Can antibiotics cause anxiety and insomnia?

[Tahlula2]

I had a UTI and was put on Sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim) antibiotics for 10 days 2x per day. Within the first 24 hours, I started experiencing severe symptoms. I am extremely anxious and my mind won't turn off. Crying for no reason and racing thoughts. I keep having sudden panic attacks. I've read that all these symptoms are possible and I am just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything like this on antibiotics. The worst symptom of all is the insomnia. I fall into a weird sleep with nightmares and panic attacks and then a few hours later, I wake up with my heart racing and anxiety. Then I can't fall back asleep. Since I've been on the medication, I haven't slept for longer than 2 hours a night and I'm extremely exhausted which is just adding to the anxiety. I am also experiencing restless legs and can't get comfortable. I only have 3 days left of the medication and I need to treat the UTI so I'll stay on it but this is scary.

[Paxiled]

I don't know what you're being treated for, but once you start taking an antibiotic you pretty much have to finish the program.  I'm sorry you're having this panic increase, the time to stop it was at the beginning when you first noticed this, not at the end.  I would ask your doctor first if it's okay to stop.   A problem with taking antibiotics is if you stop before the full dose is completed, you might not only fail to get rid of the infection but you can also create an antibiotic-resistant infection.  Whether or not you really needed one in the first place depends on what you had -- if it was an ear infection, for example, those don't usually need an antibiotic, they go away on their own.  But as you don't say, we don't know.  My main point here is, antibiotics have a lot of downsides to them but if you decide to take one, you either have to finish the program or have your doctor substitute a different one to prevent making the infection worse and recurrent.  I'd also recommend you start immediately with the best probiotic you can find in the refrigerated section of the best health food store in your area to counter some of the downsides -- it might even help with the anxiety.  Again, check with your doc first to make sure no adverse consequences will follow.  You can even try your pharmacist, but you want to talk to someone who seems to know what they're talking about.  That's not easy with medication, as most of the info comes from the companies that make them, but do the best you can.  Peace.

[Jsparrow1972]

I was prescribed Bactrim about a week ago and it has been awful. I was diagnosed with panic disorder many years ago and I have it pretty much under control. Until I took this medication. Over the last few days I have had a panic attack every day (I haven’t had a full blown panic attack in quite some time before this), general anxiety, racing thoughts, breathlessness and feeling like I’m losing my mind. I have been in full panic mode wondering why, after all this time, I was feeling these things and was relieved to read that many other people have experienced the same reaction. I have 3 pills left and I am not going to take them. Hopefully the medicine will leave my system soon. It’s been a nightmare. Best of luck to you.

[Paxiled]

Many people just on this forum have reported similar side effects from taking antibiotics.  They do have this effect on some people.  

[AnxiousNoMore]

Panic attacks can be complicated since the person has to self diagnose how they are feeling at the worst time in their life, and what the cause was.
Heart issues are also a common report here, from people who go to ER to discover the tests show there is nothing wrong, yet afterwards they continue to think they have a heart issue.

Very difficult to self diagnose.

[Paxiled]

So is it your position, Anxious, as it seems to be now that I'm seeing your feedback more often, that anxious people don't have health problems?  That they don't get common drug side effects?  That everything that happens to a person who suffers from anxiety is caused by anxiety?  Clearly this isn't true, so what do you recommend people to do who suddenly get new symptoms and the only new thing in their life is a new medication and all medications are known to have side effects?  The best recommendations a psychiatrist gave me is, when things suddenly change from the way they've been and the only different thing you did was take a medication, it's probably the medication.  In other words, the fact you suffer anxiety doesn't make you immune to all the problems everyone else gets, so you have to figure out if there's a cause other than anxiety to treat it properly.  Peace.

[AnxiousNoMore]

You can get panic attacks at any time, if something irritates you or frightens you. Or some people just get them for no reason, so unfortunately it is sometimes impossible to figure why they happen.
Medical issues can be frightening because you might think about your own mortality in a different light or perhaps wonder if you will ever get well if it is prolonged illness.
Try to relax instead of analyzing yourself looking for clues that something is wrong - it might just go away if you ignore it. Try reading a book when you wake up - many people have insomnia and do this to make their eyes tired and focus on the story so you can fall back to sleep.