My fourteen yr old daughter has lyme.Untreated for four years. Finally, found a pediatric LLMD in CT she has been going to the last three years. She has had three coinfections but, the last year has just been getting better each month. She finally is a "normal" teenager. Had to make all new friends,is active in drama clubs and dances. She was doing great. Saw LLMD dr beginning of Dec. felt it was time to stop AB.We agreed happily. She ended up with a stomach virus the week before xmas, and since then has gone downhill. Joint pains came back right away. I kept thinking it would pass. Now her left leg from the knee down is swollen and she is having terrible joint pains again. Dr said to restart the AB. So, she is back on zithromax,cedax and celebrex. I could cry. She is just lying around the house again. I so wanted lyme to be out of our lives forever. But, not so. Did the virus cause all the symptoms to flare again or is there still infection in there? Has anyone else ever had this happen? She was asymptomatic for months. I want someone to tell me what no one can, that she will be done with lyme once and for all. Will she ever get off of antibiotics? Thanks.
Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :
Barrie,
Sorry to hear about your daughter.
Certain gastrointestinal infections (like salmonella) can cause severe arthritis symptoms. They usually last a few weeks, and in some people become chronic.
Perhaps with your daughter's already burdened immune system, she got food poisoning that was just too much for her system to handle. Below is a link to information. Mention it to your LLMD. Your daughter can get tested for antibodies to salmonella, and probably other infections. http://www.spondylitis.org/about/reactive.aspx
Posted by Barrie (Member # 1796) on :
It wasn't food poisoning. It was a stomach virus that we all had. The neighbor kids had it first,went through their family, then ours. And now the people we had contact with over the holidays have it. Thanks
Posted by lla2 (Member # 2364) on :
any stress to the body that the immune system has to fight off can cause a relapse of lyme symptoms..including puberty...the body can't fight an infection or stress PLUS the lyme at the same time...
give it some time and hopefully her body will bounce back quickly and off abx again soon....
Lisa
Posted by Barrie (Member # 1796) on :
Thanks, but I am confused. She was doing so well so did she still have lyme? We all thought she was healthy. Her blood work has stayed the same for probably six months or longer. The bands that showed she had an active infection kept showing up but, she kept getting better and better. Really, asymptomatic. Dr. J felt that there was a good chance the bands were just reflecting antibodies she had. He said he had seen that with a number of kids he had seen. So, since she got sick, I guess this means she still has lyme. Will she always have lyme? For the rest of her life, when she gets some type of infection, will it cause a flare? If she still has lyme, even when she was asymptomatic, how does she ever get off AB? I am confused. Dr. J feels that she will get off of them one day.
Posted by lla2 (Member # 2364) on :
as I understand it from dr. J, and both my kids are off of abx too also, everyone always has lyme, your bodys immune system just keeps it in check...so we need to keep our immune system strong...
when it goes through any stress the bugs tend to over take us for awhile..that's how I understood it from dr. jones....that's why when my son went through puberty he had a flare up for about a year then it calmed down again and he's off abx and doing well again..\ bloodwork is NOT a good indicator...many NEVER test positive...not having a positive titer does NOT mean the lyme is gone..just not showing up at htat particular moment in time...
hope this helps
Lisa
Posted by virginia/anez (Member # 6450) on :
Barrie, Dr.Jones cured my 2 daughters 3 years a go. He didn't ask for bloodwork to stop abx,he just made sure my girls were symptom-free. At this point I'll never know if my daughters had at that time any band or nothing. Mi case is different...I have no bands and when I stop abx joint pains come back in a couple of weeks. Good luck!!