Hi folks: One last question for the day. If my symptoms are primarily neurological (eye, ear, GI, sweating) does that mean I am in Stage 2 or 3?
I have read on ILADS that typically neurological symtpoms indicate chronic lyme or long term. Hoping this isn't the case as I only had symptoms since Feb..November at the earliest.
B
Posted by massman (Member # 18116) on :
Symptoms can lie low for years IME.
Posted by littlebit27 (Member # 24477) on :
Looking back to my past I could have had issues since 2004 and not known anything. I had bouts of High Blood Pressure and EXTREME back pain. No doctor could figure out the reason for either. Then one day my HPD just disappeared and the back pain would settle. Had problems with my sciatica.
Had severe fatigue but nothing else during that time. Then I had a low grade fever every night for months. Had a bunch of different infections. All those symptoms were are different times.
Lost 25 lbs without trying then started having issues with my period. Then in Dec the whole avalanche came and that's when I really started having symptoms. So at first I thought it started sometime in Dec but now that I look back I could have have Lyme for a long time...
Posted by broncomom (Member # 24651) on :
what if you have stopped having your period? my pain is at one of it's worst points ever. i have many days when the pain in my feet is so bad i don't even want to walk. i am glad it's time for flip flops because my legs and feet stay swollen and i cann't stand anything toching my feet. in the past week, i have had small spider veins breaking out in patches across the tops off my feet. do you think this the nerves? how can we tell what stage we are in?
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- The nervous system is usually infected if treatment was delayed even by one week's time. Sometimes, within hours, lyme can become disseminated and even cross the blood brain barrier.
It differs from patient to patient.
As for a classification of stage, once the spirochetes are in the body, it can quickly become "disseminated" (through the body and multi-system). If left untreated (or is undertreated), then the term sort of rolls around to "tertiary" lyme - that is chronic persistent - and harder to treat.
But "disseminated" and "tertiary" are often used to mean the same general thing: advanced, having become chronic - and affecting the nervous system, as well as other symptoms and organs.
Spider veins can be vascular effects. Vascular effects are very common. You might also try the herb horse chestnut, soaked into a cotton ball and placed on the veins. Google can explain more. -
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
broncomom,
Lyme caused me to stop having my period, and my ovaries became very small. I got the diagnosis of "menopause." But, eventually I found out I had lyme disease.
Good lyme treatment got my periods back and I became pre-menopausal again. So, it is not unusual at all for lyme to cause a false menopause. I have met a number of women who were affected that way.
I had to take hormone replacement and all. Lousy lyme treatment did not bring back my periods, but good Burrascano type treatment did.
The danger is that your body is not making sufficient estrogen when you are not having periods. This is hard on the bones. It weakens them.
I now have osteopenia. And, they write on every bone scan that I had a 5 year period prior to menopause when I did not have periods. So, that shows you how significant they consider that.
I hope you have a very good lyme doc who follows Burracano. That's how I got rid of this disease and got my periods back.
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
bcb,
From Burrascano, p. 20:
"EARLY DISSEMINATED: Milder symptoms present for less than one year and not complicated by immune deficiency or prior steroid treatment: 1) Adults: oral therapy until no active disease for 4 to 8 weeks (4-6 months typical) 2) Pregnancy: As in localized disease, but treat throughout pregnancy. 3) Children: Oral therapy with duration based upon clinical response."
You are early disseminated since you have had symptoms less than a year.
Posted by nefferdun (Member # 20157) on :
broncomom I hope you are treating bartonella because your symptoms are classic.
The borrellia can attack different parts of your body causing different symptoms and it is not stage 2 or 3 just because it is neuro. I have read you are more likely to have neuro symptoms when you are bitten on or near the head. My symptoms were mainly neuro and I was bitten on the back of my neck. I have had very minor flareups of joint pain.