CBT for lyme/bart anxiety and severe panic disorder

Have any of you had cognitive behavioral therapy for lyme and/or bartonella induced panic disorder? I am wondering if this technique will be useful at all since the panic is bacteria induced.

I ask because even though I believe mine is physically based , I believe there may now be a psychological component as well...like the fear of the next panic attack , etc...

Also, do any of you have much worse anxiety/ panic in extreme hot weather?

Denikeef, how did you beat panic disorder ? Mine is so awful.... I have a full time job that i cannot afford to lose...I am at the point where every time I get on the subway or bus to get to work, I get horrible palpitations, naseau and extreme incapacitating anxiety. Benzos barely do anything and are obviously not a long term solution anyway.

I go from 0 to 95 when I am herxing with the psycho-neuro issues. The first month or so on each of the abx I took was absolutely brutal. Totally different than the psych issues from being stressed or being worried or hormonal. I can even tell with some detoxing that can "pull" emotions out of me...

Sounds like you need to increase detox significantly. This always helps me - pinella and bur bur tinctures are essential. Also, be sure your gut is healthy - maybe a good binder would help. And make sure you're taking something for inflammation.

-p

cherylfelice said...
Have any of you had cognitive behavioral therapy for lyme and/or bartonella induced panic disorder? I am wondering if this technique will be useful at all since the panic is bacteria induced.

I ask because even though I believe mine is physically based , I believe there may now be a psychological component as well...like the fear of the next panic attack , etc...

Also, do any of you have much worse anxiety/ panic in extreme hot weather?

K underwent CBT for several years addressing her social regression and inappropriate social responses which I now realize were caused by bacteria/protozoan induced brain inflammation (because they have resolved with treatment for bart/babs).

She understood each and every instruction and could reword them back to me, but actual response in a social setting was something completely different. Until we took care of the inflammation she was generally unable to control her behaviour.

I would imagine that panic/anxiety attacks, not only being due to brain inflammation, but also to disregulation of adrenal response, would be even harder to control.

Rage responses might be a different matter because they can become ingrained and might indeed respond to CBT after the infections have been dealt with. I don't see the true panic/anxiety attacks as falling into this category. They seem to be more of a physiological issue than a psychological one, although many psychologists would not agree.

We have used DBT with good results for mood dysregulation. It is kind of an upgraded form of CBT with a stronger focus on identifying and moderating body response to stressors. Whether you use CBT or DBT, you want to have a therapist who can describe to you their advanced and specific training regarding this. Many say they do it, but they've only seen a brief description of it and could waste your money. That is our experience. A good therapist is like gold.