I had my son before realizing I had Lyme.The symptoms started acting up enough for me to mention them when I was pregnant (problems sleeping, no refreshing sleep when I did sleep, achy joints and muscles, problems with balance, dizziness and almost blackouts, headaches, severe memory and concentration problems, exhuation, etc) and I was told 'this is normal in pregnancy'.
About 9 months after giving birth, everything just blew up. Insomnia, twitching and muscle spasms, flu-like ache, felt like all my muscles were pulled, problems w/coordination, couldnt' remember even my husband's name, etc.
2 yrs later I was finally diagnosed. I had already found Lymenet, diagnosed myself and found my LLMD.
During all of this, I started to wonder if my son might be autistic. He was walking on his tiptoes, had absolutely no eye contact w/anyone, obsessed with water, lights and fans, was scared of loud noises (could not vaccum, could not run dishwasher, etc), seemed to have no social skills or interest with other children, did not play or role play - just stacked things up in line or put things in and out of containers or took things apart and back together again, spun around all day in circles, seemed to have no fear and no pain, could not register if someone was getting upset, angry, sad, happy, etc, did not like to be touched, hugged or kissed, he could not transition well (like going from the grocery store to home or going from sandals to shoes and socks), would not tolerate water on his head (shampooing hair), did not like his head or face touched, didn't like to eat (dinner is still sometimes a chore), didn't like his teeth brushed at all, his clothes had to fit him just right or he would throw a fit, he was very repetitive when playing, seemed very agressive, extremely high energy level, really did not communicate for a very long time, etc.
I read an article in one of the children's magazines about a mother who had a similar experience w/her child and she wondered if her's might be autistic. She did certain things to help her child and her child 'grew' out of these symptoms.
I will see if I can find the article somewhere.
Anyway, I started to change the way I treated my son. If I showed him how things worked (like how to turn the dishwasher on and off), he wouldn't be so scared of the noise it made. I bought him his own vaccum to use when I vaccumed.
I like to give my son options. For example: if it's cold outside, he has to wear a long sleeved shirt, sweater, and/or jacket (I sometimes never know what will set my son off) but I will give him an option of what to wear - which seems to appease him most of the time or at least seems to calm him down after only a few seconds of crying.
My son acts differently now. He gives kisses and hugs all the time. He interacts and play with other children. He actually plays now instead of just being a huge whirlwind of energy and pulling everything out w/out playing. The past 6 months he started jumping, going on slides, dancing, etc. He says sentences now. Loud noises don't scare him. I don't know if I was just paranoid or if the things I did helped him or what. No idea.
He still has some odd symptoms - like walking on his tiptoes (not all the time now, though). He hates certain textures - especially w/clothing. He would wear the same shirt and pants every day if I allowed him to. He has to have his socks, shoes, pants and shirts on a certain way. He has to even have his bed a certain way (certain blankets laid down a specific way, pulled up to a certain length, certain toys allowed on his bed, other certain toys allowed in his room, other toys are *not* allowed in his room at all).
He still has problems with changing things (like going from a short sleeve tshirt to a long sleeved tshirt - even though it's cold- or changing from one pair of shoes to another or going from hotdogs for dinner to spegetti).
And he hates walking on the grass, beach, etc - he hates the feeling on his feet. For a very long time he would not walk w/out socks, now he will go barefoot inside but dislikes to go barefoot outside. He is very anal about being dirty. He hates his hands and feet being dirty. If he falls down, it really upsets him to get his hands and knees dirty.
He still has a very high energy level and is on the agressive side (not as bad as he used to be). He will rarely sit still for 5 minutes. BUT, he is a boy.
BUT, most of these odd behaviors aren't all the time (only occassional), he isn't as anal with them like he had been in the past and they blow over quickly.
I somehow was lead to The Out-of-Sync Child (I think from here) and bought it. It could be that my son has some sort of sensory integration dysfunction. My husband believes he himself has this - he understands the symptoms very well. He fits the adult symptoms to a tee. This book has let my husband and myself understand my son more and to be less frustrated and more patient because my son can't help it.
Might be worth reading:
http://www.out-of-sync-child.com/introduction.html
Interview w/author: http://www.comeunity.com/disability/sensory_integration/carol-kranowitz.html
http://www.childrensdisabilities.info/sensory_integration/bksync.html
http://www.kid-power.org/sid.html
The two LLMD's I have seen so far do not treat children. I am going to a new one in October and will ask her about my son. It would not suprise me if this could be Lyme related. But, if my husband has this dysfunction, could it have been given to my child genetically? No clue.
[This message has been edited by JillF (edited 22 August 2005).]
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