I just read an article posted by boerj where we "chronic lyme patients" symptoms are nothing more than healthy people who are aging live with and we seek doctor after doctor looking for one to feel sorry enough for us to give our pains a disease name. grrrr
I posted a response which will probably never be aired, but it did make me realize that by having my lyme induce R.A., I am actually lucky. Doctors take R.A. very seriously and no one hesitates to treat me and certainly never accuses me of making it up.
Luvs
PS: I'm not treating my RA with the traditional immune suppressing drugs. I'm using alternative care and low dose antibiotics.
In one year my RA bloodtests have gone from high moderate (just 4 pts from severe) to borderline RA (weak positive). I have hope of reaching remission.
Posted by May (Member # 10319) on :
I'm really glad the RA treatment is going well. It's inspiring for those of us in the same boat. Are you doing the low dose minocycline?
Posted by D Bergy (Member # 9984) on :
Our doctor wanted my wife to go to an RA specialist. That was the straw that broke the camels back and we gave up on doctors. They still ruled out Lyme in spite of a deer tick bite, which she even brought the tick in to the doctor. He wanted to keep it as it was such a good specimen. She had the rash, fever you name the symptom and she had it. I am sure many people that have RA could very well have Lyme induced RA, just as you and my wife experienced. She has no arthritis pain the next day after her Rife treatment. It usually takes at least two weeks before it starts to come back. Kill the Lyme and you kill the arthritis.
She also takes Ginger and Curcumin to keep help keep inflammation down.
I am glad someone else is getting similar results with a different method. More proof of cause.
D Bergy
Posted by lr26 (Member # 7437) on :
Hi Luvs,
I'm glad to hear you are doing so good. I don't know if you remember me, but I love to ride also.
I'm being treated with abx, right now bixin 3 days and ciften 4 days. It been 2.5 years of treatment and I also had some good news. My blood work came back Negative for RA, sed rate only 16. I don't feel as good as my blood work, but I am gaining very,very slowly. I still hex when they change my abx. But it only last for 24 hours. Then the hex comes once a week lighter and lighter. Then not at all till they change again.
I wish I could show the results to the Rhumy(sp) from Mayo. 6 years ago he said he'd see me in a wheel chair in a year if I didn't do the imune altering drugs.
I hope you continue to see improvement .
Lori
Posted by pippifern (Member # 11564) on :
First of all, this is my very first post, and am a newbie to Lyme as well as this site. However, I've been reading these posts for a while, and feel as thought I'm finally getting a clue about the complexity of Lyme Disease.
I agree with the concept of being 'glad' in an odd way for the appearance of such an obvious symptom as an arthritic joint. My first noticeable symptom was about a month ago when my knee 'blew up' literally overnight. The nurse practitioner at my PCP office knew right away I needed Lyme testing which came back positive in a major way for late stage Lyme Disease. It took an unsatisfactory visit to a 'regular' rheumatologist, followed by finding an LLMD who prescribed a longer course of ABX and testing for co-infections to feel like I'm taking the best initial steps.
So like you, I feel fortunate for noticing an obvious symptom such as this. Of course, now I'm thinking back to other things I didn't recognize as symptoms, such as recently seeing double when looking in the rear view mirror at headlights at night. That has gone away since. I thought there was something wrong with my mirror!
Thanks for all your incredibly informative posts! Best health to all!