Iv rocephin and panic attacks

I've been on iv rocephin for two weeks now and the other night had something that felt like a panic attack or anxiety. I have no previous history of anxiety but the feeling I get is an unbearable panic and I feel like I am going crazy. It takes about 2-3 hours to pass. Anyone else experience this?

Hi bmoberg337

I have been on Rocephin via IV since November. It has been rough but the first two months were brutal. A lot of good, repeated attacks on the infection but I was not detoxing fast enough, well enough, consistently enough to stave off severe neurological herxing. With hourly panic attacks and many more symptoms I was a psychotic and cognitive mess for weeks on end. It finally subsided although I still suffer from cognitive dysfunction.

I completely agree w/ GH, detoxing is AS important as the treatment itself. You could also be shifting into a yeast imbalance, which also produces neurotoxin off gassing and side effects. Most often, with neurotoxin symptoms, yeast overgrowth starts in the gut. Your gut health and brain health, neurotransmitter functions are in lockstep. You'll need to be on a sugar-free diet (simple carbs also are the same as sugar), with solid complex carb & protein diet while on abx.

Please include very high doses of good, broad, fresh, live probiotics (at least 100 billion 2x/day) and if you start also feeling yeast overgrowth symptoms, you'll need to start on a very strong anti fungal. Do a search on this forum for "pure Nystatin powder," 1,000,000 units which is a very safe and effective anti fungal and even OK long term.

If your symptoms also seem systemic, you'll need a systemic anti fungal. As long as you're on high doses of abx like Rocephin IV, I would't delay effective treatment by experimenting with natural antifungals, which will likely not be strong enough. Yeast grows exponentially in a matter of hours. Diflucan, Ketoconazole are good strong antifungals but are for short bursts only. Best in pill form, not through IV, in fact there are specific warnings for what not to take w/ Rocephin IV.

Hope this helps!

-p

Post Edited (Pirouette) : 5/16/2015 11:58:27 AM (GMT-6)

Hi Ruey -

I definitely had good results with getting more treatment under my belt, increased detoxing and increased GI recovery, using a GI binder and using Pinella and Burbur brain detox.

I am now on a different IV abx for bart (and had the same flurry of neuro-psych symptom storm after starting that abx too) and still have some residual n-p sx I"m working through but they are much better.

Are you also taking anything for the cyst or L-form of Borrelia? Are you covering other potential coinfections?

-p

Hi Ruey -

Sorry for the delay.

I had the "fire" or burning sensation on my scalp/neck, too. It could also be a herx or it's also a sx that occurs when my EBV flares... and recently, I'm wondering if many of my EBV sx are actually from mycoplasma. So - it can be confusing.

Detoxing can probably help - the GI binder helps bind to toxins in the GI and "drags" them out - helps detox your GI when it can't do it very well on its own. It's particularly helpful when you are irregular, but can also add to constipation issues so you need to start VERY slowly and always drink a lot of water before, during and after. Always give yourself 2 hrs buffer time before/after binders between it and ANYTHING else you ingest.

OTC binders: activated charcoal, bentonite clay, modified citrus pectin.

The burning in neck/head could also be from lymph nodes getting clogged - try some red root to help your circulation, warm compresses.

I also had to slow down doses in the beginning - see if the pharmacy can cut the doses in half for a couple weeks then try increasing again.

But also helpful is to SLOW the infusion down. I think the pharmacy's directions are 5 min infusion but I could NEVER handle this and slowed it down to about 30 min. Solved many problems.

Be sure your diet is very clean - incorporate pro- and prebiotic foods.

-p

OK - so you added in something new in your sx description:

"...burning sensations I sometimes feel really hot and sensitive to temperature changes, maybe because it makes me panicky..."

That could also be on the verge of an anaphylactic response. So, if lower doses don't do the trick, try adding in some antihistamine like Benedryl as well as slowing everything down. If none of this works you might need to find something else.

THere are quite a few good herbal protocols if you want to try them instead of abx. Many of us here are using both.

-p

I understand those neuro-psych sx - they are so scary. I like the idea of acupuncture - should help.

Distinguishing between herxing and sensitivity and anaphalactic response to these meds is VERY difficult. Most of us figure things out by accident, to be truthful.

I think far more people just stop taking the meds due to the confusion and worry over risk and I believe that's one reason why so many people are struggling through treatment. But these drugs also have risks! So can you blame people for being cautious?

One of my home health care nurses worked in the ICU dept of a hospital for 30 yrs helped me understand the difference between an anaphylactic reaction and a "safer" reaction. With all her experience, she shared that most people won't have anaphylactic reactions but the sepsis can cause very bizarre responses that can usually be mitigated. Of course, all this is easier to manage in a hospital than on your own.

Here are 3 examples of how these confusions can interfere with treatment decisions and outcomes--and I'm just one person:

Case 1
Levofloxacin is part of the fluoroquine abx that carry a black box warning. Ironically, some of the sx are VERY similar to bart herxing and also ironically, this class of abx is known to be very effective against bart.

The year before I finally got dx w/ Lyme & Co was on various abx due to sinusitis and bronchitis and one of them was Levoquin/Levofloxacin. I had a quick anaphylactic response (throat closed up, red/itchy/on fire chest, throat, face, scalp and I felt panic and confusion).

But ALSO, I started experiencing pain in the soles of my feet, sore calves, my nodes around my neck/head swelled and I a few other very bart-like sx that week. The irony here is that these sx (and reactions to z-pack and minocycline that I had also taken during this time) helped urge me to consider getting to a Lyme specialist after going 16+ years undiagnosed.

It is possible that some people are trying Levofloxacin and stopping because of these "black box" warning and sx... but what they're really experiencing is herxing from successfully hitting the bart bacteria.

Case 2
I was battling yeast/fungal overgrowth and started taking ketoconazole, which carries a warning of Long-QT or abnormal heart rhythm. 30 minutes after my first dose I nearly fainted - fell back on my bed in time to maintain consciousness. I thought nothing of it - I was dealing with 50-60 sx at the time and hadn't read the risks of keto. Most people paying attention would have stopped taking it immediately. I took it without incident for an entire year.

Months later I came across a statement of the Long-QT association and realize what had happened. What I think happened that day is massive die off that overwhelmed my system. The offgassing with yeast/fungus can be significant - causes ethanal and acetaldehyde, which are really toxic.

If I had stopped taking it, I would never have benefited from it and made desperately-needed progress with the y/f overgrowth. Most people would have stopped immediately.

Case 3
So, I have an IV port installed in my chest but it never healed properly so it shifted out of place in the beginning.

Subsequently, the catheter attached to it sits too low in my heart. And when I sit in a certain position or lie on my side in a certain position, it can aggravate the heart and cause all sorts of "heart problem" sx. No one agreed with me that it was the catheter - the surgeons who installed it, a cardiologist I saw due to all the problems, or any other MD I saw or the home health care nurses. Even after a complete cardio workup.

Anyway, during this time they made me go off ALL meds due to the concern over risk. As a side note, I was in the ER with a severe GI attack and a Long-QT rhythm was noted on the EKG while I was there. This never showed up again but the caution was understandable.

Granted, my case can get a little complicated but it is VERY difficult to navigate the "unknowns" with these drugs sometimes. Some would suggest the risks are lower with herbs but I'm really not sure about that. I was taking BW A-bart for a year, which gave me serious GI attacks, one that landed me in the ER. It took a long time but I finally figured out it was the herbs.

Anyway, good luck and please let us know how you fare with the changes you're going to implement.

-p

Ruey -

What are you doing for detoxing? This is as important as any antimicrobial.

Red root worked like a miracle for my swollen lymphs in the neck and the soreness and stiffness and massive headache and some of the burning. Dry brushing (find directions online) can also help drain the lymphs and bring relief. The Pinella and Burbur tinctures also do wonders for brain detoxing.

I herxed for a month after starting both IV abx with certain sx - other sx from the infections went away. The first two weeks were the most intense and then things slowly calmed to a dull roar. It took a few more months to settle out a few more herxing sx. But I had to switch up detox and crank up the volume, too.

A suspension formula is likely a liquid. The problem with that is they always put sugar in it to improve the taste - you do not need additional sugar. The benefit is also that - like with IV - you can modify your dose much more easily simply by measuring out a smaller amount in a measuring spoon. But I would do this only for several days - you want to work up to max dose as quickly as possible.

If you're detoxing as much as you can and the lower doses don't help, and enough time goes by and you're still not feeling any reduction in herxing - then you might need to try something else.

-p