I would like someone to please post a really good article on problems Lyme can cause on the heart. I searched the newbie site and I probably just missed them.
I just got out of the hospital after being worked-up for 5 days with chest pain and an abnormal EKG.
I was diagnosed July of 2005 after developing a bulls-eye and becoming ill. I've been with a great LLMD and have been treated with oral and now IV meds for over a year now.
I have to go through a cardiac catheterization and TEE test next week. Cardiologist says I have heart disease but doesn't understand why at the age of 43 and without a family history of it.
The only thing I know at this point is my valve is leaking and it appears as though I may have ischemia in one of my heart vessels. The cardiologist is very concerned that the Lyme may be playing a role.
Anything you have that I can read and print to share with the cardiologist would be so appreciated !!! Thank you guys and I hope everyone is hanging in there.
Kelly
Posted by LymeCFIDSMCS (Member # 13573) on :
I have had really serious heart problems from what my doctor thinks is bartonella. Cipro brought me from the edge of cardiac death to a LOT of cardiac improvement. So don't rule out the coinfections, which can cause worse cardiac problems than Lyme.
Posted by ICEiam (Member # 7519) on :
Kelly,
Go to the top of this page under post reply and click on search. Type in Cardiac Involvement.
There are a ton of threads about it. Some are pretty scary so maybe instead of stressing yourself out you might want to wait until you have your tests.
Your cardioligist can determine what is going on. If he finds nothing, THEN I would do some reading about what others have experienced.
Just my opinion, I am not a doctor just a Mom trying to find the answers for her sick daughter.
HUGS,
Posted by Vermont_Lymie (Member # 9780) on :
Kelly,
There is alot of information on the heart and lyme also at the Lymenet Europe Forum.
And type in "cardiac" at the Search Site area at the top right-hand side of the webpage.
Best wishes; I hope you get better soon and please keep us posted!
Posted by tailz (Member # 10014) on :
I had a slight left ventricular delay, I think it was, maybe 10 years ago. I didn't have any cardiac symptoms back then either. I wonder what sorts of delays I'm having now - now that I can feel them?
Posted by tailz (Member # 10014) on :
I just read that sleeping on your left side can trigger A-fib. And for 2 years I actually feared sleeping because I was used to sleeping on my left side, but whenever I would do it, my heart seemed to speed up on me and I'd feel like it was going to stop.
I'm guessing Lyme damaged my heart, too?
Posted by kelly06 (Member # 10417) on :
Thank you all very much !! This is a huge help. It's odd that I read some of you referring to bartonella as causing more cardiac symptoms because I am right now in my 2nd week of treatment for it.
I was positive for lyme and the co-infection that sounds like erlichio (can never spell it) but not bartonella. My LLMD is suspicious for it because my lyme symptoms returned after being symptom free for 3 months last year.
I just had to stop taking levaquin for the bartonella because I couldn't tolerate the nasty side effects. Sounds like cipro may be an alternative drug for that.
I'm currently in my 9th week of IV rocephin through a PICC line. I'm beginning to feel like this is never going to end and I wonder if I should stop everything. I feel drained, ill and exhausted.
I also wonder if the treatment is causing me more problems than the Lyme. I've had this since July of 2005, but my doc keeps telling me I'm going to be cured of it. Thoughts on that?
I really feel like throwing in the towel with the treatment and just dealing with symptoms as they come up. What scares me about actually doing that is I'm terrified of becoming disabled.
Kelly
Posted by LymeCFIDSMCS (Member # 13573) on :
There are some herbs with supported research for ischemia, such as khella, hawthorn, and arjuna. Motherwort is also a good heart herb but more specific to palpitations. You might consider adding some of these.
I also found Kirkman Labs Magnesium Cream to be helpful. Dr. Paul Cheney found it helped with cardiac problems in CFIDS patients.
Unfortunately, Cipro has most of the same side effects as Levaquin. Rifampin is the only other choice for bartonella (and must be taken in combination with other antibiotics), although Dr. B. says it does not target some strains of bart he is finding (there is a thread on this somewhere).
I could not sit up for more than a few minutes for over three years and was found to have cardiac output lower than a 79 woman with class IV heart failure (I am 39), and now -- after the Cipro and now with Rifampin -- I am sitting up for stretches of time, and overall feeling like my heart is functioning again. It's nothing short of a miracle, and in my case my LLMD and I are fairly certain bart was the problem (see my other post on this thread).
Posted by on :
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