I have been plagued by extreme sensitivity to odours, light, sound, food, temperature for years. I didn't know what was driving it. Now I know, in general terms.
I had been taking meds to try to calm down the over-firing neurons. One med, the first one I started on 20 years or so ago, was Neurontin (gabapentin is generic name). I didn't really think it was doing much for me so I decided to wean off it and replace it with Lyrica (pregabalin) with my doctor's permission. Lyrica is the 2nd generation of gabapentin and works on the same receptor.
When I finally stopped the gabapentin, I started noticing a really foul body odour. Not normal. Smelled like something was decaying inside me. It progressively got worse over the next few days. I was getting washed every couple hours, but could not get rid of the smell. I started tasting it. I could not get the smell out of my nasal passages. It made me nauseous. Gave me a migraine and I had an entire night of vomiting.
I called the doctor and started on Lyrica. I have just started it 2 days ago but it is starting to help. I'll have to get the dose up more but it must be done gradually. Gabapentin and Lyrica apparently work by cutting down on the signals being sent from neurons. So fewer distress signals were getting out which I think is how it is helping.
But ... my cranial nerves, and probably the rest of my body, is being bombarded with "something". No wonder they are in such an uproar. And anything that adds to it, like other odours (ie perfume), lights etc push it completely over the edge. Probably what is happening in my gut too.
The "something" is clearly an infection and/or a toxin. But, we've done the usual stool tests and no parasites, bacteria or other troublemakers found. Blood tests have come up negative for the usual viruses and bacteria. I've been gluten-free for a year. How do I identify the problem? Clearly the something needs to be cleared out but I don't know what I'm trying to get rid of. Glad to know what's driving the sensitivities though.
I had been taking meds to try to calm down the over-firing neurons. One med, the first one I started on 20 years or so ago, was Neurontin (gabapentin is generic name). I didn't really think it was doing much for me so I decided to wean off it and replace it with Lyrica (pregabalin) with my doctor's permission. Lyrica is the 2nd generation of gabapentin and works on the same receptor.
When I finally stopped the gabapentin, I started noticing a really foul body odour. Not normal. Smelled like something was decaying inside me. It progressively got worse over the next few days. I was getting washed every couple hours, but could not get rid of the smell. I started tasting it. I could not get the smell out of my nasal passages. It made me nauseous. Gave me a migraine and I had an entire night of vomiting.
I called the doctor and started on Lyrica. I have just started it 2 days ago but it is starting to help. I'll have to get the dose up more but it must be done gradually. Gabapentin and Lyrica apparently work by cutting down on the signals being sent from neurons. So fewer distress signals were getting out which I think is how it is helping.
But ... my cranial nerves, and probably the rest of my body, is being bombarded with "something". No wonder they are in such an uproar. And anything that adds to it, like other odours (ie perfume), lights etc push it completely over the edge. Probably what is happening in my gut too.
The "something" is clearly an infection and/or a toxin. But, we've done the usual stool tests and no parasites, bacteria or other troublemakers found. Blood tests have come up negative for the usual viruses and bacteria. I've been gluten-free for a year. How do I identify the problem? Clearly the something needs to be cleared out but I don't know what I'm trying to get rid of. Glad to know what's driving the sensitivities though.