confused about something

I am confused about something. I am finding that since that one day last week where I had that anxiety attack after taking the rifampin I am having lots of anxiety in general. Now I can't tell if it I a symptom or a reaction to the other day, and also my fear that I may have bartonella and am not treating it.

I had a phne consult with the nurse at my llmd's and it calmed me down for a day or so. And at this point it is only 11 days till I see my doctor. But I am just having a lot of anxiety again. I had been feeling so significantly less anxious till that day I had that attack. Now, I cannot tell if it is a symptom of lyme or bartoneall, or a mental/emotionally triggered thing.

I think in my mind I had been feeling pretty confident that I was improving and hitting all the things I need to hit. then when I had that reaction to the rifampin it got me scared that my anxiety is bartonella, and that it is not getting treated. So I have this fear in my mind again. But I am also just generally feeling this sense of anxiety again. It sucks!

The nurse said I tested negative for bartonella but I realize the test is not vey good for that one. Is there an igenex test for bartonella that is better?

I know my doctor is good and would know what to do so I am glad I am seeing him soon,.

But I also worry because he had advised me to start the rifampin for suspected bartonella- because I had ha d a lot of head symptoms and anxiety.

So I am just worried about it.

I guess hopefully I can hash this all out with my doctor in 11 days. But it is weird that for about three weeks I was feeling much less anxious- or maybe two weeks- and then it just kicked back up.

I dont' want to add anything to my protocol without checking with the doctor- they charge a lot of money even for the phone consult, and I have also called the office many times so I should probably just wait my 11 days and then reevaluate.

I just cant tell if my anxity is caused by bartonella, caused by fear of bartonella, or something else.

Any tips?

Panic Attacks May Be Sign Of Lyme Disease

Psychopharmacology Update
Special Report January 2001, Volume 12 No. 1

A Pennsylvania psychiatrist who practices in an endemic area for tick-borne diseases reports that virtually every patient she has treated for new-onset panic attacks in recent years has been diagnosed with Lyme disease.

"In four years, since I've been testing people in my office, I have not found anybody who presented with panic attacks who has not had Lyme disease," says Virginia T. Sherr, M.D., who is in private practice in Holland, Pa. "This is a very controversial finding, but I live in an endemic area."

Sherr presented data on three patients at the 52nd Institute on Psychiatric Services annual meeting in Philadelphia. She says that among referrals for panic attacks, she saw three patients who were nurses in severe panic states. Their symptoms included racing pulse, breathlessness, overwhelming anxiety, a sense of impending doom, sweating, unique pains, headaches, chills and confusion. The patients also complained of hypersensitivity to light and sound. None of the patients was suspected of having, nor were fully evaluated for, tick-borne diseases by their family physicians.

After taking high oral doses of antibiotics, anxiolytic drugs immediately became unnecessary in one patient, and doses were greatly reduced to only rare use in the other two.

Other psychiatric disorders most commonly associated with Lyme disease include cognitive disturbances such as short-term retrieval and verbal fluency problems, and disturbances of mood and anxiety, such as irritability and mood swings. Less common disorders associated with Lyme disease include new-onset OCD, tics, autistic-like behaviors, mania, and hallucinations or paranoid delusions, notes Fallon.

"The main disorders people present with would be marked irritability where there is a personality shift and they are a lot more hostile and agitated than they used to be," he notes. "Or, they may have mood swings, where suddenly out of the blue they're agitated or tearful. Cognitive disturbances are the other [problem]. People may suddenly find themselves forgetting things or having word-finding problems or getting extraordinarily distracted and being unable to perform multiple tasks. Less commonly, you might see paranoia, mania or obsessive-compulsive symptoms." Fallon says to keep in mind that psychotropic drugs may not work as well in patients with Lyme disease.