Scared about Sudden onset of anxiety with penicillin

[Swk7]

Hi,

I'm new here I need to get some advice from people who understand anxiety before I drive my husband insane. I'm a 26 year old female who is driving herself mad!

On Saturday I became ill I had a sore throat vomiting and diarrhea. By Sunday morning I just had a much worse sore throat. Went to out of hours gp and was diagnosed with severe bacterial tonsillitis and have Ben prescribed penicillin vk.

I now keep feeling that my heart is racing I still have an upset stomach (thankful no vomiting, it's one of my worst silly fears) I'm weepy and nauseous I just feel all wrong. I've barely had any food and water the last few days my stomach is so in knots and queasy. Today I finally have healthy colours urine again which I assume is a good sign.

I've suffered with anxiety on and off for 10 years, many years ago I was prescribed propranolol for a short time. In recent years since having my daughter my health anxiety has increased ten fold in fact I think it may have appeared as before that it was general anxiety.

Sorry for massive ramble, basically does anyone know if penecillin is causing this or if I'm just being crazy and stupid?

Thank you in advance,
Sarah

[RoseEve]

Hello there. I also noticed a dramatic increase since having children. I do not respond well to any medicine. These are common side effects of penn. People that have health anxiety tend to be more sensitive to their bodies and detect any change. That is why I don't like antidepressents, I can't handle any side effects even though it makes me feel better. You are also causing these symptoms to be much worse with your panic.

[HoneyLove]

Have you had penicillin in the past without any trouble?

It sounds like you are exhasuted and anxious from feeling sick and not being able to eat much, and possibly that the drugs/infection are upsetting your tummy.

Your heart will race if you've not eaten well, nor drunk enough, so that could well be it. You could try drinking more liquids (you'll need them when you're feeling sick anyway) and whatever food you can manage.

I'd advise you also to give your GP a shout to find out what to do about taking the antibiotic, I've had to do that myself in the past when I had a bad reaction and they're always willing to help :)

Feel better soon! x

[Swk7]

Thank you so much, both of you.

I've had a little more to eat and drink and feel a little better, I certainly feel less shaky and my heart isn't pounding. I opened a window too for some fresh air and I feel a little calmer just having a little breeze.

I've taken penicillin vk before with no problems, this dose is higher than what I've normally been given, I'm taking 500mg 4 times a day. I might try spacing them out more, even set an alarm to take one in the middle of the night so I'm not cramming them all in during the day.

If I wake up tomorrow feeling dodgy again I'll give my GP a call and check that how I'm feeling is ok. I have to see my GP towards the end of the week too just to make sure my tonsils are ok (took several doctors at the out of hours clinic to decide it wasn't something more serious which hasnt helped my anxiety!) and I think it might be time to see if I can take something for my anxiety again.

Thank you :)
Sarah xx

[claireypoo]

I always get really teary and depressed with penicillin too! Just the first few days. My GP looked at me like I was talking in tongues when I said that, (so maybe not reported much? Idk) but, weirdly, by day 3 I felt amazingly well - no health anx. Happy! Not sure why. Maybe just the lack of infection. Even my IBS felt better! (The penicillin I took was for a gum infection) x

[HoneyLove]

It's sounds like you have a very good plan set up, and that you're taking care of yourself - that's a good sign for your anxiety too, instead of letting it run away with you you're taking control, asking advice, setting the boundaries and looking after yourself as best as you can :)

I had to take a very high dose of penicillin once too, along with another antibiotic at the same time, for a stomach infection. It did make me feel hellish, worse than the stomach problem in fact lol.

I remember it totally exhausted me, I felt like I had been hit by a bus, and it really upset my stomach too. So I'm not surprised you're finding it tough too.

Just remember to keep taking it easy and in a weeks time you'll be feeling much better x

[ankietyjoe]

I've just had some nasty experiences on another antibiotic so i'm pretty sure you might be having a similar reaction.

See my thread hear for the gory details :D

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=150047

[Swk7]

Wow joe, your experience makes mine seem lovely! I don't understand why, if so many people suffer problems on antibiotics, it isn't on the leaflets or why doctors don't give a quick warning just in case. How long did your side effects last?

Claire, thank you, the fact that you felt better in a few days gives me hope that tomorrow may be brighter and I may even make it downstairs and be able to look after my little girl again!

Honeylove I have that hit by a bus feeling, I haven't ended up bedbound by an illness in a long time. I'm desperately trying to keep a handle on my overactive mind, and hopefully it's nothing.

Randomly adding another symptom (for the ladies) just on the off chance anyone knows about it but I've had weird spotting today, like more than spotting but not enough to call it bleeding and my period ended last week. The onset of that has given me brand new panic and I don't know if it's normal with antibiotics and I'm resisting the urge to consult with google.

Sarah xx

[HoneyLove]

When you're stressed, spotting is not unusual. In fact it's not unusual even when you're not stressed, happens to everyone now and again for many reasons. It's only a matter of concern if you're having bleeding in between your periods consistently, and even then the cause is usually treatable and common.

So, put it out of your head! :)

[ankietyjoe]

To be fair the potential side effects were all in the leaflet, but the ones I experienced were supposed to be 1 in 10,000 so meh.

I suspect those that are prone to mental issues are probably much more likely to experience those types of side effects.

The other consideration of course is that bacterial infections can become very serious without antibiotic treatment so it's the lesser of two evils to a certain extent I guess.

The symptoms only lasted about 24 hours after I finished the course, so I'm pretty sure it's the AB's that caused the weirdness.

[Swk7]

Honey, I didn't realise just stressing could cause some bleeding. I'll try and calm down, I've also had the contraceptive implant removed about 5/6 weeks ago (because of constant spotting/bleeding for weeks) and I suppose my hormones could still be all wonky and stress on top of that isn't helping... thank you :)

Joe, so glad they went away not long after the course. Good to know they leave the system pretty promptly. I can't wait for the end of my course already!