I've been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my knee, I was a very healthy 32 year old with no history of knee injury or of being over weight. Also no history of osteoarthritis in my family. I've been researching lyme because I'm also showing other symptoms.
My question is, from my research it appears that the school of thought is that osteoarthritis is not lyme arthritis, that they are two different things. Is this correct or can lyme cause osteoarthritis?
Posted by massman (Member # 18116) on :
Osteo has to have a cause or contributing factors, IMO + IME as a chiropractor.
Is someone telling you they are not or can not be connected ?
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I would think they are very different, but that Lyme could cause osteo.
Is that right, massman??
I thought osteo developed over many years, not all of a sudden??
Posted by Alces_alces (Member # 24029) on :
I went to my pcp because of my knee pain, it didn't start gradually over time, it just started one day while on a run. I was running about 6 miles a day. At first because of my history she thought I had lyme and was going to treat no matter that the test was negative. However she never did. She had my knee x-rayed and diagnosed me with osteoarthritis and now according to her it's not lyme and just a sports injury.
Posted by massman (Member # 18116) on :
IME many docs regard osteo as "regular" wear + tear.
If it is caused by (and it certainly can be) lyme that is not regular and is not wear + tear.
A previous injury can certainly help arthritic changes begin. Muscles are supposed to pull on joints from certain angles + with certain forces.
If these angles + forces become different they then stress the bone(s) differently.
Posted by Alces_alces (Member # 24029) on :
yeah, just seems weird with the rapid onset and the timing with many lyme symptoms. Not too mention with my career I'm exposed to deer ticks on a daily basis and couldn't even tell you how many times I've been bit or had engorged deer ticks...that I know about. I thought with osteoarthritis I would see a gradual buildup not the one day having a swollen knee with a lot of pain that wouldn't go away.
Posted by dreamin1704 (Member # 24005) on :
i've had osteoarthritis since i was like 25 and i'm now 41. i did eight years of gymnastics competition and four years of soccer - and apparently that's what caused the osteo. i had two arthroscopy surgeries, one where they drilled into the bone to let it form scar tissue to cushion the joint. now i have no cartilage between the bones and lots of damage to the patella from the bones rubbing. mine did come about over time with all the athletics - but i do have family members that have it also. now i also just found out that i have a tick borne illness similiar to lyme that is probably causing most of the increased joint and muscle pain that i've had over the last six months - that i thought was just due to the osteoarthritis.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by Alces_alces: I thought with osteoarthritis I would see a gradual buildup not the one day having a swollen knee with a lot of pain that wouldn't go away. [/QB]
Exactly. Massman confirmed what I thought I knew about osteo and Lyme.
Your dr does NOT want to get involved in Lyme treatment, so is NOT diagnosing you. Time to move on.
Posted by Rumigirl (Member # 15091) on :
Woah!!! With sudden onset knee pain and "arthritits", other symptoms, and tons of tick exposures??? It's a no-brainer.
Find a good LLMD and get treated ASAP. You can get help here on the "Finding a Doctor" forum for finding one.