Depersonalization

Soon after taking antibiotics I get symptoms of depersonalization. Is this a herx or a side effect of the medication?

Make a post about the same thing yesterday but didn’t know that it was depersonalization at the time. I’m extremely controlling when it comes to knowing what’s going on with my body. Am I herxing??? Thanks guys

I've had herx symptoms within half an hour of ingesting an artemisinin tea. Any ealier than that and I'd be iffy.

Branch08 said...
Soon after taking antibiotics I get symptoms of depersonalization. Is this a herx or a side effect of the medication?

It is difficult to know exactly, and again I'm not a doctor, but herx=medication is working, die-off or your bodies cytokine cascade reaction to newly motile bacteria or fragments, or given the protean, pleomorphic nature of this wily spirochete in its various forms, it may shed, retreat into cyst or L-form, release more spirochetes to dig into other tiny nerve areas, brain, nervous system...and cause those neuropsych issues...so it's really a mix of what's happening, and I know it's not very fun.

Like today, I ate poorly and have been having some neuropsychiatric manifestations, where things in reality seem cast in an unreal HD light, or I become acutely aware of how fake a tv or film program is, as if I didn't know before that they are actors and the lighting, and their emotions are not real...it's another weird symptom, acute sensitivity to where I can't enjoy TV during it...

And that's just from various bacteria doing their thing in my nervous system, without any herbs or abx right now, and half-dreading when I resume treatment, that these unreal feelings and etc.. might intensify...

I'll say lastly that all the bizarre symptoms are par for the course for Bb and Cos, and you can't believe it unless you've been through it.

And a quick thought about anti-malarials (which abx are you taking btw..?) that is a tough to make a differentiation between a serious side effect and/or heavy herx, which may have been conflated during whatever studies they did for it.

Quick last few thoughts...take for instance a time when I took a large dose of amoxicillin (2X recommended) when I was a teenager. I broke out in full body hives. Now, was that allergic? I thought it was. But in retrospect I think I may have already had certain co-infections from camping super-mosquito-y and biting fly ridden places, possibly a BLO (bartonella like organism) that was totally freaking its way out of my body having been stunned by the large abx dose...could have been if I were more knowledgeable about how common co-infections are and fairly easy to get.

It's difficult to find relief, but I hope you find it.

I know it's a little much, but if you want to look at a scientific article about malarial drugs:

Here's an article about psychiatric side effects of malaria and anti-malarial drugs

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4918116/

Post Edited (borrelioburgdorferii) : 7/30/2019 8:25:39 PM (GMT-6)

Branch08 said...
Although the symptom sucks I don’t really mind it if it’s indeed killing the Lyme. That’s all I want. I just want to make sure I’m on the right path and I’m not wasting time.

My gut tells me this is the antibiotics killing the bugs. Just because it’s like a hour after taking them. Idkk man I’m so confused with this crap. If anybody else has any idea whether this is a herx or side effect please let me know so I can stop being so hard on myself

It does sound like a herx.

prior to taking antibiotics - how often did you get those symptoms? Or is this a new symptom since starting the abx?

I have flare response usually within 30min of effective therapeutic. I don't think it's from build-up of toxins at that point, but due to the immune system hypersensitivity that gets triggered at first sign of die-off, and ends up launching the whole cascade (cytokines, etc, don't know the exact dynamic). So I do wonder if those of us with super fast flare-like response have a larger component of MCAS issue related to die-off issues and the pathogens. I find combo antihistamines quite helpful for keeping flare responses corralled to some degree.

Branch08, I get pretty strong depersonalization with my babesia flares. It is a relatively common die-off symptom, and if it is waxing/waning along with other symptoms that are flaring usually I take that as a sign that they are linked to flare to medication.

What meds are you taking atm?

Branch08 said...
Soon after taking antibiotics I get symptoms of depersonalization. Is this a herx or a side effect of the medication?

Make a post about the same thing yesterday but didn’t know that it was depersonalization at the time. I’m extremely controlling when it comes to knowing what’s going on with my body. Am I herxing??? Thanks guys

I’ve heard those with MCAS say that MCAS reactions to food or meds happens very quickly like that. Some have mental MCAS symptoms like depersonalization.

Branch08 said...
Cefdinir & clarithromycin are the antibiotics I’m taking

I'm not familiar with these medicines and I have not taken them....but if they're anything like say Minocycline and Metronidazole, neuro-psych problems are par for the course. I'm not in the best environment for healing so having neuropsychiatric manifestations at this time could make things somewhat worse, so I've paused treatment for now.

borrelioburgdorferii said...

Branch08 said...
Cefdinir & clarithromycin are the antibiotics I’m taking

I'm not familiar with these medicines and I have not taken them....but if they're anything like say Minocycline and Metronidazole, neuro-psych problems are par for the course. I'm not in the best environment for healing so having neuropsychiatric manifestations at this time could make things somewhat worse, so I've paused treatment for now.

=========================

Clarithromycin (biaxin) is a macrolide (same class as Azithromycin)
Cefdinir is a Cephalosporin.

Not similar to mino or Flagyl.