HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Please help me with seizure/fainting

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 12/29/2013 3:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hello. I need your help in figuring out what is wrong with me. Today I suffered something very scary that I can only describe as a seizure, going into a coma, or the beginning of fainting.

I was sitting in the couch watching TV when my brain suddenly felt like I was going into a coma. At the same time I felt like I could not breathe. I got up right away and started to shake my hands to keep myself from going into this coma. Is this what if feels before you go into a seizure? Can this be that I was going to faint? I could honestly feel like i was going to go into a coma. I didn't feel my body weak and did not feel my eyes try to roll back. That's why I say that it felt like I was going into a coma. I just remembered that the way I felt was just like I have felt before an operation under anesthesia. The second you feel the anesthesia hit you and you pass out. Have you had this happen to you?

I had this happen twice before in the last six months but it always happened in bed at night and while I was about to fall asleep. I felt like as if I was on the border of falling asleep and then suddenly felt like I was going into a coma from what it feels like in the brain. It is a very unnatural feeling and something very scary. I fainted once as a child decades ago and I remember a ringing in the ears and a body weakness before I fainted. This was nothing like that.

I took two 100mg pills of Doxy for the first time today and that was about four hours before this happened. I normally take just one 100mg doxy pill but twice a day. I wonder if it was too strong for me and it the feeling was a reaction to the medicine? 200mg of Doxy is not much as far as i know. When I had the earlier episodes I was taking Amoxicillin so this is the first time with Doxy that this happens.

Please, if you suffer or have suffered from seizures or fainting, can you please tell me if this is what it feels like? Also, do you know if this is caused by Lyme or if Bartonella or Babesia can also cause seizures?

I read an earlier post by Traveler that you can lose our license if you have seizures. I can't afford to lose my license. I would lose my job and insurance.

Post Edited (Healing98) : 12/28/2013 8:26:00 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/29/2013 12:52 PM (GMT 0)
I hope someone can help you with this Healing98, you are going through a rough time... We have a few members that have seizures, I hope they come on soon...

I have what I call brain freezes: suddenly I can't do anything anymore: can't move, don't know where I am, my movements freeze, I can't remember how to do things I have been doing automatically for years or my whole life. Then I slowly comes back. I don't know if this is what you are experiencing?
Posted 12/29/2013 2:34 PM (GMT 0)
Oh Healing!!! I'm so very sorry that you have joined this "club"! I have experienced them, although I was not in treatment at the time and so I can't really explain what may be going on. I do know how scary it is though!!!

I have also experienced the feeling just before the seizures I had, where I could feel my eyes roll to the back of my head, and the loss of understanding of where I was and being able to control what was going on with my body. What you are describing was different for me - very scary still though!

Yes, at least in some states, if you are having seizures the doctors are required to report it and you could loose your driving privileges for a period of time until you become seizure free once again. Here is a link that will help to discover what you may need to do:
www.epilepsyfoundation.org/resources/Driving-Laws-by-State.cfm

And honestly, I understand why they would take our driving privileges, no one really wants to have a seizure while driving and cause an accident where someone was seriously hurt or worse. Even if it does cause an inconvenience to us.

I'm not sure if it can really be pinpointed on one infection - I believe (an opinion only!) that it's due to a serious neurological dysfunction in the body caused by these infections - usually when the person has several tick-borne infections, or is in the acute phase but is very, very seriously ill. Of course I am excluding all the other "typical" reasons a person might be having a seizure - high fever and others.

And here's the real issue - as much as you may want to be avoiding not being able to drive, until you go to a doc and explain what's going on and get thoroughly checked out, you don't know just how serious this is, or what is really causing this to happen!! We want you to be safe and get checked out if it continues to happen!!!
Posted 12/29/2013 3:37 PM (GMT 0)
I have suffered from seizures for over a year, and what happened to you happens to me. Sometimes my whole body freezes up sometimes I just shake. My take on qgy this happens is to many toxins hitting the brain and central nervous system, with treatment most people have less or they stop all together. I started treatment last month with cholestmine when I did four packs a day I seized non stop, the doctor had me lower the dose.

The doxy is killing stuff and the toxins die off is to much sometimes, especially if your body doesn't detox well, mine does not. Also I have the co infection mycroplaam do you know if you have this? The reason I am asking is a few other pple I talk to with sezures has it as well.

To help with these episodes you can buy Gabba by the company Now, and take one when you feel it coming on. I am starting to have less painful seizures with treatment, after the seizure my body locks up and I am in a cane or wheelchair, but I have had them a long time.

If you need to talk email me, my computer crashed, so its difficult to get online but I can answer you from my phone.

Also detox as much as you can, if your brain starts to hurt I use antiox 11, turine, and epson salt baths.

just me
Posted 12/29/2013 7:50 PM (GMT 0)
I'm so sorry you're experiencing this. Hopefully the advice you're getting here will help you. Hang in there.
Posted 12/29/2013 9:55 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you everyone. I feel better today. I am a bit confused as to what could have caused this. As I mentioned above, I had just added and additional 100mg to my Doxy's daily dose. But I had also taken a probiotic earlier in the day for the first time. I found some research that probiotics can cause Anaphylaxis and it is possible that what I experienced was a shock to the probiotics.

Today I took my regular Doxy (100mg twice a day) dose and have stopped the probiotics until I get to talk to my LLMD in two weeks. I hope to not have to experience it again.
Posted 12/29/2013 10:50 PM (GMT 0)
As Justme posted, her experience with that type of a thing was due to an overload of toxins, which is what I believe is the reason for my experiences with seizures, passing out and my tremors being so severe that I could not sit/lay on any surface without "bouncing" right off of it.

This also fits your situation from what you've told us - you increased your dose of Doxy, which would create more toxins, and maybe more than your body could handle without increased detoxing abilities, don't you think?
Posted 12/30/2013 1:34 AM (GMT 0)
Please be careful not taking a probiotic when on abx, it can tear up your stomach, I wasn't told when I first got sick, and it really messed up my stomache.
Posted 12/30/2013 1:59 AM (GMT 0)
Hello Healing98,

First when I started having seizures, I definitely felt like I was going into a coma. I felt like almost my entire brain just totally shut down or went on pause, but there was a part in my back lower-right brain that I could still 'see' through -- like there was a small tunnel of consciousness in that part of my head that I was able to hang on to.

This was incredibly scary. I was not able to get help from regular doctor's and ended up seeing a naturopath. I went into a seizure while seeing her for the first time. She did some energy testing on me and said that I was 'this close' to going into a coma. She was very concerned. Luckily, she has a wealth of experience and intuitive knowledge and was able to help me improve my state of health. I was very blessed to find her.

I can't say that my experience was the same as yours. At the time, my episodes were accompanied by weakness, tingling, difficulty speaking and moving, fast heart rate, etc.

I am now seeing an LLND (the doctor mentioned above was not a lyme specialist). For me, the bartonella treatment seems to have helped my symptoms more than anything else.

Please know that this CAN be healed. Good luck and good health to you.
Posted 12/30/2013 3:24 AM (GMT 0)
So sorry. You may be having something called POTS and/or Orthostatic Hypotension. The latter makes me begin to pass out when I stand up too fast. That means your "autonomic" nervous system isn't working, or everything like your heartbeat, which functions without your thinking about it, isn't well controlled.

Mine was diagnosed with the use of a tilt table.

You may be having actual seizures; I don't know. Do lights and noises bother you?

You should also get your potassium levels checked. I started to pass out once when my potassium levels were way too low.

You also need to get your thyroid levels checked.

By coma, do you mean that you're passing out? Most people don't know that they're going into a coma. When you're passing out, things turn into kind of a grey soup, and you might get really dizzy right before you pass out.

When I first had Lyme, I had periods of amnesia, and what I mean is that I didn't remember what had happened the day before, or sometimes a few hours before. My neuro. postulated that I might have been having seizures, but she never confirmed it.

I know it's scary, especially with all those doctors out there who don't understand Lyme. Neurologists are the worst in that respect, and Lyme-Literate Neurologists are so expensive!

The next time something like that happens, see if you can catch it in time to call someone!

Margaret
Posted 12/30/2013 3:27 AM (GMT 0)
PS, Adding 100 mgs at one time seems like a lot to me. Make sure you skip at least a week, or maybe two before you do it again. Try again, do detoxing, and see what happens.

Margaret
Posted 12/30/2013 5:40 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the many responses. Unfortunately, I know that many of you have suffered from fainting and seizures so the first thing that I thought was to come here and ask my friends.

Yesterday evening I felt the beginning of the symptom after having a meal. The sensation is so ingrained in my brain that I felt it right away even though it did not increase or worsen. I have been having these incredibly strong headaches in the back of the skull that radiate to the front. I rate them at an 8 from a 1-10 scale. They started right after I switched from Amoxicillin to Doxy. I remember that the feeling of going into a coma started at the back of my head from where my pain originates. I wonder if maybe the headache was so bad that I was going to pass out?

Thrive, your description of how you felt is what it felt like. It is so hard to describe because I didn't really fall unconscious, and I all the times that it has happened I am not doing anything strenuous where I would consider it to be a cardiac issue. I do eat plenty of protein and add multivitamin supplements so I doubt that it may be a deficiency.

Teragram, I do get lightheaded when standing up and am sensitive to lights and sounds. My ENT has not found anything wrong with me. Although I have not had the tilt table test done. The pills I take are 100mgs so maybe I might have to split them in half. My neurologist is a dimwit. She called my white brain lesions freckles and said that they are normal in some people. Very little hope to get answers from her.

Justme, thanks for the advice on the probiotic. I am afraid to take another one in case this was the culprit. I know that I have to take them because of the antibiotics so I am really hoping that this was the the problem.
Posted 12/30/2013 5:52 PM (GMT 0)
Maybe you are having a reaction to the doxy, I had to come off of it before. Its very strong and can affect people differently. You can speak to your doctor, I had seuzures since the begining and so far nothing has stopped them. but the don't last as long anymore.

Hope you figure out was causing your episodes, they are scary.


justme
Posted 12/30/2013 6:49 PM (GMT 0)
Just me, did you replace the doxy with something else? and if so, is that working fo ryou?

I have been on doxy 100mgs for 5 weeks and in these five weeks I lost all progress that I had made in the 6 months of being on Amoxicillin. I am seriously considering going back to the Amoxicillin. I forgot to put in my last post that along with the headaches, I have this flu-like symptom that doesn't go away. Imagine having the flu minus the watery nose or the watery eyes. The fatigue, headaches, blurry vision, and loss of balance is there. This all started when I switched.

The reason that I switched was because I had reached a point that I felt I was not making progress. I thought that maybe Doxy would help.

One other question, I saw in your signature that you are taking 10 grams of vitamin D a day. How are you doing with that? is that vitamin D2 or D3? My blood work shows that I am deficient in Vitamin D so I have been taking D3 at 1.4 grams a day and thought that maybe that was excessive. Have you noticed a difference in being on 10 grams?
Posted 12/30/2013 6:57 PM (GMT 0)
Are you taking anything that would act like a cyst buster? With those abx, the bacteria could have chosen to retreat into cysts or hide in biofilms to protect itself from the attack.

And I agree with Justme on looking at co-infections as a possible culprit as well.

Such a complex organism that we do battle with!
Posted 12/30/2013 8:31 PM (GMT 0)
Hi there,

Probiotics really shouldn't be a problem; they don't have any side effects unless you're allergic to one of the foods they contain, like dairy or soy. There is no way they could possibly cause a seizure, and they won't tear up your stomach; they will heal it. However, you shouldn't take them at the same time as an abx, because they will diminish the effect of the abx. You should wait two hours before or after taking the abx to take the probiotic. Probiotics are essential for your health when you have Lyme, especially if you're taking abx. If your stomach is reacting, it's reacting to the Doxy, not to the probiotic.

I am a survivor of drug-resistant c. diff., which I contracted by taking abx while not taking enough probiotics. I almost died from the c. diff. ABX kill the good flora in your gut, and that can cause a bacterial overgrowth. That's why you need the probiotics, which if anything, will improve your overall health.

Your neurologist sounds like an "idiot." Sorry, I'm being harsh. They all tell me the same thing: That lesions are perfectly normal. As far as I know, the only way to test for POTS is the tilt table test, and though it's a very uncomfortable test, I recommend it as a diagnostic tool. And regardless of the fact that you may not be having cardiac symptoms, you may need to see a cardiologist. The headaches are not good, and they may accompany seizures. If your blood pressure is at all low, you should increase salt (important), and if you notice the salt improving your symptoms, that might be the only fix you need for passing out.

Since you're having severe headaches, you need to avoid caffeine and chocolate. I recommend the supplement Feverfew. Take it every day three times a day, because the effects build up over time.

Margaret
Posted 12/30/2013 8:56 PM (GMT 0)
On the same vein as Teragram, you may want to check out these links:
www.lymeinfo.net/autonomic.html

lymemd.blogspot.com/2012/04/pots.html
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply