Sequence of events:

In the gym at work. Do my normal routine, chest and shoulders, everything is dandy.

Then, I decide that, since I'm 31, I need to start working on my butt. Decide to do a set of machine squats.

On the first set, I get dizzy, heart racing. I'm thinking I hurt something, but there was no ouch.

Then everything just spirals out of control. I have nightsweats that night. My heart is thumping. Next week, gastro, following week, my back goes into spasm. When I say spasm, I mean if felt like my mid back was a black hole and sucking in everything.

I mean, does Lyme hit like that? Could I have pulled something and that set off Lyme? Did just the exertion set Lyme in? This makes absolutely NO SENSE to me. Exercise is to promote health. Am I supposed to avoid it now?

No, you should not be doing rigorous exercises. Check Dr. Burrascano's guidelines.

You are in a pickle!

It is a nice description but the medical facts are not all inclusive.. so it would be hard to help you here... sorry.

I have more questions than answers at this time.

Had you been diagnosed with Lyme before this happened?

Have you been tested/treated for coinfections?

Were you on meds at the time?

And yes.. muscles can be a mess with this stuff. I was a weight lifter years ago.

After getting Lymed, to even look at a pec deck made me cry in pain.

I feel Babesiosis messed up my muscles somehow... or did the most muscle damage perhaps? Of course spirochetes chomping on my muscle tissue didn't help either.. but the oxygen not getting to the muscles due to infected red blood cells makes some sense to me.

Be sure to drink LOTS of water with fresh lemon juice by the way. The lemon juice helps remove the lactic acid .. which is what causes the "burn".

I know the muscles are better if I am treated with Mepron. I also know L-Glutamine helped.. the stuff weight lifters use after burn out to repair muscle tissue.

Wish I could be more help.. but I just don't have the history needed to make a good guess or reasonable suggestions in this case.

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If you get the choice to sit it out or dance...

TC has given you some good advice as she always does.

the symptoms when exerting yourself really set off in my mind autonomic nervous dysfunction ( common with lyme) and ALOT of lyme doctors DO miss that.

You MAY have babesia too.

Not a doctor here, just giving my input.

I am puzzled why you are not taking your disease into consideration because you cannot exercise as you expect to.

The Lyme has caught up to you. Don't feel bad. There are alternatives like yoga and stretching. I'm going to start them soon.

Sorry Ruffy........ this should pass since you have been in tip top shape.

2nd time around, I was about 25, same routine. I thought I reinjured it. I was eating very well, working out a lot. I bounced back fairly quickly.

This time around, hits me in the gym and for the following 4-5 months, I swear I'd rather be dead. It felt like there was a rod shoved up my spine and into my head. Gastro, neuro, vision, pain, you name it. I feel like I had 98% of the symptom list.

I mean, I bounced back from this naturally twice prior to this. I don't understand how it operates. Does it wait for your immune system to impair? This time around, it feels like it is ripping away at the muscle at the left side of my body. 95% of the symptoms are on my left side, which is absolutely bizarre. I'm hoping antibiotics throw this back into remission, because unless I have been repeatedly infected, the disease does not cure. You go asymptomatic. Every time this has hit me, it's been during years that I've partied like a rock star. Apparently, that doesn't exactly jive well with the chetes.

Odd thing with this is that my best friend growing up, who moved out to Oregon at 15, started having the onset to very similiar odd symptoms about 6 months before me. We lived in the woods of CT together between the ages of 8-13. He's finally on abx and been having symptoms for over a year. To give you an idea of how bad he was, he went into a walking and told the doc he thought he had Mad Cow.

This disease is absolutely bizarre. It strikes when you least suspect. It gets you when you feel like your at your highest. I mean, some of the odd things this time....I've had a breakout of moles. I had a welt flare up on my tongue. It's isanity. It seems like it can permeate every piece of your body.

I feel fortunate in knowing that I finally have figured out this mystery. I'm crossing my fingers that I can recoup, find ground zero and build myself back up. I look like $hit right now. My eyes are constantly bloodshot. My skin looks terrible. I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack when I do work out. I have a long way to go. This bugger has really kicked the cr@p out of me this time around. What I do know is that I've fought back from this with my immune system before, so it's doable. Hopefully with the aid of abx, the knowledge of finally knowing what is going on, I can bounce back and realize what it is the next time this things kicks in. I had a mini flare about a year prior. Night sweats, tingling in my pinky, some weird vision. My body could have been telling me something back then that I had no idea of. There are parts of me that hope I reach a point where I feel better than I ever have.

I go into see a top flight Infectious Disease doc for a 2nd opinion tomorrow to go along with the care of my LLMD, whom I have some doubts about.

This can have nasty side effects to the muscles, tendons, etc.

I work out 5 times a week with intense neuro...nasty Brain SPECT scan...and have no problems.

Hopefully you are increasing your protein intake if you are working out hard.

Do a Google search on Levaquin...

Do NOT stop working out...simply change your ABX. I know of no one who has been helped with the terrible "L".

By the way, I was first bitten by a deer tick in New Caanan, Ct., not far from you.

I noticed you're on Levaquin.
Side effects include tendon damage so heavy exercise is not advisable when taking it.

When you get the Tick-Borne Diseases (TBDs) under control, you can gradually go back to strenuous wook-outs.
I've read that mild exercise is helpful, but not to overdo until you've improved.
Check "Diag Hints & Treatment Guidelines..." www.ilads.org/burrascano_11-2.html

I'm glad I took Levaquin & Biaxin a couple years ago. After several months of treatment, it apparently took care of the Bartonella for me.

One explanation for the flares of symptoms & then the apparent recovery through the years could be that your immune system is strong because you've been so healthy & you're young.

It was working to keep Lyme under control. The bacteria will go dormant & then when the immune system is strained, they will come out again.
Each time, the immune system is older & a little more overworked, so the flares may gradually get more severe.

Also, you may have added co-infections more recently, like Bartonella & Babesiosis.

I was positive for Lyme, Bart, & Babs.
Have you been tested &/or treated for Babesiosis? Night sweats can be a symptom of LD, but it is also symptom of Babesiosis.

When I was treated for Babesia, my herx was mainly in my feet and legs, but it also eliminated night sweats.

I'm not asking who your dr is.
I guess you know we don't give dr's names here without their permission.
Just use their initial.

Since you say you are seeing a LLMD, this suggestion may seem strange.
Go to "Seeking a Dr". Ask for names of LLMDs near you & put your location in the title. Info will be e-mailed to you.

I had almost 4 years of symptom free and it was the training and the completion of a sprint triathlon that brought the lyme BACK!

I was at the height of my healthiness!

The main symptom was shoulder/arm that I had with Lyme in 2001. It wouldnt go away in spite of many docs and therapy. So I had a cortizone(steroid) shot. BAM! Back came the Lyme. Headaches, muscle twitches, fatigue, memory problems.

There are many other stories here about steroid shots.

Did you have one?

I think excercise (beyond gentle) can strain your immune system too much sometimes and flare up the lyme. It is a hard call to make. For sure.