Lovey...Lyme Panic article

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<< Lyme Alliance's Spotlight On Lyme March 1999 issue

Lyme Disease and Panic by Virginia Sherr, M.D.:

People in panic are no strangers to my psychiatric office. For 42 years, I

have helped people cope with intense feelings of fear: People gripped by the

terror of a racing heart, feelings of impending doom, a sweaty brow, and no

discernible contributing physical illness. Many of these patients have

developed a fear of the fear itself, and a panic attack occurs whenever they

are reminded of their previous terrifying attacks.

More and more lately, I am seeing the same symptoms in adult people, young

and old, who demonstrate an important additional factor. Although they have

been examined by one medical specialist after another, there never really

have been any good medical explanations for a host of other odd or even

commonplace physical problems they have. For example, some of these problems

have shown up in a local physical education teacher. He experienced a sense

of disorganization, surges of heat and/or chills, on/off rashes, extreme

muscle pains, spells of utter fatigue, a pounding of the heart on slight

exertion, ringing of the ears, blurring of vision, bizarre neurological

pains, transient joint pains which sometimes included a swollen joint, TMJ,

forgetfulness, exquisite sensitivity to sound, the touch, or to medications,

restless leg syndrome -especially at bedtime, dramatic weight changes, muscle

weaknes, sleep attacks, and muscle twiching, especially one eyelid and a

finger.

Other people notice that they have an area of numbness, for example, of the

hands. They may complain that they can no longer play the piano well because

their hands feel heavy and they are clumsy. Some have severe neurologic pains

which often mimic sciatica and other problems. There is usually a history of

repeated serious attacks of sinusitis, bronchitis, migraine-like headaches,

sleep attack, and/or pneumonia.

A sub-group of these panicky people have problems which appear to be largely

gastrointestinal. Stomach pains, nausea, or even Crohn's disease rule their

lives. Nearly every one of unsuspected Lyme sufferers comes to me believing

their symptoms are the result of stress, hypochondriasis, or personal

weakness. Generally, they are bewildered by the devastating power of their

panic episodes to bring them to their knees. They also are bewildered and

angered by the attitude of their physicians, who seem to feel helpless to

understand the meaning of the symptoms once the usual lab tests come back

negative.

In addition, many of these folks are sullen, irritable, and feisty. At the

smallest provocation, they can go on a verbal attack. At times, they lash out

with a stream of unedited hostility which comes straight from their

subconscious minds. They justify this at the time, but sometime later it may

seem to them, as it seems to others, like an extraordinarily strange

over-reaction. Their startled companions may make a quick exit. Friends begin

to distance themselves as these emotional outbursts become daunting. The

patient becomes emotionally more isolated, depressed, and frightened. The

sense of alarm intensifies, and they live in dread of their misery, their

helplessness to control this or their panic spells. Sometimes suicide seems

like a positive option to them. Not a few take to street drugs or alcohol or

both in an effort to self-medicate. Many feel forced to stay in the safety of

their homes, lose their jobs, and their relationships.

There are many Lyme disease cognitive symptoms that causes rushes of panicky

feelings. The most typical is what I call " Lyme Urgency. " This is a

psychological feeling which is related to a need to drive oneself to attend

to tasks, combined with a feeling of concern if one doesn't act on every task

at the moment that one thinks about it. What results is less overt panic at

the time and more chaos in the long run. The distraction that one experiences

from this compulsion leads to unfinished tasks and then exhaustion as one

works longer and later to fix the chaos from all the interruptions. This, in

turn, connects the panic to depression in many people.

Other symptoms of tick-borne diseases are so scary that the resulting

panicky feelings are even easier to understand: sudden severe pain,

unexplained sudden drops in blood pressure, memory loss, a sense of going

crazy, sudden sleep attacks while driving, etc., the sure sense that

something is terribly wrong despite the fact that everyone is reassuring you

that " your laboratory numbers are good " and " you look good. " These are

excamples of what I refer to as a " normal sense of panic. " The lack of being

believed by others whom one ordinarily could trust leads to a sense of

abandonment and fear.

With the exception of a rare few souls, the vast majority of such panic

sufferers are greatly relieved to learn that they are not crazy - something

which is universally feared by panicky people. Sobered by the knowledge of

infection, they are yet delighted to know that the cause of much of this is

tick-borne disease, such as Lyme disease, and that the infections are

treatable. The diagnosis is made clinicaly. Usually, but not always, it is

verified by blood and urine testing via a sensitive laboratory. I personally

recommend IGeneX Reference Laboratory of Palo Alto, CA.

It is difficult to eradicate dissiminated tick diseases. But, for example,

the use of the proper oral macolide antibiotic treatment in high, but

appropriate, doses for the duration of the physical symptoms affords some

real relief from the panicky feelings. Until that stabilization occurs,

however, anti-anxiety medication or antidepressant drugs or both can be used

to provide freedom from this paralyzing dread. Sometimes treatment even has

to continue beyond the antibiotics' duration.

The diagnosis of Lyme disease or other tick-carrier disease in the

panic-ridden person means that the patient has multisystem infection. The

causative germ's effect causes a strong feeling in the patient that something

is terribly wrong. If it is Lyme or another tick-carried disease, they have

been right all along.

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