Hi-I'm new here and wasn't sure if this question was already asked....but since for 17 years I've had a lot of lyme disease symptoms I'm wondering if any are reversible with treatment. These are the ones I have:
-get tired real early....I'm usually in bed by 9 PM because I'm just exhausted and need at least 8 hours sleep....I've been doing this since I supposedly had mono 17 years ago when I was 19. I start feeling sick with a sore throat (besides being tired) if I don't get this much sleep. -move around like a zombie...legs get stiff easily when I walk and I almost drag myself around with exhaustion. -weak muscles in hands and legs which don't strengthen with exercise. -sensitivity to bright lights and sharp sounds. -physical imbalance...I fall a couple times a day on stairs and cannot run. -headaches -speech at times sounds slurry and garbled to others. -hands & feet get numb at times. -unexplainable pain in my lower back and neck -thinking is disorganized and at times I feel like I'm in a fog.
[ 27. September 2008, 08:48 PM: Message edited by: LinuxHippy ]
Posted by BOOB00 (Member # 17526) on :
So sorry to hear you have lived with such severe symptoms for so long. I have lived with the same sysmptoms for 4 years now.
A couple of sysmptoms have resolved themselves when my doctor put me on Doxycycline. This has helped more than the many other antibiotics I've tried.
I have ended up with 2 concussions from the severe vertigo. I have found that dramamine helps a great deal with the vertigo symptoms. Get the store brand to save money.
What helps with my tingling, numbness, neck and back pain is using a tens unit at least 45 minutes a day. Tens units are small units with wires that attach to your skin with sticky pads. The unit sends small electric signals through the pads to your muscles to interupt the clinching and stiffness your muscles have suffered from. The electrical signals sort of distract your muscles from clinching. They relax and blood flood is better and the numbness goes away. Use them on sore muscles too. You have to use it everyday or the muscles will clinch back up numbess, pain, soreness, and very serve stiffness comes back. You can buy a tens unit online for as little as $30. Just use the search engine to fine them.
Have you tired massage and physical therapy? Those have helped me as well.
Headaches should reduce or resolve and your concentration should get better by using the tens unit on your neck and shoulder muscles. This restore blood flow to your brain.
The doxycycline I think has helped the most. When combined with my other suggestions I have been able to leave my bed, get my driver's licience, go on trips, etc. I only have to take dramamine once or twice a month now, before I took it daily to function.
Hope this helps you with your question.
Posted by LinuxHippy (Member # 17507) on :
nice!! thanks for the tips-I'll look into a tens unit....a retired doctor friend suggested that years ago but I never rethought it till now.
Posted by toby67 (Member # 17143) on :
you don't always notice right away when they leave, but some symptoms do reverse!!
my balance is better after 2 yrs. my headaches are probably at the same rate as non lymies
and my biggest prayer everyday is that even though my brain may not come back 100% - i'm probably stopping further damage!
low carb no yeast diet helps huge with energy.
smell and light are probably our new normal...
bladder? shot
pain is the kicker... I worry about pain meds and my liver... i like the tens unit idea.. thanks for that. and good luck!
Posted by huskerfan (Member # 12269) on :
Linuxhippy,
I'm sorry to hear about your troubles.
I've asked the same questions (of my doctors) and have been told that anything not damaged permanently is reversible.
I believe that to mean those problems not constant and never-ending are reversible with treatment and time.
In some cases I've seen substantial improvement (regarding my symptoms) and in others I've seen little improvement at all.
(I can only speak to my own experiences)
Wishing you better health, soon.
Mike
Posted by Parisa (Member # 10526) on :
Linux,
One of the things you mentioned caught my eye: Getting tired easily with the sore throat that you have had since having mono. Do you still have your tonsils? I had mono and for two years after that I felt the same way.
At one point, I was living in Mexico and a doctor friend was examining me for something else when she looked in my throat. She told me my tonsils were bad. I told her they hadn't given me any trouble (besides the wonderful docs in the US hadn't said anything about them).
What I didn't realize at the time is that they had huge pits in them that were collecting bacteria. A few months later I came down with a bad case of tonsillitis. After I recovered, I had the tonsils removed and for the first time in years I could stay up late without paying the consequences.
If you have bad tonsils, they are poisoning your whole system. It may not fix everything but it will be a start.
Posted by LinuxHippy (Member # 17507) on :
interesting-yes I do have my tonsils. How could I have them checked to see if they should be removed?
Posted by Parisa (Member # 10526) on :
You should see an ENT (ear, nose, throat specialist).
Also, you can look in the mirror to see if they look anything like this (this is full blown tonsillitis though:
In my experience, all of those are reversible. Had all of those and then some. Have none of those now. I'm just a little tired sometimes still, but getting stronger. There is hope! You can get better, and you will!
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by bejoy: In my experience, all of those are reversible.
I agree!!! Get a good LLMD and follow his/her instructions!
Posted by Meg (Member # 22) on :
I agree LLMD
As for what symptoms will disappear, click on the Success Story Thread link at the bottom of my post.
Posted by Jayne L (Member # 17388) on :
Posted by Jayne L (Member # 17388) on :
what do you mean bladder shot? I have constant UTI's and no doctor can figure out why
Posted by toby67 (Member # 17143) on :
Hi Jayne, i've been gone awhile!
i started having problems in middle school with frequency, pain, and urgency.
every physical, i always showed blood, and with the other symptoms they wanted to find out why.
My bladder has been probed and scoped and ultrasounded in and out, to no avail... so eventually i was told it was chronic uti damage.
A leading urologist had me on macrobid every night for a year, but now i know it's the babesia -
I think it's one of the areas that won't ever get better... I'm 41 now and I can't hold it to save my life, so I take detrol whenever we go anywhere like a concert or play.
I'm probably a good candidate for getting my bladder tied up eventually.