Lyme effect on thryoid function and response to meds

[JackieCalifornia]

A while back, I ran across a post by Virginia Sherr, MD, a psychiatrist who also has Lyme herself, posting at TheHumanSideOfLyme [dot] net.  Part of the post talked a bit about thyroid function in those with Lyme.  Here's a bit:

"In my psychiatric office, I had been listening for years to a subset of patients who were exquisitely sensitive to everything chemical in their lives.  Medicine that required a dosage of 50 mg for the average person was too strong at 12.5 mg for them.  Any commonplace side effects were magnified, and therefore, the idea of taking medicine had become anxiety-producing to them and, I remember, to myself as well, for the same reason. ...

"It turns out that Lyme disease tends to interfere with the metabolism of the liver in such a way that chemicals are processed too slowly.  And there is a failure of the 'T4 thyroid hormone' to convert properly into T3 hormone at the cellular level.  [Lyme disease] causes a Wilson's syndrome -- a lowering of body temperature -- which makes all chemical reactions sluggish.  This causes a backlog of molecules, which are imperfectly metabolized if at all and which then act as if the person has taken an overdose."

Interesting.

[JackieCalifornia]

Doctors:  really smart people who are not necessarily very wise.

Sigh!

[Ricobord]

I am so grateful for Dr. Sherr's articles!  They were so helpful in explaining some of what was going on inside my body.  The Bell's Palsy of the Gut was very eye opening for me.

I have definitely had the sensitivity issue.  When I was in the hospital  (for horrible pain in my liver/gallbladder and stomach), the neuro didn't believe I had Lyme  (apparently because I haven't been camping in decades), and she was trying to find a new medication to help with my terrible sleep disruptions.  She said she thought my cognitive problems were from the Xanax and Ambien.  She started to walk away and I piped up and said, "But I take really small doses of them.". So she stopped and asked, "How much?"

I was very unimpressed that she had come to this conclusion without even knowing how much I took!  I told her I took 2.5mg of Ambien (std dose = 10) 3-4 x/week and .25mg of Xanax (a low dose is .5) the other 3-4 days of the week.  She then decided on a dose for the new drug and said, "Well, we know you are really sensitive to medications." I thought, "Well, at least she is observant about SOMETHING."

[youvegottobekidding]

Interesting, thanks for posting that Jackie.
I have instinctively felt that "easy overdose" about myself for a long time, though it does depend which drug.
I have also sometimes had totally unexpected reactions to drugs. I was once given valium for a colonoscopy and it hyped me up as if I were on speed. They couldn't do the colonoscopy!
I also once took a valerian tablet to try to help me sleep, and I got racing palpitations from it - never took that again.