It seems to have become more of a problem around when the rest of symptoms began popping up a few years ago.

I get dry spots on my ankles, hips, and spine (all the boney parts! uhg) and the skin on my face actually burns after washing my face/taking a shower and moisterizer doesn't seem to help unless its in copious quantities.

My hands get pretty dried out too. I never had a problem with dry skin until I was 15 or 16.

Along similar lines, I suppose...I have Raynaud's Syndrome. When I take a shower, my feet turn bright red and my legs get splotchy...is this some kind of reaction to the heat of the shower? It doesn't hurt, itch, burn, anything like that.

Just wondering if any of this is related directly to Lyme, or if its more likely jsut a reaction to Lyme messing up the balance of things in my body.

When I found out that I had Lyme I stopped going to the doctor who diagnosed me with Raynaulds because the doctor who diagnosed me with Lyme believes that the symptoms I am having are all from Lyme and Babesia.

How do you know that you have Raynaulds?
When I take a warm shower I get the same thing you get. My hands,knees,and feet all turn bright red/pink and the rest of my body is splotchy.

I'm not saying I have Raynaud's because of the shower thing. I know I have Raynaud's because of the undeniable symptoms. When it is cold my extremities get very cold and go through the standard color changes and numbing associated with Raynaud's.

I was just wondering if the shower thing had to do with Raynaud's in addition to the traditional symptoms.

It very well could be Raynaud's. There isn't medication for it that I take. I think there's only one or two things you can take and they aren't very effective. It's one of those things you learn to live with unless its very severe and you get finger ulcers.

It's usually very painful, but some cases are less severe. For me, I can't even go into the freezer without experiencing pain in my hands unless I wear gloves.

Any doctor familiar with it will be able to diagnose it (though they may not be ablet o recognize underlying causes). My GP suspected it and my rheumatologist confirmed it.

Buy it at the drugstore, "anhydrous lanolin," not very expensive for a tube.

Then I found out about essential fatty acids, and began taking flax seed oil capsules. Voila! No more dry skin.

Now I take fish oil, and have found that Carlson's lemon flavored fish oil doesn't give me fishy burps. ; )

You might want to consider having your thyroid checked. The new standard as of 2002 for the TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) has been lowered from 10 down to 3.

Quite a jump there & all labs have not updated their TSH standards.

Dry skin is a classic symptom of low thyroid.

You can do a home thyroid test before you get up in the morning. If you're temp is below 97.8 by even a fraction, you are most likely low thyroid.

Here is my explanation of the home Broda Barnes Basal Temperature test. It sounds hokey, but it's true.

The late Dr. Broda Barnes saw thousands of patients with low thyroid and they all had this in common--------low body temperature.

If your cold all the time, your metabolism is low & you probably need Armour Thyroid by prescription.

If you are in fact low thyroid, it is a crime to walk around with this. The prescription is $10 or $15 now.

You'll have to scroll down to my reply as the topic is hypoglycemic, but I talk about low thyroid.

http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/027747.html

Cold hands and feet are also an obvious symptom.

Your thyroid function sets the pace of your metabolism. Toxins can get out of the cells and oxygen can get in. It is key to fighting infections!

Bambiland has a lot of in-depth information on this. It's complicated, but it is so important to every Lyme patient.

Here's her information:

http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/027781.html

Personally, I believe obesity & heart disease & some chronic infections are at the very heart of thyroid function.

I believe folks will live longer if they treat a low functioning thyroid.

Thanks for all the information. I have had my thyroid checked this year, though.

My body temp is around 97.5 consistantly, but my metabolism is fast. In fast, from lowering my carb intake and cutting out sweets when I started antibiotics on friday, I had already lost 2 lbs by wednesday, which I can't afford to do at my boney size. Would my quick metabolism rule out low thyroid?

I was wondering if 97.5 is your temperature when you awaken in the morning. What is your basal body temperature?

You might be surprised at how low it can be before getting out of bed in the morning. The Broda Barnes Home Temp Test is very specific.

Just getting up & around will make your temp go up.

As for your question about weight loss, can't say for sure, but I believe if you are low on thyroid or your body is not absorbing it, then it's possible taking Armour Thyroid or whatever is needed, will increase your appetite.

I kind of think you'd gain weight, but you need to talk with an expert about that.

True, most overweight folks with low body temperature will be able to finally lose weight when they start on thyroid meds.

They judge if you're getting too much if your heartbeat increases too much or you develop insomnia on the meds.

But yes, if you started losing weight on it--------then maybe you should back off. I don't really know for sure. That's what makes treating the thyroid so tricky.

My 20 year old son is thin & has LD & mycoplasma. Thyroid didn't make him thinner. It helped him get up in the morning.

It also gave him more stamina and the number of times he got sick with chronic asthmatic bronchitis went way down. He was able to fight stuff off. New warts did not appear. It helped him greatly.

But everone is unique.

That's why you'd need one of those Best Thyroid doctors listed at that website who knows the ins & outs of this. It's very complicated. I don't understand it all------at all.

There are those who just need T3 and then some need T4. Armour Thyroid is T3 and T4.

Bambiland is the real expert on thyroid. She has really studed it in-depth. You can always page her here in Medical and ask her. There are also others on the board that understand thyroid.

Also, when you're on LD treatment, your body is in a constant state of flux everytime a new ABX or med is added.

Anyway, hope you figure this out. Let me know what happens.

As someone else posted, your skin needs essential fatty acids like fish oils, but thyroid ensures proper assimilation. It also affects cholesterol in the body.

The skin is also affected in a major way by how toxic the liver is. I believe some folks develop psoriasis because of a toxic liver.

Glad you're studying this. It really is worth it & important for you.

I'm not sure if I miscommunicated my response or misread yours--I had my thyroid tested, but it came back fine. I'm not medication for it, I'm just saying I lose weight easily in general so it didn't seem likely to me that my low body temp (and no, 97.5 isn't first thing in the morning, I should check that out) was due to low thyroid since my metabolism is still kicking.

Oh, but it is so hard to tell with Lyme affecting so many bodily functions!

How frustrating!