posted
I did! Mine are 5 and 3 as well. Early treatment is very important. Contact Dr J in CT. He is the best!-Nikki
Posts: 129 | From NYC | Registered: Sep 2006
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merrygirl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12041
posted
I am frightened of this too. My youngest is 20 months. I was diagnosed 5 days ago and I am so overwhelmed.
And to think My kids could have it or get it is freaking me out..I know how you must feel. I am right there with you...
Posts: 3905 | From USA | Registered: May 2007
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
Dear Jamie,
Both my children recently tested via Igenex had positive bands for Lyme.
I am pretty sure I had it when I was pregnant with my second, and I nursed him for over a year.
I am not sure about my 5 year old....But I have seen two ticks crawl on her, but never embedded.
It hurts my heart and soul to think of them suffering.....like my husband and myself are.
However, the guilt I feel is that they probably were showing symptoms for a while
Except I was so wrapped up in how sick I was, I missed it.
I believe that children stand a much better chance of getting cured..
That is my hope and prayer for my two.
Don't beat yourself up....
Now that you know what you have, it gives you an "edge" so to speak to identify it in your children.
All I knew about Lyme disease before I was diagnosed was that it was a tick borne disease,
But I thought it was only in the Northeast of US, and easily cured.
Boy was I wrong!!!
Hang in there. Get your children tested....
Cross that bridge when you come to it.
Beating yourself up over something that you didn't or couldn't have known is a waste
Of valuable energy that you need to put into getting well and taking care of those precious babies.
Sending you calming thoughts and prayers.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
I have 2 children, 6 & 12. My 12 year old was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and has begun to complain about her knees hurting her.
I have been reading up some on the links between autistic children and Lyme.
I often wonder and feel guilty that I may have infected her b/c I breastfed her for 6 months.
My youngest I have not noticed anything consistent except for headaches.
I know how you feel, feeling a sense of guilt. I'm glad that you posted this subject.
Posts: 15 | From St. Michaels, MD | Registered: May 2007
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posted
Jaime, I am soo with you on this...how ironic and painful to think that you might have passed this on to them...
...but then again, if you did, you did not do so knowingly. I have spent the last few days in a similar mental frame of mind...
My daughter has Lymes and has had it, from all appearances (except to her ID doc) from a very young age. As I've been reading and learning here and elsewhere, I have begun to strongly suspect that I have had Lyme for years...MANY YEARS before she and my other 2 kids were born.
Beginning six years before she was born...I started having symptoms...low blood pressure, costochondritis, raging panic attacks, bladder and yeast infections cycling continuously, low platelets, mystery bruises, chest pain, fevers, rashes, eye twithing, ptosis, exhausstion, insomnia, neurally mediated hypotension, knee and wrist pain..
the list goes on...always, I got symptomatic treatment...even a few negative Lyme tests
Now I suspect it was Lyme all along and plan to see my daughter's LLMD once Ive gotten her treatment going.
Like you, I breastfed my kids because it felt right and loving and like good mothering...I try and I urge you not to try to blame yourself for possible harm done to your precious children in the absence of any knowledge about your Lyme disease. The fact that you even entertain these thoughts and feelings attests to me of your excellent mothering ... but you only harm yourself and detract from your availability to your children if you keep blaming yourself.
Hang in there and be gentle to yourself,
Elle
Posts: 217 | From New Jersey | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Thank you all for your responses. I was crying
reading all our stories. People seem to gain
faith when they get really sick.... I seem to be
loosing mine. I don't understand how there are
these horrible people in the world, pure evil,
walking around, and they are just fine as can be.
And then you have people who are genuinly good...
(I put myself in that category... I try to be a
decent person, since my kids were young we have
delivered meals on wheels to the elderly, we have
made necklances to raise money for people with
cancer....all while I was feeling like death
myself. Trying to instill in my kids that there
are people who need help, and compassion)....
and I sit and wonder if I am going to get to see
my kids graduate, or get married. Since I got
those stupid cortisone injections 2 months ago,
I have been really goig downhill fast. (that
was before we figured lyme)....
SO now my new charity work is to educate people
about lyme disease. I think it is so sad that we
cant get the treatment we need and deserve, that
this isn't even recognized in the medical world.
I hope one day we all can feel how we deserve.
Posts: 151 | From ohio | Registered: May 2007
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lymednva
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9098
posted
My kids are all adults now, but I've had Lyme long enough to have possibly infected them.
None have been tested, but when my middle one gets off Kaiser (two months and counting, if he can stand to sell cars that much longer!), my LLMD wants to test him.
He has Bipolar Disorder, and also has a congenital hearing loss. He had all kinds of behavior problems beginning in about 8th or 9th grade, but the so-called professionals we took him to told us he was fine, no problems. Yeah right!
My oldest has always seemed to be the healthiest, didn't nurse him, so he could have missed it, but every time I hear about a health issue from my kids I wonder, is it Lyme?
Last night oldest called me about bronchitis he has had for 3 weeks, seemed to lose, but now is back with a sinus infection. Just talking to him on the phone was enough for me to know he needs to see a doctor about it.
He has a lot of this type of stuff as a kid, due to allergies and asthma and related issues(in dad's family for generations, both sides).
Daughter always had a "nervous stomach" growing up. Still has bouts with upper GI stuff when under stress.
She used to crawl around the house and complain of leg pain following soccer games. We just thought she was being a drama queen, but now I wonder...
Not sure she'll have good enough insurance when she leaves NC, where it's not good enough to see a LLMD, if there was one to see!
Have to hope and pray her BF gets a job that has benefits for domestic partners. He has one now, but can't transfer to here.
So, I think it's something all mothers with Lyme worry about if they were infected when they were pregnant or nursing, no matter how old their kids are! As adults, it's just harder to get them to believe they need to be tested.
-------------------- Lymednva Posts: 2407 | From over the river and through the woods | Registered: Apr 2006
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lymeladyinNY
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10235
posted
I gave Lyme to my baby boy when I was bitten by a tick just above my navel when I was 36 weeks pregnant.
Not knowing how serious the disease was, I foolishly thought that everything would be fine if I took amoxicillin for 4 weeks.
An ultrasound doctor told me I needed an emergency c-section a week after I was bitten. He saw the bull's-eye rash laying right on top of my baby belly, did some testing and found the baby wasn't doing any fetal breathing, and told me to get to the hospital immediately.
The only smart doctor except for my LLMD that I've run into since getting bitten!
Sadly, my little guy is positive for Lyme and we've started a new round of antibiotic therapy for him. He's now 4 and has been on antibiotics for 2 years.
Now I'll always have to worry about him because of my initial ignorance! It's heartbreaking!
-------------------- I want to be free Posts: 1170 | From Endicott, NY | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
The friend i try to help geting information get the Lyme from her mother ...Now her mother is in a last stage whit very sereriose neurogical problems and many many more ....Her mother was pregnant whit her when she contact Lyme but the first signs was coming later ...my friend is now over 30 and yesterday she get the results from the doctor ...she have Lyme Seronegative ( i don't know if my translation or the medical term is good) ...Is true she have no signs yet ...The most worst part is the fact she is from Romania and there the doctors know very very little about that ..only how to test and basic information about that but how to cure or how to help the people who have Lyme no ...her mother get 5-6 different diagnosit till she discover and she was do it in Hungay ... I was ask around if she make the test and is positiv but she don't have nothing she will make Lyme ? and the answer was yes . Someone was tel me "Lyme affects people differently. Many people have it for years before getting diagnosed. It is a bacterial infection. Sometimes the body is able to keep it at bay until the immune system becomes additionally stressed (illness, accident, divorce, etc.). Then symptoms emerge. If she has it, she needs to be treated." I ish you all a very very very very very very much health and all the best
Posts: 3 | From Nederland | Registered: Jun 2007
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
My older daughter Evan, 10, got it from me and was on abx for 3 years. She has been in complete remission for 5+ almost 6 years now and horseback rides, does Girl Scouts, plays piano and has tons of friends- is very very normal physically. Kids almost always go into full remission!!! My little one, Isadora, age 2, has been fine so far*)!*)!!
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I'm not sure if I have lyme just yet, but I have five children whom I all nursed including a premature son. I hope to find out soon, going to the doc this week. They all have medical issues go figure. I just read about the cross over and was devasted myself to read about it. Especially for my premature son who was already battling citrobacter meningitis and sepsis at the time. Only time will tell, getting myself tested first then each child. Will keep you all informed.
Posts: 10 | From AZ | Registered: Jun 2007
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lpkayak
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5230
posted
i have 4 . too much to write the way i feel. i wish there was a way for us moms (and maybe dads too-who knows) to connect regularly. the guilt and stress this brings to my life is probably making me sicker than i could be. some of them in denial and listening to idsa stuff-others fighting it-others torn about what to do. it's good to know we are not alone-but it might help to stay in touch somehow.
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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