Has Anyone Had Success Treating Anxiety - Treatment Protocol Feedback on Babesia and Bartonella?

Anxiety was one of my worst symptoms. It comes and goes. It seems to come less and less nowadays. I've been taking Azithromycin and Rifampin for about 6 months. I recently got my azithromycin upped and added plaquenil. That was a rough time. I just had a total breakdown a week or two ago, the post is somewhere here on the forum. But it passed and now I'm pretty happy everyday again. I took a break from my antibiotics and just recently started them back up.

I take a whole bunch of herbs and supplements too. I think taking Meriva to keep down inflammation actually really helps me. When I feel like I'm going to herx or get really anxious I start taking twice the amount for a couple days. My Doc encouraged it and was really supportive when I asked if it was OK.

Otherwise just when I do feel OK I mentally prepare for the next round of anxiety. I know I'm going to continue to have episodes of it. So I try and build myself up when I'm feeling sane. I'm getting way better now that I've actually been working on it. I have a plan. I go outside and sit by myself and just breath and look for birds and check out my gardens. If I still feel bad I try and make myself busy. Cleaning and "working off the nervous energy". Sometimes I will take a shower and put on nice clothes and do my hair and try to make myself look pretty. Which is weird cause I'm so not a girly girl, maybe that's why it helps though I don't very often. If a funny movie doesn't keep me on the couch and I'm just feeling awful, I come here. There is always a complete outpour of kindness and understanding from all of these wonderful people! This is my favorite place to come for support. Most of the time, when it gets really bad I just have to hold on and wait until it's over. It never lasts forever.

Hopefully it will all get better with time. I've had some major rib and foot pain here and there. I'm starting to get more in tune with the cycling. For me anxiety usually comes before I start feeling way better. I think that's how it works lately, I'm so out of it I don't remember what happened an hour ago.

I've never taken either of those drugs. I'm getting pretty tired of the azithromycin. And being on rifampin I need blood work every 3 weeks. Annoying. I've heard over and over that bart is notorious for causing anxiety. So maybe as they say when we feel the worst that's when you're doing some serious killing. That thought NEVER comforts me hahaha. But imagining little critters in there and being able to blame them makes me feel better.

Methylation is the key to getting better IMO. If your methylation cycle is blocked because of metals and mutations, it will be difficult to get better IMO. When someone begins to methylate, they remove metals that have impeded the system and herxes can occur which can increase anxiety through increases of acetylcholine.

It has been shown in the literature that Strep, Staph and H pylori in the GI tract can sequester metals, primarily aluminum. If I had anxiety or over stimulus to auditory stimuli, I would assume that I had one or more of these bacteria in my GI tract increasing acetylcholine levels and I would try to remove them and the aluminum that they harbor. Pectasol-C powder helped me out a lot when I used it. IMO, it removed aluminum in the GI tract as I saw evidence of less acetylcholine activity. I think it worked better than D-Limonene but my flora has now changed so it's not an apple to apple comparison of GI tracts. Diatomaceous earth may do the same. I would infuse the proper probiotics into my system to try to "crowd out" the unwanted bacteria. I would change what I ate to raw foods to increase the bacteria I put into my GI tract. I would decrease or almost eliminate all acidic foods and drinks and only eat alkaline for the time being. This may be too much at once so I would have to gradually build up to these measures. I would note the benefits or lack of benefits in a notebook depending on what supplements I took and what foods I ate.

Thanks Georgia Hunter for the great info! Are the Pectasol-C powder and D-Limonene anything like Cholestyramine? I have cholestrymine and need to take it more frequently.

It is so hard to fit the cholestrymine in because I read that it is stronger than most binders and needs to be taken 4 hours away from everything -not sure how accurate that info is. It can bind to nutrients if taken with food.

I also have to be careful with it. A whole pack gives me bad headaches and nausea. I took some yesterday and noticed an improvement overall. Either way, I'm going to work on taking it more frequently. I will look into the supplements you mentioned too!

Please post that link if you can find it. I want to learn more about acetylcholine levels in the GI tract. I have been drinking a lot of lemon water, ginger teas and taking a fair amount of Alka seltzer gold. Maybe I need to alkaline more. I definitely plan to boost my probiotics and add different strains!

I'm supposed to get tested for methylation defects. I'm still working on finding out whether the tests will be covered by my insurance since there are so many. Hopefully, I can get it done soon.

Thank you Georgia Hunter!

IHL, thank you SO much for your support!!! I appreciate it. I know what you mean with the nausea from antibiotics. I struggled so much with doxycycline due to nausea and then Bactrim. What has helped me a lot is Zofran. Are you taking an anti-nausea med? It has been a life saver for me.

Ginger helps too. I drink a lot of Yogi ginger tea. That helps me a lot too. There is something about the formula that helps me. I have read that ginger capsules are stronger. I love ginger. I may order some ginger capsules. Ginger is good for detox too.

I know it is rough! I'm so sorry that the anxiety hit you again. Hang in there IHL! You're dealing with so much.

Thank you Georgia Hunter! You have been extremely helpful. I'm going to look into the supplements, higher alkaline diet and methylation testing. I should be able to get the MTHFR test done soon. I'm very curious about 23 and Me as well and might get it it done too.

I also agree regarding the probiotics. I'm going to increase quantity and variety. I'm going to try to take my cholestrymine daily and see if that helps, which I suspect it will. Hopefully, the anxiety will calm down.

I have faith that I'm going to get better! That is what keeps me going. I'm grateful that I don't have doubts about getting there - it is just a matter of navigating through this and finding out what works and what does not.

No worries regarding the link. I think I have enough enough to do some searches.

You have given me valuable insight. I did not realize that I might have a huge metals problem and that could cause my high anxiety levels. Thanks! I appreciate it.

Thanks LMCM. That is good to know the artemisinin helped. I'm probably going to buy Buhner's Bartonella (and then Babesia) books so I can start supplementing with more herbs. My LLMD recommended Byron White, but it is on the pricy side, especially if it does not help.

I'm seriously contemplating an anti-anxiety med to calm me until I can knock down the infection more. My anxiety is beyond what I can control. It feels physiological.

How is your son doing on the Doxy and Rifampin? I hope it is helping and your kids see improvement soon.

I'm definitely upping my probiotics and will rotate brands to get various strains. Thanks!