LymeNet Flash: for women only

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Posted by dian (Member # 14335) on :

i have noticed due to lyme i think that my breasts seem to feel swollen.

i noticed it a lot around my period but now it doesnt seem to go away.

is this common for women with lyme? and why does this happen?

thanks

diana

Posted by hiker53 (Member # 6046) on :

Dian,

I have not had that issue, but I have had a lot of female hormone problems since Lyme. Lyme can really play with the hormones, so that may be it.

Hiker53

Posted by sameetra (Member # 16639) on :

Actually, that was one of my first symptoms - (Well one that I couldn't foolishly rationalize away like the others: flu-like feeling = you have the flu, headaches = you are stressed, knee pain = you work on your feet all day, can't move neck/head = ya slept wrong, on and on... Oh what an idiot I was! ) [bonk]

- so I did go to the doctor for the breast issues...

Probably within a year of being bitten (many times -1994, I was 20 years old,) my breasts seemed swollen -like they would get with my periods only they were like that all the time. Then, I noticed discharge from one nipple while showering - gave a little pinch to the other breast and there it was too. [confused]

I thought - Uh Oh ! and made an appointment with the Gyno.

Yes, it must have been at least a year after I was bitten because only after I was married, did I have health insurance so that I COULD go to the doctor.

Anyway, I showed the doc - he checked my Prolactin levels and said they were normal and then he said, and I do quote here: " Stop playing with them!"
[Roll Eyes]

What an %^%$$# - I was so young and embarrassed by his insinuation that I was somehow causing this discharge by playing with my nipples. ?
But I was insulted and infuriated too because I knew that wasn't the case. [Mad]

Flash forward 14 years later and I'm kicking myself in the arse for allowing his sexist dismissal to cause me to miss what I NOW read to be a key symptom of LD: unexplained breast discharge!

Lyme has only recently entered the picture for my "various symptoms and mysterious illness" but I am currently on 2GM IV Rocephin - 1st treatment ever with only 17 days/doses under my belt and I'm noticing in the past 2-3 days that my breasts feel swollen and fuller ?

Yes, I still have the discharge that I have always had since then - but I have since breastfed 2 babies so I thought that was why? [confused]

I will hopefully watch for further replies...

Posted by webmeg (Member # 13647) on :

I have this. Lyme messes with your hormones. I recently had to stop taking Yasmin (the pill) because of breast swelling and yeast.

Around the middle of my cycle my breasts would get so big my shirts didn't fit right. And I was having girl yeast issues. I've been on Yasmin for years and years and have done great on it. I think it's the Lyme messing with my system.

Since stopping the pill this is all getting better.

I'm treating lyme with amoxicillin, plaquenil and diflucan, by the way.

~webmeg

Posted by ericaf (Member # 10929) on :

Yeah I get this too and when my periods are about to start the inflammation increases and all my symptoms flare up.
Periods were already a pain before getting sick but now it's just unbearable.
Serrapeptase helps reduce the inflammation a little so that the stomach cramps don't kill me.

Posted by gemofnj (Member # 15551) on :

Me too. I have been on BC for ovarian cysts since January, and boy did the boobs blow up!

I do notice that now before my blue pills i have the girly yeast irritations more so than other times of the month.

I pump up my probiotics, antifungals, and use vinegar + water feminine hygiene products. That really helps.

So many things get affect by the Lyme--its incredible!!

Posted by JBpita (Member # 17216) on :

OMG, LOL, I was thinking last night of posting the same question!! While my poor sister has had the case of the mysterious shrinking breasts, I have become endowed like when I was pregnant. And breast pain and excessive tenderness prompted a mammogram back when I was 36. The worst times are pre-menstrual, but way worse than ever before. I've been elbowed by my kids by accident and it sent me reeling!

For whatever reason, I've kept (but put away) bras and shirts that used to fit but now are too small.

I'm new to all this, and never correlated it with other symptoms. From other replies, do people think this is yet another symptom, or a side effect from meds?

Posted by sameetra (Member # 16639) on :

Well, for me, JBpita, it could not be a side effect of meds because I never treated until now.

If I can recall, I may have been on oral contraceptives at the time I first noticed the breast discharge and that may have been one of my many reasons to get off them but it certainly didn't eliminate the issue when I did.

I believe it is a symptom - one that was over-shadowed while I was pregnant and breastfeeding for many years.