I just read an article about someone who has recently become disabled and now has problems thinking and walking. He can't use his left leg, so he walks with a cane. He lost his job because of it.
He has been diagnosed with "Postinfectious Encephalomyelitis," supposedly a "rare" autoimmune disorder.
Does anyone know anything about this? Could it be caused by Lyme and/or co-infections?
The postinfectious diagnosis sounds like it has the IDSA written all over it. :/
If anyone knows of any articles or links relating to this topic, please let me know! I'd like to try to help this person.
Posted by nenet (Member # 13174) on :
Yes, absolutely, it is a very common Lyme symptom. I agree, it does sound suspicious - even if not Lyme, it sounds like there is a current infection with something they just aren't seeing, or maybe even looking for.
There is quite a bit of literature (scientific and medical) regarding this symptom in Lyme Disease.
I wish I were up to searching Google Scholar and PubMed to help you out more tonight, but I hope you don't mind me just copying from another thread from here for now - there was another thread that spoke a little to this topic the other day. I am too out of it in a herx to type what I posted again.
from the book "Everything You Need to Know About Lyme Disease, And Other Tick-Borne Disorders", by Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner:
p.57
"Encephalomyelitis is an inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, which generally occurs in the later stages of disseminated disease, beginning 1 month to several years after an infection occurs.
Symptoms may be difficult to distinguish from those seen in multiple sclerosis, stroke, or brain tumor. The condition is progressive and may suddenly worsen, followed by partial improvement and then another attack. Movement is impaired, as is some cognitive ability.
A patient may appear to be dyslexic when speaking or writing, and personality changes are sometimes evident. A range of other alarming symptoms also occurs, including the inability to feel sensations, paralysis of one or both sides of the body, defective muscle movements, bladder dysfunction, visual and hearing loss, seizures, cranial fluid, tissue atrophy, and white-matter lesions.
Spinal fluid tests show abnormalities quite often, and mild brain abnormalities have been found at autopsy. Sometimes meningitis is concurrent with encephalomyelitis - the resulting condition is called meningoencephalomyelitis."
There is more discussion about Lyme Meningitis, Encephalopathy, and Encephalomyelitis, at this link: