Herxheimer Reaction

[Olinick]

Hi everyone and thanks to all of you who responded to my last post. I had written about all I have been dealing with (my possible cancer diagnosis, my dog's possible cancer diagnosis, issues at work, etc). You're not going to believe what was actually making the anxiety so out of control. I admit I really do have a lot going on in my life right now and I am VERY stress but in addition to what I had written about, something else was occurring which I didn't even know was going on. I have a long history of digestive issues (possibly now colitis not IBS as everyone originally thought) and several years ago I was put on a probiotic by a nutritionist. This stuff was wonderful and I had a year of feeling great. A year ago I could no longer easily or regularly get this stuff and the past year has been a roller coaster ride as the nutritionist worked to find something that would work for me. I have recently been trying a new type of probiotic and it was a nightmare. Not only was I dealing with nausea, horrible diarrhea, very tired but it was putting my anxiety levels through the roof! There is a name for this called Herxheimer Reaction and one of the symptoms was increase in anxiety. So you take someone who already suffers from anxiety, depression and PTSD, is already dealing with multiple stressful situations and add this to the situation. I couldn't control my mind. It was the oddest feeling and I couldn't stop the anxiety, panic attacks, anger. It was such a strange feeling. Because I was reacting to the medicine people wanted to see if I could eventually tolerate so I was taking it every other day. So eventually the anxiety would decrease some but then the other symptoms would increase. Then it was time for another dose and the anxiety went sky high again. I am now off it entirely and just letting my body heal some before trying something else. Please watch for this when taking medications or supplements for other conditions you have. It is a horrible experience. As far as the cancer diagnosis, that hasn't been confirmed yet and tomorrow school starts so I will have some idea of how the year will go.

[lillyofthevalley37]

Good of you to let us know what's happening x

[fallen_leaf]

Glad you were able to figure it out. Hope you are better and good luck with your diagnosis