My 8 year old daughter is being treated by an LLMD. We were at our family physician yesterday to give him an update on her progress.
The doctor checked her spine and found some scoliosis. I am absolutely sick with worry now.
Last summer, just around the start of Lyme treatment and about 1 year after being bit, my daughter always complained about her left shoulder when she was in the car. She said it hurt when she leaned against the seat and it felt like it was sticking out a bit.
My daughter has had lots of spine, shoulder, neck and sternum pain associated with the Lyme and we always thought this complaint was related.
I have read that Scoliosis can be caused by other things such as inflammatory conditions.
What I am trying to find out is if there could be a Lyme connection here. Does anyone have any experience or thoughts about this?
Posted by cantgiveupyet (Member # 8165) on :
i dont have much to offer, but just yesterday I was wondering if some of my back, and pelvic pain can be from my scoliosis. I cant be on my feet for long periods of time, and walking tightens up all of my muscles in my pelvis.
How bad is her curve? I do recall a post on here of someone who had scoliosis and then it vanished after treatment.
Posted by adamm (Member # 11910) on :
Scoliosis can, however, be benign a benign hereditary condition
as well; I've I had it all my life without any resultant problems.
Posted by nancyb (Member # 10154) on :
The doctor said the curve is slight and he said we would watch it for a few months and didn't recommend an x-ray at this time.
But after thinking about this, I want an x-ray as this will be useful for measuring against for future reference.
And no, we don't have any family history of this.
I feel so bad about this. She was complaining about this shoulder in the car and I assumed it was joint pain from the Lyme. Posted by chamade (Member # 11472) on :
I have mild scoliosis and it started when I was 10, which is also the time they found a big fat tick on my back. It progressed a little bit for the next few years until I stopped growing and it has stabilized in the last 10 years. I often wondered myself if it was caused by Lyme and I think it was, because noone in my family has scoliosis.
Don't freak out, it doesn't create functional problems in the vast majority of cases. For me it created self esteem issues during my teens because of uneven shoulders and ribcage. The curvature often progresses until growth stops, so it's important to keep track of it with xrays.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I was recently told by a doctor that I have "slight" scoliosis. Never heard that before... but I know I was never checked for it either.
and "MOM".. don't feel so guilty! My mother freaked out when at the age of 16, I got my first pair of glasses.
I walked outside and said, "Wow, I can see the leaves on the trees!" She beat herself up about that for years!
I told her, well.. I KNEW the leaves were there, they just looked like on green blob, not individual leaves.
So .. take it easy on yourself!
Posted by jamescase20 (Member # 14124) on :
I stand sideways like a !@#$%%. Always did, shoulder one higher then the other, lyme since I was 8, crooked shoulders even before lyme. As long as I STAY quite active, IE, working at least part time ON MY FEET, I have little or no shoulder pain, if I sleep alot...IE chornic fatigue via lyme...as in now, I am in SEVERE shoulder pain, ambien or benedryl or xanax relaxes my shoulder in that case and lowers the pain. ambeina taks the pain out the most.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
James, after hearing this from my dr, I realized that was why I always drive, leaned over to one side.
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
I have had scoliosis as long as I can remember.
Except my curve isn't side to side, it is more front to back.
The "stand up straight" lectures and comments when I couldn't.
I still can't. Opted at age 16 not to have a steel bar inserted in my back and spend 6 months
In a full body cast.
Now, I wish I would have.
I hate my back. I have no idea if this is related to Lyme or not,
But I am the only one in my family that has this.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by bettyg (Member # 6147) on :
mine is HERITARY; mom had this; 3 of us 5 kids got it with youngest brother having a complete "S" shape to his spine!
also where mine is C4-5 area is where my worst pain is! go figure; i've had lyme 38 yrs.
Posted by Dawnee (Member # 15089) on :
I have scoliosis too. The lumbar area of my spine is C-shaped. Also, the top bone in my neck was -7 degrees off. Scoliosis can be fixed. Your granddaughter needs to see a Board Certified Atlas Orthogonal Upper Cervical Chipractor
Dawnee
Posted by mikej2323 (Member # 8913) on :
Nancy,
I've seen moderate scoliosis be a benign condition and mild scoliosis causing numerous problems. Most scoliosis patients don't have severe pain- it's more of an achey pain.
Postural muscles will eventually adapt, but she should really not be having severe pain.
Did your daughter ever have an MRI?
Do you remember when the scoliosis started? Did it happen after a fall?
Geneal... hmmm.. I do have a very curved spine front to back. I wonder if that's what he meant? I didn't ask.
I thought scoliosis was always side to side.
Posted by nancyb (Member # 10154) on :
Thank you everyone for your replies.
Mike, my daughter hasn't had any tests for this yet as my doctor just saw it on Tuesday. We are going to go for x-rays as a starting point.
There is no history to bring this on, either hereditary or from a fall. My daughter first started to complain about it last summer which was about a year after she was bit.
I have read that a certain kind of scoliosis can be caused by inflammatory conditions and this is why I was wondering if Lymies were prone to this.
I am including a link that someone sent to me about a new brace that is being used. It's definitely worth looking into.
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[shake]](graemlins/shake.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)