Help! Strep casuing severe depression

[worst_strep]

hi, my name is dave. At the age of 15 during my drivers training classes i suddenly got an onset of the crazy depression that i wasnt familiar with at all. My mom and i went through so much things to try to get myself feeling better, but nothing seemed to be working. I am a normal kid and am not struggling with any illness besides this random one. I seem to be normal and back to my self for a good 4 to 7 months and then at any random time it hits me, and im out for 2 weeks with the worst depression anyone can ever imagin, but i try to stay strong. something i was reading onyour websight said that infction can somtimes cause depression. and that is the route we are going now. everytime i have strep throat high in my blood i seem to get very depressed and anxious. i am now 18 years old and getting my tonsils out in a few days to stop the infection mainly to treat the anxiety and depression. Do you think it is possible that this strep throat is causing the Depression. This sickness is ruining my life excpecialy when it counts which is right now in college and i have missed my exam and missed other fun things due to this horrible sickness. please tell me if this is the reason. HELP! MY LIFE DEPENDS ON THIS!

[HGx2]

I am not a doctor but simply a mom who dealt with something very similar with her child.  About three years ago my 11 yr old was hit with MAJOR anxiety out of the blue.  He became worried about his heart beating too fast, his heart beating too slow, his heart skipping beats, not being able to breathe, an irrational fear of death.  His mind wouldn't stop racing coming up with hundreds of ways he could die.  He started to think he had not real friends.  He stopped wanting to be alone or without his parents. All of these things made him into a child I didn't recognize.  NONE of the personality traits existed before.  I did research.  I found that there was a percentage of kids plagued by similar issues after they had strep.  There was a problem with this.  My son never had strep in his life.  I took him to the doc and demanded they do a strep test. It showed he'd had the strep recently but that he wasn't currently infected.  I was shocked.  He'd never been diagnosed with strep his whole life. Under pressure from me they put him on antibiotics.  The symptoms started to subside. Then when the drugs ended his symptoms came roaring back.  I asked for another dose.  He started getting better but then when that dose ended the symptoms came back. I took him to many specialists.  At this point I felt certain he had a condition called PANDAS.  No one had heard of it.  All the specialists said he was a perfectly normal boy. They looked at me like I was crazy.  He wasn't getting better and I couldn't keep him on antibiotics the rest of his life. I did more research and came across parents who had success with homeopathic doctors. I took him to one and paid a lot of $ because not many insurances will cover a homeopathic doctor.  It was worth every penny.  She didn't think I was crazy.  Prior to his overnight anxiety symptoms he'd suffered two back to back illnesses where he ran a fever.  Looking back one of them had to be strep based on the test results. She said for whatever reason these two illnesses played havoc on his immunity system.  She made him a tincture, we tried a variety of different vitamins and supplements until slowly over time we put his body back in balance and the symptoms went away.  It took close to a year before he was completely normal but it did happen.  He's now 14 yrs old and has not had any setbacks. Do your research.  There is a strong connection with strep and mental issues. There is a strong connection with your gut and mental issues as well. One of the things my son started taking and still takes today is a probiotic. It's an easy over the counter drug to find. Probiotics help insure you have good bacteria in your gut and if you are always taking antibiotics for reacurring strep then you are constantly wiping out all the good bacteria you have in your intestinal tract. It is a vicious cycle. No good bacteria means you are opening yourself up to contracting another round of strep or any illness really. I could go on and on about the things I've learned but there are more knowledgable people out there than me. All I can say is that I did not find any answers or help with "modern" medicine.  I finally got the help I needed for my child using naturopathic remedies. I went back to my pediatrician and they didn't fully believe my story and still looked at me like I was just some crazy mom...but it worked. I wish I could shout it from the rooftops to everyone who is suffering like we were on how to make it better because I know first hand how miserable it was to think there aren't any solutions out there and that you'll never get help.  

[p123abc]

I was also wondering if strep can cause anxiety. I started feeling anxious (tightness in chest, heart pounding, waking early, tension in shoulders and neck) on a sunday and was diagnosed with strep on wednesday.  I had my tonsils taken out over 30 years ago and was not taking any medication except 1 ibuprophin and 1 sudafed on saturday for a sinus headache.  I read about PANDA (OCD caused by strep) and since that is an anxiety disorder I thought there might be a link.

[cnote]

It will go away buddy. Just hang in there. You may have a little anxiety from getting your tonsils out. You may be anxious about the surgery. But after its all done man. You'll be a new man. You'll be ROCKIN!!! LOL. Hang in there, best of luck to ya!

[worst_strep]

yea when i take meds for strep my anxiet and depression goes away.. ah i am the most normal kid then every like 6 months i will get random crazy depression and anxiety. it ruins my life. i am geting tonsils out in 8 days and doctors and parents seem to think it will go away and i pray it does.

[cnote]

Hey buddy. Anything can set off anxiety. It seems you have what I have. We have VERY CREATIVE minds. Minds are a powerful thing. When I'm not feeling right or normal, I start to question my self. "What's wrong with me? Am I going to get sick? Do I have this or that?" You have something to be kind of worried about, but we tend to worry more about it than the average person, then the anxiety about it kicks in. Then when you have anxiety, you cause more anxiety.. b/c you dont know how to get rid of the anxiety/depression. I think you need to just take it easy, relax. Don't worry about your strep throat. It will go away. Your tonsils will heal. You'll be good to go. I find that exercise helps alot too! Too much time to yourself sometimes too can tend you to think way too much about things. Not healthy. Try and do something to take it off your mind. I know its hard. But you can over come it! =)

ps: are you on any meds?