bone (around the front) Then, keeping the pinky there, stretch the hand around across the right (or left) upper hip heading toward the back.
And, where your thumb hits is usually a safe area from nerve bundles." per Tabbytamer

Sorry to add confusion, but this is how we found the injection site:

While wearing a pair of jeans, place thumb on right front hip bone. Place your right index finger on where the side seam of your jeans would be. Then make a BIG V with the index & middle finger.

You would want to inject between the space in the big V in a fatty part toward the back. This needs to be below the beltline. It would be the right upper outer quadrant of the buttocks.

Well, have I totally confused you? Hope not.

I've seen a diagram on the internet, but can't find it.

Actually, you're probably already doing this correctly.

I just wish you could find someone to give you your shots. If you can find a clinic, sometimes they'll charge $5 per injection.

Just get your LLMD to write directions on a prescription & then take this with you to a clinic near you that's on your insurance.

I think they have to carry out your PCP's orders, as long as they're on the same Ins. plan. (not sure!)

Here's my email:
[email protected]

Rosemary just provided this great Flagyl Protocol that allows you to ramp up slowly.

I've already printed mine out. Print one out for Monday's appt., but review it so you know what to ask for.

If your LLMD orders Flagyl daily, ask for it this way:

Ask LLMD for the 250 mg Flagyl for days 1 - 56.

Then on day 57, you start with a 500 mg twice daily.

So you'd need to get 2 different RXs------if she wants you to take Flagyl daily. I don't know her protocol.

Using this schedule will save you a lot of heartache & pain. Rocephin & Flagyl are double whammies on your nerves.

Your LLMD may only have you take Flagyl certain days of the week------I have no idea.

---------------------------------------------
Flagyl Schedule Print-Out
http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/013109.html

---------------------------------------------

Anyway, we're heading to Austin Friday for our first visit (both my husband & I).

Please E-mail me if you want.

I was not on Dilantin a long time because I had to keep begging for it.

Eventually I had the BEAM (brain mapping) done & they chose Klonopin for me instead of the Dilantin.

It just depends on what the doctor prefers; or maybe it was because he was given me Wellbutrin also. I don't know how he came to that conclusion.

The Klonopin was also to address the insomnia & help me concentrate.

Well, maybe I should read up on Lorazepam because I don't know which is better----- the Dilantin or the Lorazepam.

I don't want you to give up something that helps you.

Once, a very elderly psychiatrist put me on Buspar (anti-anxiety) & I think that is what weirded me out.

It wasn't anything calming & comfortable like Klonopin or Dilantin. Klonopin can make you concentrate better-----once you overcome the sedation factor.

My brain is so screwed up that Klonopin
1 mg. doesn't make me sleepy, but makes me more clear-headed. I can think straight.

My BEAM test showed the frontal lobe of my brain not getting electricity. This part of your brain has to do with impulse control. You just say whatever comes to mind.

There's not the natural filter in speech or behavior you normally have. My brain has gotten better, but I did have Lyme rage sometimes just out of the blue.

Another med they gave me in 1989 was Inderal for essential tremor of the head. You can take that in low doses of 40 mg and it is calming.

People take it prior to giving public speeches to calm themselves.

I eventually worked up to 80 mg LA twice daily. That has a similar effect on me like Klonopin.

Well, the first question they asked me when I went for my BEAM test was: Do you dream?

Anyway, I thought that was interesting.

I would think the Minocin would cause nightmares, but I'm simply basing that on my experience with Rocephin.

I never had nightmare until I went on the Rocephin. Then gradually the nightmares just went down to vivid dreaming.

So, I knew then the ABX was finally hitting the brain.

In the book by Dreyfus the appendix lists case studies that some patients had nightmares that improved & sleep overall improved.

I don't know if that would help in your case. Did you have a tendancy to have nightmares before Minocin?

Anyway, I also had some other ideas for your post, but never got back to it.

Before I forget, one idea was:

Advanced Gingko Smart - this is what the bottle looks like, but I've forgotten the manufacturer. (have no clue if this is a reputable source-----just a picture of it!)

============================================= http://shop.store.yahoo.com/phillypharmacyinc/adginsmar.html
=============================================

Among other good things, it contains Mucuna Pruriens extract (seed) 10 mg.

What was interesting about that was GiGi on Lymenet has a post about Mucuna Prurien Beans.

You can purchase the "beans" for the brain. They help with dopamine in the brain.

Dpamine is what my brain needs; sedative antidepressants like Remeron just depress me more.

Well I'm rambling so----

I started at 1 mg Klonopin and about 4 years ago a neurologist doubled it because I still couldn't sleep.

She said, "Well, I'm not surprised you can't sleep with all your brain chemical imbalances ----while looking at my BEAM test."

That wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear.
I wanted something to help get to the root of the problem.

I knew I'd be a zombie the next day after taking 2 mg-------but didn't know what to do. I wanted her to help me return to work & that only make it more impossible.

This is when I started having the really bad neck pain which she ignored & discounted.

I haven't worked since l998 & I don't look disabled.

Anyway the 2 mg will make me drag the next day, so now I take use a pill cutter & take l mg at night.

If I get in a pain mode I can't break, I use the low dose elavil (anti-depressant & vaso-constrictor which is BAD for my brain) with Motrin for pain.

Then, I sometime add in l - 2 mg of Klonopin depending on the severity of the pain & how much I can't stand it anymore.

I'm very afraid of the addiction factor on 2 mg. But if I don't get the Rx for it & keep some on hand for pain, they'll never let me have it again. Gone forever!

I've never been one to be able to get pain meds. In 1989, the neurologist did give me Darvocet-N for face pain, left ear pain, but I only knew to take one.

It didn't touch the pain. I have taken Elavil since the early 90s for sleep & eventually pain-----but always added to Motrin.

Around 2000, I developed severe neck pain which was aseptic meningitis. I finally had a spinal tap in the ER, but they neglected to measure the pressure.

The test showed some elevated protein levels (I think - I'd have to go look) which indicates inflammation/infection (I believe that's right).

For the next 2 weeks I had a perfect sleeping pattern without even trying. Sleepy at 10 pm & up by 8 am.

Then it disappeared again. I know that spinal tap was actually a "therapetic one for me."

The first few days after, I slept around the clock & was confused. I didn't know if my husband was going to work or had just come home--------very weird. I scared him.

Anyway, Klonopin has a very long half-life which should help some when going off of it.

When my brain is better, I do want to taper down, but it will takes months to a year probably to do. That & a whole lot of magnesium.

They told me never to stop it abruptly or I would have seizures because Dr. H. said I've most likely developed receptor sites for it.

When I had my BEAM test, they gave me a handout about a clinic in Boston (?) for mild traumatic brain injury.

That's due to a lack of oxygen. At the time Dr. Eric B. did not know what caused it.

Now, I know it was the Lyme & Babs & whatever else is left to be found.

About Gingko.........,

It's suppose to take a few months to actually kick in & you have to take amount recommended on bottle.

That Gingko shown in that link has several really important things in there to help feed the brain-------well just about everything:

Acetyl-L-Carnitine (amino acid "specifically for" the brain)

Choline

DMAE - precursor to neurotransmiter acetylcholine

TMG - brain amino acid/glycine

Alpha Lipoic Acid

Vinpocetine - smart drug

Huperzine A - ?

Mucuna Pruriens - helps dopamine

Bioperine - helps you utilize it; not sure

The main thing I did not see was Phosphatidlyserine because it's a very expensive ingredient.

Solaray also carries the Phosphat. with Leci PS which is suppose to be the really good stuff.

Something I really noticed that helped was the vaso-dilator "No Flush Niacin 500 mg." by Solaray.

I take 1 daily. You could probably work up to 1 every 12 hours.

Aspirin is a good blood thinner if it works for you.

Naturalist would encourage blood thinners such as Fish Oil Capsules, coconut oil or Vitamin E (natural form of d-alpha-tocopherol).

Vitamin E is a very strong immune stimulant & so good for the brain.

I use Solaray Natural Vitamin Dry E 400 I.U. & need to gradually work up to 600 or 800 IU very gradually.

The enzyme, Bromelain 500 mg, thins the blood & acts as an anti-inflammatory if you take it on an "empty stomach". That's how to take it.

Many say to take Bromelain with ABX to make them work better. (Bromelain is not a cyst
buster per se, but something akin to that).

It will break down inflammation. It causes ear pain for me because it is a more abrasive anti-inflammatory. (I've even taken Motrin because of the ear pain from Bromelain. It really works!)

I also take DMAE by Twinlabs for my brain
about 300 mg or you can get Source Natural & take 1 tablet. I have to start everything new in low dose to consider the unknown pain factor that can come with something brand new.

NAC (N-acetyl cysteine) has been a lifesaver for me. It is the precursor for glutathione & a great immune stimulant.

But I take it for how it makes my brain feel.
Calm, yet working.

NAC (n-acetyl cysteine) capsules, an amino acid penetrates the blood brain barrier. It raises the P300 level/electricity in the brain.

This is also docuomented by Dr. Eric Br. in his book & years of studying the brain.

It is detoxifying for the brain due to the sulphur content. It is not a "sulfa drug" or related to that. Of course, also detoxifies the liver-----the great chelator.

Amino acids like NAC work fast. You'll feel the difference very fast.

I take Biochem by Country Life 1 - 2 capsules throughout a day. I don't take it every day. It will pull your minerals out.

It is extremely "calming" but only works on an empty stomach activated by some Vitamin C & small amount of Vit. B6.

Some on the board believe it merely pulls tosic metals & displaces them in other places in the body. I have to do what works for me & I've been reading & using NAC
since the early 90s.

NAC & lilquid Chlorophyll will pull old meds out of the liver. Both good blood purifiers.
Chlorophyll contains magnesium & is very calming, also.

The other weird thing I do for inflammation for the brain is: Desulphured Blackstrap Molasses $4 in glass bottle from "HEALTH food store" only.

It's loaded with potassium & either I'm just depleted or it acts as a diuretic for my brain.

I just can think better & have more energy on Blackstrap. You really have to make yourself take it as it taste bad. The benefit is worth it. I don't drink milk, but if you did, you could add to your milk.

Later today, I'm going to post that link about the home thyroid test on your original post so others can see it there, too.

Thyroid (if you need it) gets toxins out & oxygen in the cells. You'll live longer if you take it.

Hope you have some luck at the doctors. We all just need more wisdom. It's tough being your own doctor & patient, too.

Maybe the Rifampin will continue to help you.

If you wanted to calm the brain, 5 mg. Elavil (anti-depressant) will definitely do that. You'd need to try that on the weekend because it takes a while to adjust to that.

If I take 25 mg of Elavil to sleep (maximum dose----usually take 10 mg.) then it's next to impossible to get up.

Elavil 5 mg. in the morning might help with anxiety-----I don't know.

I wonder if your brain needs dopamine
or seratonin.

One amino acid which is the precursor to
dopamine is TYROSINE. In the book, "The Way Up From Down" describes this.

The author also has a website -----I need to verify. (I think it's-----www.thewayup.com)

I wish I had better answers for you. Sure hope the doctor can help.

Can he give you something for poor blood flow to the brain on a trial run? Just a thought. You do have that SPECT scan to back that request up.

Take Care,
Jan

So did the shot today cause that leg pain again? I don't understand why it's doing that.

I just wonder if you don't have super thick blood or something?

Anything I could suggest is going to sound really lame considering the type of pain that's causing.

I know Rocephin is very caustic, but still.......,

Sorry, you've probably heard this a thousand times and that's Magnesium Citrate for pain.

But you're suppose to wait 2 hours after oral ABX.

I don't know if an injection & magnesium orally really makes a difference. Maybe someone here might know.

(You've heard about Marnie's Magnesium protocol ------ use Magnesium Citrate $1.12 from laxative section from Wal-Mart or drug store.)

Just use 1 teaspoon or you'll get diarrhea. I have used more for pain & 300 mg Motrin & Valerian capsules.

Have you tried heating pad or microwaveable hot gel pack?

I know you can't walk around all day with a heating pad on?

Standing in the hot shower is proably the best thing.

I'm a total dunce here. I'm out of answers.

Some use 5-HTP capsules from the health food store. It converts to Seratonin.

St. John's Wort herb also helps seratonin levels. It's also good for nerve pain because it------acts on the nerves. It might really help you.

SAM-E capsules (expensive) from Health Food Store acts like a tricyclic antidepressant such as Elavil.

Well, I hope the Claforan might work for you. That article sounds interesting.

Evidently, Lorazapam & Dilantin basically do the same thing. If Lorazapam works-----keep it.

But for me, just understanding how Dilantin works teaches me how the Klonopin works. Some of our brains need these meds.

After I finished 2 bottles of Mepron for Babs, Dr. H. said to wait 3 to 4 months & let my brain heal up.

He refused my request for Minocin.

Have you ever tried Questran to rid the brain of toxins. Maybe you could do that a few days a week or something. I don't even know the dosing on that. Wonder if that could help?

It sounds like you need a tinsy increase of
Lorazepam during neuro herxes, but that becomes the old slippery slope again.

I will eventually get to your post for the thyroid test---------really.

Glad it was helpful for you. The brain is such a great muystery.

It is common practice to reconstitute IM Rocephin with 1% lidocaine instead of plain water. It is painful otherwise. Ask your Dr for some lidocaine if your med is not coming packaged with it. A slight sting and then all numb.

I am not on this, but have had it a few times for other things.

James

quote:

---

Originally posted by James H:
Jean,

It is common practice to reconstitute IM Rocephin with 1% lidocaine instead of plain water. It is painful otherwise. Ask your Dr for some lidocaine if your med is not coming packaged with it. A slight sting and then all numb.

I am not on this, but have had it a few times for other things.

James

---

Fortunately the nerve is fairly deep (6 to 7 cm) on most people. Still the med could infiltrate near enough to it to cause some irritation.

The place many nurses will inject as a standard dorsogluteal injection site is fairly close to where the sciatic nerve passes underneath. Fortunate that it is deep enough it is hard to hit, but one should be careful.

James