I've been on oral abx for 2 1/2 weeks now. First week was bad- like the worst flu, sinus infection, strep throat all together, plus a truck kept running over me. ;oP

Most of the second week, not so bad. Varied from normal misery to somewhat better than normal to slightly worse than normal.

Yesterday morning was not so bad, afternoon not so good.

Today I am going insane.

I can't breathe. Feel like I have a ton of bricks sitting on my chest. Costochondritis pain plus severe congestion, coughing, can't catch my breath. Asthma inhaler doesn't do anything except make me even shakier. Shortness of breath is doing nothing to help my severe exhaustion.

Can't stay awake. Sleep should be a wonderful relief, but I have constant nightmares- more on par with "lucid dreams," seems that I'm awake but all kinds of strange/horrible things are happening. Wake up in more pain.

Even when I'm definitely awake, I keep thinking I hear a snatch of a conversation, or seeing something out of the corner of my eye- and I'm alone in the house. No pets, nothing. Keeping the radio and/or tv on does help me not notice this so much, but the noise gives me a headache.

Very very weak. This has been progressing the entire time. Can hardly hold a pen. Hand tremor, too. To the point that not only can I not write, or hold a book still enough to read it, but I can hardly keep food on a fork. I have no appetite, anyway- sticking with eating foods I can eat with my hands.

Brain fog, can't keep a thought long enough to complete it.

Face, tongue, hands and feet varying degrees of numbness.

Just need to vent.

Is this your first abx?

Nightmares, weird nightmares. Waking up in the middle of night and couldnt breathe. Brain fog that made me think I was gonna be permanently retarded or something- that was scary.

Vision-- toast. Couldnt see a damn thing, especially in the dusk time frame. Any drink of alcohol would send me flying..

Woke up one morning, just like you- tremors like crazy, couldnt type on this website to tell my problems.. hands were shaking like leaves.

To sum it all up, I really didnt see any improvements till about 5 weeks. And these improvements werent much but welcomed. You'll see in the future if you keep up the treatment that slowly these annoying symptoms and the "heart stopping" anxiety will all pass at some point.

Slowly you'll shed all of these problems.
Some will stay longer than others.

Hang in there..
It'll be a hell of a ride.

we're all here to talk if you need it.

This really isn't that unusual for LD patients; some people experience full blown aural or visual hallucinations.

Nonetheless, DO call your doctor and let him know what's going on ASAP. LLMDs seem to differ widely on what severity of herx is OK -- but herxing (if that is what this is) can be dangerous and you may need to back off on the meds.

The other consideration is that you may be having an adverse reaction to the medications themselves.

Finally had to stop meds for awhile. could not take another day. I will take a break and go back. I do not know any other way to do it.

Five years with LD, diagnosed with babs and lyme this year. this is tough and I totally sympathize.

Hang in there. I can safely most of experience what you are going through to some level.

When I started treatment, I thought my heart was going to stop becasue it felt so weak and was beating in crazy patterns. Also, had crazy nightmares of evil things around me. Very scary for sometone who has never had nightmares. It also makes you very emotional and panicky.
Be strong and remember your on the path to recovery.
It also helps to remember that alot of the dreams, emotions and crazy thoughts are just part of Lyme and not anything to do with who YOU are.

I thought these were all leftover babs/bart symoms for me until i saw a midwife adn she confirmed THAT LYME had put me in early perimenopause..interesting...how it plays havoc with our hormones...

now with my herbs i feel great...

just a thought..i'm 43

You are not alone. The symptoms you describe didn't hit me until about 4 weeks into treatment. Thought this was going to be a breeze, kill the suckers and kick em out.

Whoa, was I wrong. Around week 4 I swear I was hallucinating, seeing things that weren't there, dreaming awful technicolor dreams, didn't want to sleep then couldn't sleep, thought I was having a heart attck most of the time. I went to the ER because I was walking into walls and my heart was racing in irregular patterns. Guess the bugs were just waking up and they were sure pissed off.

I can't tell you that it will get easier any time soon. This is a long haul. But, I can tell you that it sounds like the meds are working. I know that doesn't make you feel any better.

Buckle your seat belt and try to hang on. And, as someone else mentioned, do keep in touch with your MD. It is important that he/she know what is going on with you so the dosage can be adjusted, if necessary.

Take care.

I'm only 27, so hopefully I'm not entering perimenopause...

Doc says I have viral pneumonia. Great, just what I needed. Because, you know, life was just going entirely too well.

I started a blog, at http://maypanic.tripod.com/blog/

so I have somewhere to vent. I honestly don't care if anyone reads it or not, just need a place to let me mind wander. Feel free to visit, say if you have insomnia or something...

I'm hoping eventually to post plain english descriptions of my experiences in medical testing. Before I had my tilt table test, electrophysiology study, sleep study or addison's disease test, I had a hard time finding out what to expect, I'd love it if I could help someone else before they go thru that.