I'm too tired to do anymore actual research on my own tonite...but am really curious about any connection between lyme & pleurisy.

ER doc says I've got pleurisy (which if this is so - I've had for at least 2 months or more).

ER doc says it is most likely caused by viral infection - that I don't remember having.

ER doc most likely not real versed in lyme disease like you lymie smarties are...that's why I keep coming back here to this Mecca of Lyme Intelligence - so you may enlighten me!

SO - anyone here ever been dx'd with pleurisy..and if so, was it actually pleurisy or end up being something else?

Before you ask...to my knowledge I do not have co-infections but my current doc (treating for lyme with Samento) muscle tested me for co-infections & said it was a "no". (muscle testing = kinesiology..I think)

My "lyme" doc said that even if I do have co-infections, that Samento would kill. I said OK...and am waiting for my 2nd opinion in mid Feb. from LLMD that will use antibiotics....even though I'm already taking minocycline too...you know, for my acne ...that has quickly cleared up...but I continue taking because I'm just too beautiful to be an almost middled-aged zit face.

Thank you in advance for your brilliant responses.

Blessings,

I have been on biaxin/flagyl, this helped my lungs very much, but only part way.

I went off antibiotics for 75 days to treat an overgrowth of candida, it was quite bad, and relapsed with lyme, near died... all to do with the breathing, and body going into an autoimmune like state, the dryness in the lungs and all over mucus membranes.

I was then put on the zithro/flagyl, helped for awhile, but only partly again, then this stopped working, and I went on Doxy.

WELL! Doxy made me have lung pain, severe breathing pain herxing, which I think pleurisy is?
I was in so much pain from herxing in the lungs from Doxy it was unreal. I am now into my 5th month, on 300mgs a day, would like to go to 400mgs but too much for me to handle. I had to start off with 100mgs a day of the Doxy. When I say lung pain herxing, I mean it felt fatal. I had no idea what was going on, even went to ER, nothing showed. LLMD did not hear of this before, so I was alone, and went with it, I mean... had to, knew this.

Here I am. I find for me, that minimal supps works best. I find that too many supps, I do not get the Doxy working like it should. I had to go off St Johns Wort, as read it made some drugs less effective, I went off it to see if Doxy would be more effective off it, it was. I could feel the breathing getting better.

So, if you have not done Doxy, possibly it would be a good idea, see what you think.

I may have to be treated for babesia, not sure... will see next visit.

My lungs are still not good, I mean, they have improved, but nothing like I want them to be, nothing like a normal pair of lungs shoudl be. I like to run, in fact love to run, it is something I miss sooooo much.
I hope I can run again, that my lungs get better. I did have lung xrays done at ER, nothing showed. I know they swell with herxing, my lungs, really much... get asthmatic from herxing.

I personally would not stake my health on muscle testing for babesia. I would be treated for it, regardless of ANY test. I hope you will consider that....and no, Samento will not take care of babesia.

Seems to me pluerisy would show up on some sort of test??... Or a lung xray??

I don't really know though... have no clue how they diagnose this.

Is the treatemtn steroids? Or did they even do anything?

Hope you feel better soon.

Oh.. did I mention Babesiosis?

n this way, what shows and tests positive at a particular moment is the one that the body can be treated for - it is ready - it is at the surface and can be treated successfully.
It is the most urgent one that needs fixing.

In my case, though I knew I had Lyme and had been treated by a regular doctor with antibiotics, when I was muscle tested (ART) the first time, what showed loud and clear was the dental toxins, not even the metal toxicity at that time. So I cleaned up my mouth first, root canals, etc., and then the metals started to show. As I was being treated for metals, then the other co-infections showed up, the viral infections, the parasites.

I had all six co-infections from the start with one tick bite, but they gradually surfaced as one after the other was treated.

Then at a later point, viruses started to test positive; parasites tested positive, etc. etc. That's how kinesiology works. Layer by layer it tests, layer by layer it is treated, and that is probably the reason why treatment is successful. The body is not overwhelmed with fiften different drugs and combinations thereof and it gets only what it can handle. We have a marvelous body and we should treat it that way.

It's the old onion theory. Layer by layer.
First things first.

Take care.

Hey I read some of your blog. You're a very witty writer. Anyone who can make LD interesting has a flair for writing!! Keep at it.

My husband had severe pleurisy that landed him in the ER. He could not breathe while lying down flat. They did a complete heart work-up because we didn't have a clue what it was. His heart was fine.

The lung x-ray didn't show anything, so they gave him Indomethacin for inflammation due to pleurisy.

It took several hours for the med to kick in & then he could actually lie down flat & breathe. Because the breathing improved on the med, that confirmed the diagnosis & he was dismissed.

They did not care about the cause.

But the pleurisy is my husband's signal that LD or Babs is flaring?? His elderly father recently passed away and the pleurisy kicked in. For him, stress & tiredness brings it on.

So he went to the local Doc & was given RX 800 mg Ibuprofen. You have to treat it until it's competely GONE or it'll sneak up on you again.

Pre-lyme diagnosis, I had a blood test that showed mycoplasma pneumoniae. I was given 10 days of Levaquin which I was able to tolerate.

A few days before going to the doctor I noticed that it kind of hurt when I breathed in. Mine wasn't bad at all.

Anyway, m. pneumoniae is walking pneumonia. My test showed LOW level.

Knowing what I know now, I would have thought that my husband's local PCP would have run a blood test to check for m. pneumoniae, but he didn't. He just gave him the RX Ibuprofen.

Eventually, I'm sure my husband will be treated for Babesia, but he's having a hard time completing treatment for a staph infection of the nose. It was sensitive to Augmentin & even that makes him feel bad.

And, yes, I agree with what the others have said. Good advice.

Hope this helps & you feel better soon.

Take Care,
Jan

I"ve had excellent results with mine in helping with my lyme...

In the list of majors is parasitic infections. So babesia could produce your symptoms. Sorry to be harping on this, but I don't believe in muscle testing for babesia, and you really need to look into it.

Also, would recommend buying a cheap paperback copy of the Merck Manual. People who are having lots of medical problems need to have a back up to some of the uninformed medical opinions they come up against. Yes, I know that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. But so is no knowledge.

Just think, get yourself a Merck Manual and you are on your way to changing your name to Dr. Wise. Just kidding here.

First to answer Tincup - pleurisy is dx'd via chest xray and/or CAT scan. I got both - don't know which one was the most important, altho I can bet which will be more expensive.

As for treatment, doc didn't give me anything except a new script for pain med. He gave me a 5-day supply of Toradol (a non-narcotic) that even when I chase it with a Norco doesn't seem to do too much except make me foggier. But what the h###.

I really didn't know much about pleurisy - and what I read yesterday - one of the causes other than lung clots (which was just ruled out) was lung cancer & I almost wet on myself. That is why I came screaming back here to you people - I knew you would have some answers!

Gigi - thanks for additional info about muscle testing. I don't have that much experience/knowledge about it & to be honest I just started having some level of faith in it when I was seeing an accupuncturist this last summer and she kept being correct about stuff. (Incidentally, my accupuncturist is the FIRST person to suggest to my face that I had LD. My dietician said 'no' because I passed some neuro-visual BS kind of test - but accupuncturist INSISTED I had it based on my symptoms and muscle testing. LLA2 is right - I should go back and see her. My accupuncturist is a goddess. I just need to find the money to do that.)

Now to all my babesia lymenet friends - I HEAR YOU! GEEZ! I WILL ASK NEW LLMD TO TEST ME. OK? Happy NOW?
(BTW - did you know if you do an internet search for babesia you will get links for porn sites. Do you think perverts are just too busy being perverts they've forgotten how to spell? Sorry - didn't mean to derail the topic.)

Anyway, I would test myself for babesia or babeiosis (whatever) but alas, my "training" hasn't got me that far.

Perhaps if I had me one of those Merck Manuals lou wants me to get - maybe I'd know how. But lou, even if I did become a legitimate doc - or even just legitimately wise - I think I'm forever destined to remain an a$$ - besides isn't that a qualification for being a doc?

Except, of course, for docdave. Once again docdave, you've given some good info and advice! Thank you.

I just started taking the Immunovir (anti-viral) that my doc ordered for me from Canada - hope that will help keep viral things at bay before I can get into see a pulmonary doc.

Interestingly when I first started seeing this current doc - he tested me for micoplasma pneumoniae. It came back positive - but I thought that just indicated I had had it in the past - even though I have NEVER been dx'd with pneumonia of any kind. Interesting.
And even now - I don't so much as have a cough or sniffle.

Apparently what I DO have, however, are some pretty @#$% lazy white blood cells. I asked to see my WBC while at the hospital (the second visit) because I had a nice nurse...and becuase they're MY cells.

I EXPECTED to find my WBC to be elevated because of the active Lyme, active Epstein Barr, this pleurisy crap, my active IC (altho it's supposedly not caused by bacteria or virus...right!); my active auto-immune thing going on with my thyroid, and all the other @#$%ing stuff.

But NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. My lazy @$$ WBCells were NORMAL. NORMAL?

Enlighten me if it's possible - but how can my WBC be clueless as to the warfare going on inside my body? Or are they just too tuckered out to fight anymore? Should I be worried ? Part of me knows I'm sick - I've got a whopping 99.2 temp...I'm just burning up baby!

As always, I am grateful and wish you many healing blessings,

I was reading your blog tonight and I would definitely get tested for the Babs if I were you...it gave me severe dizziness...and surprisingly it seemed to happen most of the time in the grocery store for me (I wonder what it is about those aisles?!?)...your blog tonight reminded me of my days back last summer...I came very close to passing out a number of times, I would grip the cart handle and pray...I felt so much better after taking the Mepron for the Babs as far as the passing out feeling...it goes after your red blood cells or at least lives in them so this could explain the oxygen thing too.

Take care and keep those blogs coming...They really are helping me deal with all this crap...I got my diagnosis in October 2003 and started tX Nov. 1st so we are on about the same schedule.

Take care!

Thank you Lymied for your info and kind words.

Thanks to all of you who have given me encouragement to keep up all the blathering I do at my blog. It means a lot to me that I don't do it all in vain.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm still a serious narcissist - which is why your encouragement means even that much more...it gives me an additional sense of purpose if I can make someone else identify with and laugh about this ridiculous situation we find ourselves in.

I know for sure they are the cause of my lung/chest problems and have even discontinued pulmacort on my own since abx tx - with no problems. They know so little regarding the scope of problems that these tick diseases create...it probably depends on wherever your weaknesses are and even that can change monthly.