How many of you feel like you overreact to stressful situations because of Lyme?
I'm only 20, but I still am a chronic worrier, even though I try very hard not to be. I find I am much more likely to lose sleep and stew over a problem than other people. Something stressful happens and I immediately analyze and internalize the problem. It worries me that I worry so much!
Do any of the rest of you have this problem of overreacting and chronic worrying? Does anything help?
Posts: 204 | From Wyoming | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
God, YES! I cause myself so much stress. Too much. I am 53 now; it wasn't as bad when I was younger.
Prayer before bed helps. Or in bed. To get your head in the right place before going to sleep. Also, I just started getting counseling again. That helps, because I verbalise what's worrying me out loud.
When I take valerian, an herbal supplement, that helps to reduce/eliminate the anxiety. It smells awful... like really dirty socks. But I don't even notice that anymore, I have been taking valerian for so long.
Posts: 48 | From Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
I take Valerian a lot as well; can you take too much of it?
Posts: 204 | From Wyoming | Registered: Feb 2003
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klutzo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5701
posted
Boy! Can I relate to this one! I over react so strongly now that it almost killed me last week, and I have come close dozens of other times.
Adrenal boosters like Pantotheine, DHEA help a bit, but life keeps dealing out stressors, one after the other with no breaks inbetween, so I can't seem to recover.
This is the latest: We called the cops on some illegal neighbors who were blasting music all day long. As usual, it did no good, since the minute the cops left, they cranked it up again. I had to take extra blood pressure meds and xanax, since there was no place to go to get away from the buzzing windows from pounding base. 3 other neighbors called also, but we happen to have the misfortune to live right in back of their driveway.
The next night I was relaxing in a recliner when I heard a noise so loud I jumped right out of my chair, and totally forgetting that I am not allowed to run, due to heart damage from Lyme, nor change my activity level rapidly, due to brain damage from Lyme, I ran to the window.
I observed those same neighbors backing their SUV over our mailbox. Lyme rage roared to life and adrenaline poured into my veins and once again I ran, to the other end of the house to call the cops. (I had had pretty good control over my Lyme rages after many months of tx, until I had to have cortisone shots for my back, and lost all progress).
The police dispatcher could tell I was very short of breath, and by then I was in fact having an attack of PSVT (paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia). She insisted on sending Paramedics, even though I told her not to. I can see now that she had too, it could have cost her her job not to, considering the situation.
So, we had cops, firemen and an ambulance her, with all their overstimulting noise and confusion. There were at least six of them in our living room, and my attack was much worse because of it.
I had not had an attack in over a year due to medication (Verapamil SR) that prevents them as long as I obey the rules, like not running. They were upset by my chest pain and numb left arm and nausea. I explained that because of late-stage Lyme, my PSVTs include all the sx of a major heart attack plus dysautonomia.
Amazingly, one of the medics has a friend with chronic Lyme, so they believed me. I still had to tape record a conversation with an ER doc in which I took full responsibility for refusing to go to the hospital, where they wanted to keep me for 24 hrs. for possible heart attack. I am far more afraid of hospitals and their superbugs and med mistakes.
Once I have an attack, I am very prone to more. Even though I moved like a turtle to try to prevent them, I was miserablyh sick and had 8 more attacks in the next 4 days and my Cardiologist has now increased my med dose to the next level, which is almost double my previous dose. I tried that dose before, and my pulse went down to 42. I literally had to crawl to go to the bathroom. Now I will have to adjust to it somehow.
Since I did not get a license plate, the illegals got away with their revenge vandalism, and I had a 3% chance of cardiac arrest over a lousy mailbox. I would have died just because I gave some scum bags the power to make me that furious. Yet, I can't seem to control it anymore,and have become a reculse as a result, avoiding anyone I dislike to protect myself.
So,no, you are certainly not alone in this problem. Dr. Paul Cheney has said the following when referring to CFS (IMO, CFS and Lyme are usually the same thing). He says: (I am paraphrasing).... In the third stage of the illness, these people totally lose their dynamic stress response capability. If they can do it, they can be much better off living a quiet, routine, unhurried, simple, rural lifestyle. Their adrenal reactions to stressors are too late, too strong, and last too long.... That about sums it up for me.
With empathy, Klutzo
Posts: 1269 | From Clearwater, Florida, USA | Registered: May 2004
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
Hello, beautiful.
It's typical for lyme to mess with our adrenal system, causing a constant rush of adrenaline in response to what may seem to others like very little. Anxiety and depression and obsessive worrying are [i]symptoms[/] of the problem, not the problem itself. Don't lose sight of that!
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
Oooooh Yeessssss! Ever since I was a child, I have not been able to tolerate conflict. My mother told me I had a "persecution complex" (in other words, "get over it"). But I never could overcome the great amount of hurt, anxiety and ruminating over even the littelest things. I always had a need to "fix" everything immediately just so I could have some relief. I still do.
I always thought I was defective emotionally, born that way. Very thin skinned when it came to social interactions. I developed some very intense social phobias because of this.
I now realize this is Lyme. But that realization does not make that problem miraculously disappear. It is still there and going strong. Conflict will send me reeling. I will obsess and stew and not be able to shut it up.
I will sometimes pace from room to room aimlessly while my brain goes into a psychotic mode. I have even, on occasion, gone into a fugue like state where I sit, stare and tears stream down my face. Time is lost. This could be like borderline personality stuff.
Of all the Lyme symptoms, this has had the biggest impact on my life. I'm hoping for a cure now. Only time will tell.
-------------------- Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired Posts: 185 | From Colorado | Registered: Sep 2006
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klutzo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5701
posted
I agree that "of all the Lyme symptoms, this has the biggest impact on my life". People totally misunderstand me and think I am cold and uncaring because of this. They could not be more wrong if they tried. I am too caring and too emotional, but all they see is that I don't get involved with them, and they judge that.
OSP - I would love to move, but I have a DH whose job is not portable. We tried to find him a rural job....he even went to school for a year to train for something else, but no luck. He is too old and nobody wants to hire him.
We can't afford a nicer area here either. I have told him that staying here will kill me, and so have other people. He feels that he should not have to go bankrupt over this when I should be able to "just let things go".
He says you can't hide from the world, and that in working in very expensive neighborhoods like he does, he sees some of the same trashy people and the cops being called, etc. They are just trash with more money. A neighbor here who moved to a nicer area confirmed this. I could not believe the way some of her neighbors behave in a very expensive area!
There is also my heart damage, and his heart condition, so being too far from a good hospital is not going to prolong life either. I can't drive hardly at all now, so he has to take me to doctor appts. too, taking off work without pay.
Still, if there was any way to go more rural, I would try it. Meanwhile, I have a log cabin on a lake that I go to in my mind. I am totally alone and healthy there, and can walk around the lake and enjoy the woods.
I am very glad you got out and that it is helping you! I have heard the same thing from several other people.
Klutzo
Posts: 1269 | From Clearwater, Florida, USA | Registered: May 2004
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quote: avoiding anyone I dislike to protect myself
THIS I can relate to. . .
I don't worry excessively, but like others, the adrenal overload is a real big problem for me. That's a real problem with chronic pain conditions of most kinds. I avoid stress. I avoid people who cause me stress because I never know when the overreaction will happen. And if it does, I have the racing heart thing you talk about, and the chronic pain loop starts up and it can take weeks to get over it. Having gone through an extensive five week chronic pain program, twice, I've learned what to do if I am unable to avoid a trigger and make the flare not last as long. Some of it is medication, but most of the things I do involve using my noodle.
And I moved almost 2000 miles to get away from my main stressor - psychotic ex husband who was into terrorizing, stalking and nightly creepy crawling around my extremely rural home. He hurt my pets. He did things to my vehicles, house, etc., and on several occasions, tried to run me over when I'd be out for my regular walks I took for years. The last two years I was in Kansas, I was scared to death to take a walk by my self. Really long story.
I lived a VERY rural life before moving from Kansas to Washington. I lived there for 17 years, but with my psychotic ex - I've since moved into a more urban setting. Having grown up on the north side of Chicago though, where I'm at is still pretty darn rural in comparison. I'd never go back to Chicago, but for me, the isolation and not knowing when the nutcase would do something else really threatening and gross makes way out in the country not seem so good to me anymore. . .
However, moving, literally, saved my life I believe. It was the change of environment and the almost certainty that my main threat wasn't around anymore.
Take care, Moosie.
-------------------- Trying to figure it all out. Posts: 38 | From Spanaway, WA | Registered: Sep 2006
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TerryK
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 8552
posted
I've had this symptom off and on for as long as I've had lyme (decades). I consider constant worrying to be part of the anxiety symptom which often includes depression for me. I used to feel consumed with worry about EVERYTHING. I could not be myself because I was wracked with worry and it colored my behavior. I felt tortured with it. I hated it.
I find that GABA helped me. I would take 750mg 2X a day for a few months and then move my dose down until I go off eventually. I can go back on when I feel the need. I've never noticed any side effects. I also use flower remedies on occassion. They usually help very quickly if you get the right one.
I'm not a doctor and I also can't say that GABA will work the same for you. I can sure empathize. An anti-depressant might help. I've tried many of them and they often have side effects that I couldn't take but they might be worth it for you since you may not have a problem with them like I do.
I hope you get some relief. Terry
Posts: 6286 | From Oregon | Registered: Jan 2006
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