posted
Has anyone gotten Bipolar from Lyme or another infection or autoimmune disease?
Can you recommend a doctor in the northeast?
Mary
-------------------- Son, 26, Dx Lyme 4/10, Babs 8/10 Had serious arthritis, all gone. Currently on Valtrex Daughter, 26,bullseye 7/11 arthritis in knees, cured and off all meds. . Self:Lyme, bart, sxs gone, no longer treating. Posts: 496 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Jul 2010
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Keebler
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posted
- I wrote out a very detailed PM to you in reply to your PM to me with that question. Your mailbox was full so it could not go through.
I don't have the energy to recreate that and have since turned off my PM function that is rarely on due to energy contrainsts.
The short answer is, absolutely, bipolar can be a misdiagnosis where lyme (or other tick-borne infections) are present.
It happened to me. They were so very wrong. And none of the psychatric meds helped. In fact, each one I tried made me much worse and some nearly killed me.
First: find LLMD.
If needed, they can direct to other doctors for mood management.
A good LL ND can also be very valuable for the support methods. ND is naturopathic doctor, but be sure they are also LL.
Food: avoid all additives. A gluten-free diet often really helps clear certain mood issues.
Steroids: avoid as they can make lyme (and mood reactions) so much worse.
Untimately, lyme MUST be addressed, head-on.
Liver support and Adrenal Support is all essential, all along the way. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
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posted
- Autoimmune attacks, IMO, do not exist - at least to the degree or the way that most doctors think -- for those with various stealth infections.
The body is trying so hard to find the infection (able to evade immune detection for the most part) that part of the immune system can just wear out trying and another part can be just too worn out to work.
Lyme can CREATE what many doctors (who are uneducated about lyme or other stealth infections) think is autoimmune.
Now, the immune system can be turned on its head with lyme and that needs addressing but not the way that most doctors think. Immune support is required, of course, but NOT immune suppression that most doctors would advise.
Again, start with a LLMD. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
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- I recall that you are asking about someone else. It may be best to ask over in "Seeking a Doctor" - you might ask for BOTH
LLMD and a LL psychotherapist, location
Perhaps, also a LL ND, too (naturopathic doctor) for they have so many options for mood management that are often so much easier on someone with lyme.
Because many of the symptoms of Lyme disease involve the nervous system, it was speculated that the spirochete produced a toxin that disrupted normal nerve function.
Through the use of DNA manipulations and a database of known protein toxin DNA sequences, a match was made with a selected Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) gene and a specific toxin in the database.
Protein generated from this cloned Bb gene was examined biochemically and found to have characteristics similar to that of botulinum, the toxin of Clostridium botulinum, a zinc endoproteinase.1
The toxin from Bb belongs to a family of toxic proteins known as "zinc endoproteinases" or metalloproteases, and includes the toxin from the organism causing tetanus as well as those from many other well-known infectious diseases. . . .
------------------------
Therefore, Liver Support is a vital part of mood support:
posted
Thank you Keebler for all your posts and I'm so sorry about my mailbox!
Right, it's not about me. I had an excellent LLMD in VA that cured me and my son. My son is doing really well. My daughter's LLMD is near Boston and my daughter is doing fine now as well.
Did your Bipolar include manic episodes and grandiosity? Or was it "atypical"?
Do you think it was Lyme? or maybe a co-infection?
-------------------- Son, 26, Dx Lyme 4/10, Babs 8/10 Had serious arthritis, all gone. Currently on Valtrex Daughter, 26,bullseye 7/11 arthritis in knees, cured and off all meds. . Self:Lyme, bart, sxs gone, no longer treating. Posts: 496 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Jul 2010
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
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posted
- I was never biopolar but misdiagnosed as such. I did have severe exhaustive mood crashes and my legs sometimes would not work for an hour or so during such exhaustion. That was seen as a mental issue.
I never had manic episodes nor grandiosity. Insomnia was a huge problem, though. That was the extent of any excess energy, really but was not really energy insomnia but sheer "wired yet tired" to the max and is common with lyme for many reasons (I would later learn).
And, isn't "grandiosity" - sometimes - just someone trying to hold onto a dream, and possibilities? A "fight or flight" OVER reaction when they know something is very wrong and they don't know which way to turn?
The "fight or flight" function can go so haywire with the toxicity of lyme.
However, my practice of "putting on a happy face" and sheer determination to find out what was going on was misinterpreted, greatly. My past as a journalism instructor gave me some sense of how to research and that was seen as a mental illness by the doctors.
I was exhausted but tried to muster whatever energy I could for somewhat professional fact-finding doctor appointments. I approached this as a professional project - how else could I? But that was so misinterpreted.
The diagnosis of bipolar was given to me when I listed too many symptoms on a fibromyalgia questionairre for a new rheumatologist's appointment.
And I was crying that day because I was falling, so ill and was told that I must be bipolar because no one who had fibromyalgia could have the energy to fill out that form with so many symptoms.
The doctor did not take into account I had the form mailed to me a week before the appt. and took many days to try to be complete so that they could finally get to the bottom of it.
That was determined to be "manic" (told NO ONE could have that many symptoms and that I must be exaggerating) and once the rheumatologist declared that I was "bipolar" it stuck.
Hyperacusis (though it was not called that by them - the severe sound sensitivity) also had a sleep specialist determine that I must be very mentally ill as "no one could react like that just to noise." Hyperacusis is a classic lyme symptom, I would learn YEARS LATER.
Those ignorant doctors made my medical file a disaster zone. Never taken seriously after that.
I did have depression drops but mostly, due to steroids (prednisone - very bad for lyme, later I would learn) and from various psych drugs, very bad reactions . . . all pointed to undiagnosed lyme and adrenal dysfunction (as I later figured out).
Cytomel (a T3 thyroid drug) was also to blame for afternoon mood crashes -- but it would take a very long to learn that.
But, mostly, many years of living with lyme, ehrlichia and babesia (all 3 postive with Igenex) but the tests were dismissed ("ther is no lyme in this state," I was told. Seizures, exhaution, all symptoms were declared to be "mental illness."
I've never had access to a full lyme protocol of any kind but with what I could piece together and key support methods, mood is much more stable. No depression. Not thrilled with illness and all that entails but mood is stable.
The psych drugs that had been pushed at me were a huge part of the mood crashes.
Toxicity created a huge issue with insomnia (which had been confused with mania by some doctors).
Severe magnesium deficiency (that would later be verified by intracellular blood test) also explains a lot avoid inablilty to keep an even mood. Huge connection.
All in all, a sad state of affairs with typical MDs and their medical system. I cannot stress enough the absolute importance of first seeing a LLMD or LL ND before going to any other doctors.
During assessment, the LLMD or LL ND can then advise if other experts might be needed - and then referrals can be made to experts that the LLMD or LL ND trusts to know enough about lyme, etc.
I have read of many cases that were misdiagnosed as various mental illnesses that were turned around with proper attention to lyme infection, specifically inflammed brain and nervous system - - and the nutrient deficiences that go with lyme.
Coinfections, including parasites, can aslo cause all kinds of mood issues.
The details I share are not at all isolated. Many with lyme, all across the U.S. report similar realities and mistreatment with lyme-ignorant doctors.
When a long list of psych drugs each made me worse . . . it was suggested that I undergo Electro Convulsive Treatments as the last resort.
I'm very glad I did not buy that very bad advice. -
[ 07-04-2013, 03:48 AM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
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quote:Originally posted by marypart: Has anyone gotten Bipolar from Lyme or another infection or autoimmune disease?
Mary
The HPA being out of balance from Lyme and co-infections can cause behavior similar to bi-polarism...
some people get diagnosed as being bi-polar when it's actually HPA issues..
Same with anxiety, there's endocrine-based anxiety and then there is GAD (general anxiety disorder -- anxiety that is not physiologically caused, but rather is mental).
This is just one of many articles... if you google you will find much information:
But just as Keebler mentioned.. most doctors don't have the knowledge/training/understanding to look at this as a cause and just want to "label" us, much to our demise.
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