At a crossroad in treatment

Hi again.

So I've been treating chronic lyme for 16 months with abx. During this time I have gotten off of my original dose of 60mg/day of Prozac and .5mg 2x/day of Klonipin. Since starting treatment my physical symptoms have gotten so much better. My Lyme doc said I still had several years of treatment on abx left.

Usually I would say, ok, I have three years of slowly getting EVEN better. Yay! But my anxiety is off the charts lately. Im able to do stuff like work 40 hours a week and snowboard, etc. But my anxiety is not allowing me to sleep more than 5.5 hours at night, and making my head/thoughts race around like a hampster on a wheel. Most times, this anxiety is followed by depression, and then I have a few hours of relief at night.

I have taken a break from my Lyme doctor in order to see a psychiatrist to get my mental health back in line. (My Lyme doctor and I disagree very much on how to treat my anxiety, he has been saying that ssri's will actually make me worse, asking me to take a 10mg prozac and report back on how I feel later that day..) Well, 8 years ago Prozac saved my life and while I believe the Prozac has lost most of its effect after these 8 years, a new med may offer me relief and make treatment much easier to go through.

My question is what do you think? What if I feel great after getting on a new ssri? I'm wondering if I should go back to my Lyme doc and continue to treat with abx indefinitely (he said several more years) or just keep the Lyme in check with natural herbal remedies (stevia, cats claw, andrographis, etc.) Im also thinking treatment options may get better in the future and there may be a better solution than 3 more years of abx!

I know there is no straight "bullet proof" answer. I am just attracted by the SSRI + Herbal path because I really need to get my social life back before I really do go insane. 16 months of a strict diet, being sick, feeling anxiety and depression, being on abx, and the isolation this all causes has got me seriously questioning if I can continue....

Thanks everyone, really

One thing is for sure, we need to do what we need to do. Anxiety is a terrible thing to ask someone to just deal with! I've had some pretty serious anxiety issues before, although they were due to having these infections. But, it did give me a glimpse into what it's like, and boy oh boy!! It was not good!

I agree that being on an SSRI may be right for you. I wouldn't have made it through my anxiety 'issues' had I not had them.

I did want to address something you said though - "or just keep the Lyme in check with natural herbal remedies (stevia, cats claw, andrographis, etc.) " These natural treatments don't just keep things in check, they will actually work to heal the infections. Herbs just set up the body to do most of the work, rather than relying on the pharma abx to kill the bacteria and the body to figure out how to get back to functioning normally (although many LLMD's are now seeing the need for supportive therapies!).

If you feel a different approach is what you need, or even a new set of eyes (a different LLMD), then I encourage you to exercise your right to do so. A set of new eyes on a problem is often very helpful!!! And, we really do need to be comfortable with our treatment choices.