Help me with ADD symptoms please

Sounds like a typical case of neuropsyche lyme. Bicillin has helped me greatly in this area. That and IV Rocephin are great for neuropsyche lyme. The Bicillin is nice because its low dose, the lyme doesnt go into cystic form to evade. Has to be used by itself for that reason without any other antibiotics. Acetylcholine is also supposed to be beneficial for repairing neuronal structures, but havent tried it.

"If the disease is chronic and there are neuropsychiatric manifestations, I use a test panel that detects antibodies against several elements of the central nervous system. (This was developed by a PANDAS—Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcus—researcher, Madeleine Cunningham. I found that patients with chronic Lyme develop the same antibodies as patients with PANDAS). I treat those patients with a low dose of penicillin by weekly injection. It’s a benign treatment that has a lot of success if it’s given as a monotherapy, without any other antibiotics. (I’ve seen, for instance, young teenagers with positive Lyme tests and positive antibodies on the Cunningham panel, presenting with acute psychiatric symptoms—anxiety, OCD, and sometimes self-mutilating behavior—who return to their normal health after four penicillin injections.)"

https://goop.com/wellness/health/rise-chronic-lyme/

I don't have experience with pharmaceuticals, but I definitely have experience with brain fog and concentration. Mine have dissipated, so I'll share what worked for me.

I realized that diet made a huge difference for me. I assume she's already off sugar and caffeine, but try also a low-histamine diet. So many with Lyme have MCAS, and my main MCAS symptom was brain fog, but I ate fermented foods every day because they're so good for you! Little did I know I was giving myself brain fog every day with my tempeh, kombucha, yogurt, very ripe fruits, leftovers, sauerkraut, miso, vinegar, etc. that I was sure to ingest for the benefit of my microbiome. It turns out that for now I need to focus on prebiotics, supplement only low-histamine probiotic strains, treat MCAS (mainly quercetin for me but there are many other options), and resume my beloved ferments in the future once my body tolerates histamine better. Almost no brain fog since the switch to a low-histamine diet, like someone flipped a switch.

I've also had brain fog when I ingest sugar, like one day I had a small glass of all-natural lemonade to support a new neighbor kid's lemonade stand, and I was useless for the rest of the day. This is especially an issue for folks with candida issues.

Look into food allergies as well. Gluten is a big issue in terms of brain stuff for many of us because of its tendency to contribute to inflammation, even in folks not technically sensitive to it.

For anything neurological, my mind goes to the DNRS program. This is definitely worth considering if you have not already. It's a wonderful, fast, relatively inexpensive tool that can radically relieve neuro symptoms. This made more of a difference for me than anything else. Her brain is definitely NOT stuck. The brain is wonderfully malleable!

And then there are supplements: burbur-pinella, ginkgo, Jernigan Neuro-Antitox, adaptogens, magnesium and other minerals, precursors to neurotransmitters depending on symptoms (for example, L-theanine if she is lacking in GABA), DHA and other omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin D, B vitamins, low-histamine probiotics, etc. Plus curcumin to reduce inflammation.

Much of the brain's neurotransmitter supply is produced in the gut, so make sure the gut is in good shape - moving regularly, comfortable, good foods, plenty of water, no leaky gut or candida issues, etc. A comprehensive stool analysis from Genova (or similar) might be worthwhile.

Do her symptoms improve with time outdoors? Does she experience seasonal affective disorder? If so, then a full-spectrum light lamp could help.

Also consider her exposure to electronics. Turn the wifi router off at night, sleep far from cell phones, don't rest a laptop directly on the lap, etc. If electromagnetic frequencies cause brain fog for her, then an earthing sheet can be helpful as well.

Ask your LLMD for a panel of salivary hormone tests, taken at multiple points. Cortisol, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, the thyroid hormones, etc. all should be checked to make sure they are all in balance.

Good luck! So glad she's doing better overall!

Thanks saraeli for that detailed response. We could definitely clean up the diet more. That has been a work in progress and partly my fault. Because she’s been so sick it was hard to “break the news” to her about the importance of cutting out sugar and carbs etc... she however is old enough to where she’s read enough and knows that it’s important so she tries to eat healthy but we definitely could do better. Excuses excuses from she and I both!

I have done the hormone and neurotransmitter testing. She’s was high on dopamine and dr has her on a GABA supplement but i don’t see much difference. We only give it at night but wonder if I should be doing a lower dose a couple times a day instead. She takes and adrenal support supplement to supposedly support the HPA dysfunction. I admit I never really dove into all that research as it confuses me so I’ve just done what the dr has advised.

I’m sure yeast could be a problem. She is still on a lot of antibiotics so I’m always rotating antifungals. She takes a high dose probiotic as well. But it’s a hard battle while on antibiotics. This is of course another reason to clean up the diet, I’m sure it would help. She doesn’t overdo sugar and doesn’t do caffeine except on rare occasion. But I will say, she loves food now! It’s part of the joy of life! She can go places and eat and live now so we’ve slacked. Mom guilt setting in right now.

I am very interested in DNRS but have putting off spending the money on the program. I know it’s relatively affordable but with money flying out the window, it’s been on the back burner. I’m glad it’s worked so well for you and that motivates me to try it. I also wondered if it would be a waste in the beginning of treatment with all the herxing she had going on. Now that she’s farther along I think I will pursue it.

Post Edited (Upatnite) : 12/19/2019 9:12:11 AM (GMT-7)

Saraeli, we are not new to trying hockey things so I’m sure my daughter will try lol. Seriously this disease can make one willing to try just about anything. ;)

I would second Sara's suggestion to look into mold. All of the symptoms mentioned point to it, it's worth exploring.

I had a lot of difficulty focusing with Lyme—it seemed to be worse depending on the task. Reading wasn't so bad, but arithmetic, or kind of task requiring a lot of mental work would completely drive me up the wall.

It has improved almost completely now. For me, playing music helps me focus whenever I'm trying to do something difficult (like when I need to write something long and boring)—but I think it's more helping me to get up the motivation to get my brain to work, then actually helping me focus..

Thanks for all of the feedback you guys.

Lymedriven, she is on magnesium.

Sara and Zimica, we’ve done a lot of antifungals both natural and prescription, binders, tested the house for mold etc... but thanks for that suggestion. I do think mold can be a problem just hoping we’ve sort of checked that box.

Girlie, I hope you’re right about maybe just needing further treatment and time. I am considering DNRS at some point. It interests me.
But yes she’s had lots of babesia treatment although continues to herx with added treatments or dose increase. She’s not been on rifabutin but has been on rifampin for about 8 months. I’m going to ask about rifabutin next appointment to see if it helps because we’ve kind of plateaued. She still has quite a bit of nerve pain, eye pain, jaw pain, that makes me still worry about bartonella. She’s been treated for 1 1/2 years but we started very slowly with mostly light treatment. I’d say she’s had a good year of intense treatment. Things are greatly improved but still a struggle sometimes.

Sara, regarding school. We are done with public school. She was just way too sick. I honestly could give them no idea or timeline regarding recovery and was too stressed to commit to a plan. In the beginning of treatment she could hardly talk or walk so I just pulled her out. She seriously looked like a stroke victim. 🤦🏻‍♀️ She’s doing work online now but it’s still hard to stick to a schedule.

Let's see.... It was really bad in 2012 and 2013 when I was really sick. By 2014 my focus was much, much better but I would still get funny brain lapses. One day that I had to concentrate a lot, I got completely disoriented for a few minutes. I still had some trouble focusing for a while after that, but it kept improving gradually.

A lot of times when I got ADD type symptoms a little more recently, I usually could connect it to mold exposure.

Post Edited (Notime4lyme) : 12/23/2019 5:39:21 PM (GMT-7)

You mentioned she is doing work online now. Do you have an EMF shield for the computer. That may help. Many are EMF sensitive even if they don’t realize it.

I do understand about the ADD. My cognitive issues just seemed to be getting worse. After starting antifungal Rx and trying to clean up my diet, it got better. I still have a long way to go with diet, and have been eating sugar again recently because of the holidays.

I totally understand the reluctance to take the pleasure of food away. I have been reluctant to give that up myself. However, the times I have avoided sugar for any real length of time, I have noticeably felt better and wondered why I keep abusing myself by not sticking to a strict diet all the time.

The downside is when I start to feel better and more normal, I want to eat and enjoy regular food and treats again. I seem to forget very easily how much pain, inflammation, and fog I was in before.

Hi. Although late to the discussion here, I would like to share our experience because although my son was ADHD for years, he no longer is. Really!

For him, the infections (bart, lyme, yeast) were blocking his ability to transform and absorb proper nutrients in the gut. When I gave him the activated/methylated form of B6, known as pyridoxal 5 phosphate (aka PLP or P5P), his ADHD disappeared in 2 weeks and other neurological issues such as OCD and tics also improved greatly (mostly now triggered during a herx). Doctors tested his B6 levels prior to that and said he was fine, but that only tests for levels of pyridoxine. Your body still has to transform that in order to use it in over one hundred processes--including manufacturing neurotransmitters. I had to give it to him as a stand-alone supplement rather than a multi because things were so wonky in his body that something else in the multi kept throwing him off.

I have found that Seeking Health is a good quality product. Playing around with dosages between 0.5mg and 5.0mg daily, I found that 3.0mg is optimal for him at 50lbs (RDA for his age group is 2.0mg). To do this, I had to buy a scale capable of measuring mg, figure out how much powder with the filler equaled 1mg of vitamin (divide total weight of powder in one capsule by number of mg of vitamin in one capsule), and break open the capsules and measure out the appropriate amount. The powder can be easily dissolved in applesauce or juice, and does not add an unpleasant taste in these foods.

Hope this helps someone!

Thank you Lasciel for that response. Will read up a bit on it. I’m not familiar.