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Sundowners syndrome and Lyme?

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Posted 11/2/2013 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
Has anyone experienced Sundowners Syndrome as a side effect of Lyme?

Sundowners Syndrome is confusion, agitation, anxiety and restlessness in the middle of the night.

Last night, 4 hours into my sleep I woke up very agitated, I kept hearing the same song in my head over and over and over. My mind was running 1000 miles a second and thousands of thoughts (events, phrases, words, voices) were coming into my head all at once. Nothing made sense. I felt like I was hallucinating and I could not put together a single thought. My anxiety went through the roof and all I wanted to do was to get up and start pacing the room because I wanted to jump out of my skin. I kept turning and turning in bed and my ear ringing got so bad that my right ear started hurting. I had a very bad headache and could feel my blood pressure very high and my heart rate was very high too. I started to do breathing exercises to calm myself down but felt like I could not breathe. I must have fallen asleep again because I woke up two hours later and although my mind was still racing and was a bit disoriented, the other symptoms had subsided. I woke up this morning very cold and with chills but normal.

I started Bactrim DS a week ago so I am not sure if this is a side effect of it.
Posted 11/2/2013 6:33 PM (GMT 0)
I never knew what it was like - Sundowners syndrome - until my FIL moved in when he was in the last 3 months of his life (of course no one knew this at the time) - he had Alzheimer's, which both Hubby and I both believe was brought on by either Lyme or the St. Louis Encephalitis that he survived about 60 some years ago.

It was at that time that I started experiencing flashbacks and PTSD over all of that! Boy that was weird!

I too went through this, even the symptoms at sun down, but also in the middle of the night. It all calmed down as I got further into my treatment though, and now I rarely experience more than anyone else at the end of the day.

I've always found doing something that would occupy my mind without stimulating it worked best to calm me and allow me to get back to bed sooner. Reading a book (that's not too exciting), meditating, and other calming things helped me a lot. Even a nice cup of herbal tea (no caffeine!!) helps to soothe me back into being ready for sleep.
Posted 11/3/2013 4:20 AM (GMT 0)
I have found that most of my "lyme rages" happened right after a nap during the day. Wonder if sleep in general brings this out in us?? I also experience anxiety and tremors along with agitation cry
Posted 11/3/2013 10:32 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you everyone. Something else that I have felt is that when I am about to fall asleep, I get that feeling that you get before you go unconscious from anesthesia. Almost like a heavy drowsiness that you have no control over. Often times I wonder if I will ever wake up, because no matter how much I fight it, my strength goes away, I can't open my eyes, and my body feels very heavy. It is a scary feeling. I think it is strange because I am not taking anything to help me sleep.
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