Feeling so overwhelmed. I need any help I can get.

[ambitransitive]

I'm a new user and don't have access to chat, which is a shame because I could REALLY use someone to talk to.

I'm 28 and have struggled with anxiety since I was about 13. I was doing OK for a while, and then at the end of October I had an extremely severe panic attack while smoking medicinal marijuana. I genuinely thought I was going to die.

I quit smoking the next day, and ever since then I've been on a rollercoaster of anxiety, mostly health-related. The Lexapro I've been taking for a few years seemed to just stop working around that time. I've had days where I've felt somewhat fine, but more often than not I'm anxious all the time.

Things got REALLY bad a week ago. I thought I had a urinary tract infection and went to see my doctor. He put me on Cipro, which I've taken in the past without incident. Within a few hours of the first dose, I started having severe stomach problems, and then horrendous anxiety. I stopped taking it after three or four pills, and found out I'd never had a UTI to begin with.

Since then, I've been in hell. I've had constant nausea, horrible anxiety, and weird physical symptoms. My legs and feet feel like they're wrapped in ice, my skin feels like it's tingling and burning, and I get cold sweats all the time. I feel constantly overwhelmed and can't stop crying. I had a bad experience with the therapist I was seeing and stopped going to her, and the new one can't see me until Monday, which seems like a really long time right now (to say nothing of the fact that I know one session isn't going to solve this). Logically, I don't think there's anything wrong with me, as the symptoms tend to subside when my anxiety does.

I've started taking Klonopin again, but it makes me extremely tired, and I'm already feeling foggy from the anxiety. I can't take any more of it until this evening. I work from home (thank goodness), but I'm not getting anything done because I can't concentrate. All I've done today is panic and cry. Even taking a shower seems like too much to handle. Does anyone have any advice at all? I really, really feel like I'm not going to make it through this.

[sarasvati]

Cipro can do that. It's a quinolone which is a very nasty antibiotic, I took Avelox 7 years ago, only for 2 days, after the first dose I had paralysis and brain burning and all sorts of symptoms of central nervous system agitation. The good news is it will go away, but now that you have been 'floxed' (as they call it after taking quinolones) you need to avoid them for life. Do everything possible to detox from it, drink lots of water, take supplements to support nervous system and wait. It took me a couple of months to stop having headaches, pressure and burning in my brain, and eventually I had to restart an SSRI which I quit a few years before, because of the panic symptoms. It will pass. Just be patient and support yourself in any way you can.
Big hug :hugs:

[ambitransitive]

Thank you for replying. I figured it probably had something to do with the Cipro, but I don't know what to do with myself until it stops. It's been barely more than a week, and I'm already at my wit's end. How do I cope with this for potentially another six or seven weeks? I am drinking tons of water and taking a few supplements and trying to eat relatively healthy (though I have no appetite and have to force myself to eat), but it hasn't gotten any better and I'm so scared that there's something more wrong with me or that it's never going to end. And I have things for work that I really need to get done, but I can't focus on anything.

[sarasvati]

It WILL go away. And it does get better with time, you won't feel like that the whole time. Just accept that you have been poisoned and your body needs time to heal. Try to relax and accept the experience, resisting it will make it more difficult for you. Life doesn't always go the way we want it, so we need to compromise. Take lot's of probiotics to replenish the gut flora, it gets a hit with antibiotics especially quinolones. I know it's a horrendous experience but you will get through this.