posted
Just curious, because I've met a few now in some other places. It seems like everyone I met, was either going through a divorce, or someone close to them died, etc. and then everyone says thats when they got sick.
In my case, my Best Friend from childhood and I were in a terrible car accident, and she died on the scene in front of my eyes. They used the jaws of life to get us out, and I survived with only minor cuts and bruises. Her death was caused by severe trauma to the chest as the impact from the other vehicle was on the drivers side.
Soon after this even, is when I noticed the changes in my body and not long down the road, things went haywire, thus the now Lyme Disease.
My theory is my immune system went nuts, and let the cat so to speak out of the bag.
I can't post a poll, so I thought I'd just ask it her in a post.
Shannon
Posts: 32 | From DC | Registered: Jan 2009
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Sorry to hear about you tragic story. Bless your heart.
Many people go down the tubes after a stressful event. Many with Lyme are greatly affected by any stress, even good stress.
posted
not I.
Posts: 975 | From California | Registered: Apr 2007
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Dawnee
Unregistered
posted
I have always had some strange things going on..but nothing too terrible until after my third child was born and I had my tubes tied. Then not long after I got VERY sick with high fever, stiff neck, felt like my brain was trying to explode out of my skull, sore throat... doctor said Scarlett Fever. After that the heart palps, racing heart, and anxiety kicked in big time.
4 years later I had to have a complete hysterectomy at age 29 due to severe endometriosis. I almost bled to death and recovery was very difficult. I wasn't "right in the head" for a long time after that. The brain fog, depression, anxiety and heart palps got lots worse.
A year later I had a tooth extraction go horribly wrong. By this time I thought I had MS due to buzzing heel (Lhermittes Sign) Root was fused to bone, made big hole in my sinus, sent to another dentist and ran out of numbness in the three hours it took to be seen. Not to mention bleeding all over the place... it was right after that I experienced a weird kind of bells palsy for two months, and the tingling and muscle twitches started.
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posted
I got sick during a period of my life that didn't have anything that eventuful happening -- other than getting sick!
Posts: 526 | From NJ | Registered: May 2007
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I was already a little bit ill (probably chronic candida, beginnings of fibromyalgia, falls and accidental injuries, an auto accident, mercury fillings, traumatic childhood, deaths of people close to me, and who knows what else) when I experienced 3 major traumatic events within a 3-month period.
First was a car accident where I received a whiplash injury and other soft-tissue stresses. Next day was another major trauma (physical and emotional) and 3 months later, a second emotional trauma.
It was all downhill from there, with additional injuries from falls and accidents, lots of colds, flus, bronchitis, major stresses, more grief and loss.
I don't really know when I was bitten--possibly childhood, possibly as a young adult, or both.
For me, the progression of illness with the traumas all fits.
I think major stress and trauma really take their toll, especially on the immune system, but many people seem to get very sick without a history of trauma.
Take care, Nutmeg
Posts: 386 | From WA state | Registered: May 2005
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posted
Apparently I had been sick for years - had a few symptoms I could attribute to sports.
Guess my body was handling the germ load well until I had a tramatic surgery. Lyme unleashed it's fury on me! -p
Posts: 641 | From So. CA | Registered: May 2008
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
Yes, on top of having to attend five funerals of close relatives, my daughter was emotionally violated by her drama teacher. He also confided personal information about her with other students who did not have her best interests.
She had to give up her beloved theater, and leave the school she hoped to graduate from. She spiraled down from there.
posted
I have wondered about this too..i was in very serious wreck at 15 and took months to recover, short term memory was gone for good 3-4 months and got it back slow, then mono twice in high school, then in 99 get actue illness with 104 temp, renal failure, bilat.step phumonia, home with PICC line after 10 days in hosp. Seems like after that health really kept going down and attributed to stress..oh finishing my degree that yr, just got married, etc, now we know is lyme and doc sure i have had it for a while. bad hurricane this sept. sent my nervous system over the edge and boom..ok now its MS and not lupus or whatever autoimmune..played in woods all the time as a kid and LOVED it. I do wish I knew the "when" due to my having 3 boys before we ever knew....I really wonder if that illness in 99 was the onset or the trigger?? is it the chicken or the egg?? i know rocky mountain can be severe and even fatal but no one has ever thought to test me for lyme until my neuro this yr..so glad a new yorker moved to tx!!
-------------------- i am not a Dr. any info is only for education, suggestion or to think/research. please do not mis-intuprest as diagnostic or prescriptive, only trying to help. **
dx in 08:lyme, rmsf, bart, babs, and m.pneumonia. Posts: 422 | From TX | Registered: Oct 2008
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CD57
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11749
posted
yes, pregnancy.
Posts: 3528 | From US | Registered: Apr 2007
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
at age 21 when bitten, NO BIG THINGS HAPPENING TO ME.
over the years though as all the continuous life/death situations, funerals, and my many surgeries, yes i was just barely hanging on and working full-time thru it all.
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posted
I started getting sick during a very stressful time (70+ hour work weeks, working night shift, fighting constantly with field assistants, then a car accident to top it all off). This was about 2 months after a bunch of tick bites. Maybe my body was handling it until those tipping points -- or maybe it just took those f-ing spirochetes a little while to get their flagella in gear!
-------------------- Wildlife biologist working in tropics since 1997; tick bites in Nicaragua in March 2007, started getting sick May 2007; diagnosed with Lyme based on serological testing in Jan 2009; treatment starting Feb 2009. Wish me luck! Posts: 116 | From Seattle | Registered: Feb 2009
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
-
Not for myself.
Having had lyme go undiagnosed was stressful enough (as was the resultant loss of job, etc.) but the lyme came first.
posted
Wow, Shannon - what an experience to go through.
I'd say yes for me - was exposed to chemicals from a fire nextdoor and never recovered, mcs-wise.
I went online to find out why, and that's when I found out I'd had Lyme for 25 years without knowing it.
(Note: In rereading what I wrote here, I initially wrote I'd had Lyme for 215 years.
What if I hadn't proofread this? I shudder to think about that long a life with Lyme. And I would had beaten Just Don, who's had it for 158 years)
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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posted
I had some symptoms show up shortly after my sister and I walked a 10k walk for Multiple Sclerosis back in 1991, but things didn't really start showing up until 1998, after I totaled my car in North Carolina...with my 3 yr old son in car.. I was going through and had already been through alot in the last few years with the death of my sister's husband at 32 in 1997 and MY husband(from whom I was separated) in the same month that I had wrecked the car...and them to top it all off, my dad passed away from a massive stroke in September 1999 in my sister's house...we were all there. Things just went totally downhill from there, until I could no longer work.. that was in June 2006.
Posts: 50 | From Port Crane, NY | Registered: Apr 2007
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
I'd had a variety of strange illnesses...
Re-occuring pink eye, sinus issues, fatigue...
Then Hurricane Katrina.
Lost our house to a tornado.
Lived outside for 37 days with no electricity.
I began my decline during this time.
Turned into a full fledged downward spiral and
Within one year couldn't walk or talk.
I think this jump started my disease.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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1Bitten2XShy
Unregistered
posted
Yes, I became very ill 5 days after we buried our 25 yr old son. That was the beginning of this odessy for me.
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Vermont_Lymie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9780
posted
So sorry about your friend.
Yes, bad stress can make those who did not realize they had lyme become obviously ill.
I had some symptoms and was living with them, but then became very sick and on a fast trajectory down after a combination of stresses: a break-up with a friend, ongoing work stress, and the final straw, a very bad flu. Was diagnosed and started treatment a few months after that. Stress itself can dampen the immune system.
Posts: 2557 | From home | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
I herniated a disc in my neck. Within 6 months of that I was dibilitated with neuro issues. Mind you, I truly believe that LD caused the herniation in the first place. Leading up to the disc blowing I had very suttle symptoms for about a year, night sweats, itchy skin....TS
Posts: 566 | From West Coast | Registered: May 2008
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posted
Not for me, I don't believe. Since I was first bite in 2002 I have had two children and my mom died at a very early age (48)in 2005 right when I found I was pg with my 2nd. Very stressful! Looking back I would have thought that would have caused a relapse. But my "relapses" didn't start until 2007. Mine seem to have started once in a good routine, exercise and eat and losing weight. This has been a struggle for me for some time now.
Posts: 60 | From WI | Registered: Nov 2008
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The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. --- Edward R. Murrow Posts: 923 | From California | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Yes, a culmination of abusive boyfriend, very stressful job, lower back pain from sports accident, drinking and smoking too much.
Posts: 348 | From maryland | Registered: Jul 2008
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lymeladyinNY
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10235
posted
Wow, so many of you have been through a lot.
For me, having a c-section a week after infection after an 8.5 month pregnancy did me in.
I was really sleep deprived as well - I worked 2nd shift and then during the day took care of my two oldest boys, one of whom is severely mentally handicapped.
I had too much on my plate at once when I was infected and it didn't take long for Lyme and co.'s to hit me like a brick.
Still crawling out from the rubble 6 years later!
-------------------- I want to be free Posts: 1170 | From Endicott, NY | Registered: Sep 2006
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Starfall1969
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 17353
posted
Looking back, I guess I have had possible symptoms for years, but nothing major.
I had my second child in December 2006.
Then my mom died in February 2007, and I had to have gall bladder surgery in July of the same year.
Almost a year later, all hell broke loose with me.
Of course, everyone said with all that crap going on (plus other things earlier on, like my dad dying in 2005, a falling out with my church denomination 2 months later that derailed my seminary education), it was just stress.
So I'd say, yeah, traumatic events sure brought things to light.
Posts: 1682 | From Dillsburg, PA | Registered: Sep 2008
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posted
Yes, for me too! Within about a 9 month period: -Found out I was pregnant -Mom passed away suddenly -Grandfather passed away suddenly -Miscarried -Had minor surgery -Relationship ended
Shortly after that the heavy hitting symptoms started. It's made it easy for the Infectious Disease doctors to tell me my symptoms were due to stress & depression...even though some minor symptoms were around before any of this happened.
If it walks like a duck...
-------------------- ---------- Danni Posts: 311 | From Glen Mills, PA | Registered: Jan 2009
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My LLMD says it is very common for stress and trauma to trigger the active state of the disease. I went through so much stress for several years straight, this is when my symptoms begin to develope.
A co-worker once remarked that she had never seen one person go through so much trauma for so long as I had. At that time I didn't even notice the effects of stress. The disease finally hit me full blast as I was trying to finish up my Master's degree. Talk about stress!
I agree with the statement above, everything causes stress, good or bad. We just don't notice it when we are strong and in good health.
Amy
-------------------- Amy
Diagnosed April 29, 2007. Posts: 136 | From Joplin, MO | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
I've wondered about this connection also. sorry about your friend, and all these sad stories.
My mom died of cancer, then 5 mos later I had a laparoscopy (minor surgery). That was when my symptoms began. I thought they gave me too much anesthesia in the beginning! I believe I handled my mom's passing relatively well, though.
Whether the combo did it, or just the surgery--who knows?
Posts: 175 | From SW PA | Registered: Mar 2008
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posted
i saw some "life birds" just before I got Lyme. But I don't think that would hav weakened my immune system. I think that those tick diseases were just so nasty they got in there and had a party; my immune system was taken by surprise! I think that fortunately, my immune system was in top-notch shape when I was first infected, and it put up an incredibly good fight (and kept doing so the whole time) but it was pretty overwhelmed- the lyme didn't get nailed by the weak 'standard treatment'; when that treatment ended the chetes popped out of their cysts and had a big party, helped by babesia plasmodiums and ehrlichia as well... Then I couldn't get treatment due to the rampant inadequate treatment for Lyme around here. Thus I subsequently got sicker and sicker. And so the big nightmare began... (fortunately Ifound a lyme doc through our support group, and did eventually get better....) BCDaveS
Posts: 4567 | From ithaca, NY, usa | Registered: Nov 2000
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I had a ruptured appendix and was treated with Invanz for nine days. I sweated like a mad-woman, was dizzy, very weak and my joints began aching. Was it infection or Lyme or both or what? Hmmmm.....
My recovery crawled at an unusually slow snails pace, I got an infected incision and was put on Levaquin, and then experienced my first "herx" plus tendonitis.
Started to regain some energy after 6 months and then got rebitten and BAM! Bed-ridden!
Strange and unwelcome ride, eh?
Three years later and I remain,
wiserforit2
Posts: 273 | From Banks of the Hudson | Registered: Nov 2008
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Ocean
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3496
posted
When I first got sick, I was a really busy teen, I was running cross country from 3-4:30 after school every day and going to gymnastics practice 2-3 days/week for 2 hours.
My first relapse I was pregnant with our second child and hubby and I were both in college (and we both graduated, yea!), I had also gotten a TD booster shot about 6 months before symptoms started again.
Third relapse I had a very traumatic event happen, I still think about it every day and I can't talk about it. I need to get some counseling, but am afraid I will get sicker by bringing it up again.
posted
I was under stress! My grandfather died and my mom was going through a state to state move. It all happened around this time.
Posts: 129 | From NYC | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
I had a huge trauma a year or so before acute onset. And stupidly, as per my way, I continued to work and socialize as much, if not more, and train as hard. I should have cut way back on everything, especially the gym training.
I will know for the next life.
Posts: 845 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Yes. I started getting sick with LD and co's both times (almost died first time around), right after major emotional trauma. I am sure I contracted LD as a kid and didn't get "full blown" until major trauma's, one of which was physical in nature.
I believe that the trauma's brought out the "dormant" lyme. Absolutely 100%.
I am now having pain on my right left bottom side near appendix. Don't want to go to hospital AGAIN....they never treat me right, like a friggin criminal, and they hold you hostage and don't give you pain control! No one listens....it's horrid. I hope I don't have to go to hospital for appendicitis. Oh goodness. When will this hell on earth ever end?
Posts: 2 | From ny | Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
Car accident started the ball rolling. Also working two jobs and moving into a new house.
Posts: 433 | From new york | Registered: Dec 2004
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posted
Its hard to say for me. I've had lyme off and on (remission and relapse) for 19 years. I thought I was fine most of the time, and really did hold it together, but in college there were stressful relationships, drugs, booze, and everything horrible you could ever eat.
I relapsed soon after college, dug myself out, and had been ok but never the same. Can't handle stress, low esteem, anxiety, depression-and these are good days haha. Then other systems would fail, and now apparently my adrenals have failed.
This all led to horrible confusion in my life since I was delerious and suffering from massive panic attacks on a daily basis, so I left my finace out of confusion, just to beg for him back two days later since it was a mistake and I was out of my mind-which only added to the major stress I was dealing with.
I feel now I am in a full on relapse with Addison's on top of it.
I really think it's a vicious cycle-if Lyme is in you-you can't deal with stress as well, and when stressful events happen, it gets an upper hand-and round and round it goes.
Posts: 594 | From NJ/NY | Registered: Jun 2006
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posted
I was bitten 25 years ago and remained fairly symptom free till a hysterectomy 5 years ago. And the beast was unleashed...
Posts: 234 | From BC Canada | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
I had a stressful life back before I got Lyme, and it was making my health deteriorate rapidly after living with it for several years.
It definitely can kill your health even if you don't have Lyme.
After a divorce and a lot of other life changes and another decade, I was doing fine.
My health was much better, I was on a low carb diet that was healthy for me, I lost 35 pounds, I exercised every day. I got enough sleep.
I had a job I love that is mostly low stress. I had supportive friends and family and a happy relationship (which ended without excessive trauma, a year before I got Lyme). I had fun hobbies.
I had a bit of trouble sticking to the diet/exercise/sleep routine, so for 3 days I went on a peaceful retreat alone in the country, in a yurt on a beautiful farm, with a hot tub.
After a healthy, peaceful weekend of relaxation, meditation, healthy food, yoga, and making a plan to get back on track and fix my health for good, I got bit by a tick while loading the car to come home.
Oops.
I was looking for a way to motivate myself to stick to my health routine. BE CAREFUL what you wish for, LOL. Lyme is NOT what I meant.
My symptoms have been mild compared to other people's, over the 8 months I've had it so far. I'm not sure yet if I'm getting better or staying the same, but I'm not worse.
It's possible my immune system was strong when I got bit, and that's why I haven't felt worse. Or possible I got a mild strain with no coinfections, and the antibiotics are keeping it from advancing.
Or possible it is lying in wait to ambush me later on.
I think if I hit another stressful event, it will knock me downhill. And I have no idea how to get through the rest of my life without running into stressful events.
Lyme also makes me feel emotionally stressed, when my symptoms flare, and I start feeling self destructive, so I might do things then to make myself worse, or push people away who I need to help me.
But the most stressful thing that happened to me all year last year was getting Lyme from a tick bite.
-------------------- Don't forget to laugh! And when you're going through hell, keep going!
Bitten 5/25/2009 in Perry County, Indiana. Diagnosed by LLMD 12/2/2009. Posts: 756 | From Inside the tunnel | Registered: Jan 2010
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
Didn't read all of these; but I too was going through a very stressful time for about a decade or more before becoming ill.
However, I think if you look at the general population and life in general; people are always going through a trauma or life changing events. Thats just life. It happens to every human being on earth, but they don't all get LD.
I guess I am saying I don't think it proves that stress caused us to get LD. I think it didn't help; but the tick caused it and we were just unlucky at the time.
There will always be stress and life's traumas. On this earth, they cannot be avoided.
Not sure that a stronger immune system could have kept us from getting sick; but am sure that if treated properly from day one, we would not all be ill right now.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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I was kind of like a time bomb anyway, with undiagnosed lyme since childhood, but I managed to function ok until a very stressful traumatic experience when I was about 31 - that definitely contributed to a downward spiral of health problems.
Still, it took another 3 years, a car accident (minor), and a nasty coworker to really unleash my (mostly) dormant Lyme to the full blown extent where I couldn't function anymore.
So, I think I would have prob wound up with full blown lyme anyway eventually but stressful events definitely contributed to the timing!
-------------------- "We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us" - e.m. forster Posts: 921 | From PA | Registered: Jan 2004
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
move to texas, marriage(and lots of problems there), job changes, stress at work....
pneumonia (in hospital for two weeks), gallbladder surgery, then hysterectomy.
death of grandfather, grandmother, then father
finally found wonderfull job, then boss hired a witch and she totally ruined the office. eventually i left because of her but the stress was humongous....
downhill from there...
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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Jane2904
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 15917
posted
I always wonder about our daughter.
She had some vaccines and then couple months later the flu and then minor sinus surgery, shortly after the surgery, we noticed something was wrong.
Lyme, bart, Erhliciosis. Myco P.
Posts: 1357 | From Massachusetts | Registered: Jun 2008
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posted
Yes. Both my daughter and I - then symptoms became worse - everyday rather than random.
Posts: 7 | From California | Registered: Oct 2009
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lymebytes
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11830
posted
No - life was absolutely perfect, nothing stressful was going on when it started. After it began w/pain in the shouler blade, cortisone disseminated it like wildfire. It is believed I likely had it for years though, I had migraines and other "symptoms" I thought nothing of.
It is true, stressful events to the mind and/or body such as, deaths, surgeries, childbirth, vaccines etc., all can be a slam to the immune system setting off dormant lyme.
I am so sorry about the tragic event you experienced.
posted
Yes, son was in near fatal auto accident (10 years after my tick bite), had traumatic brain injury .. life is extremely tough. I cannot handle any treatment for lyme, practically bedridden. You are my only outlet, thank you.
posted
Very mild symptoms at first, nothing that made me really worry.
Then within a six week period my mother died suddenly, a miscarriage, my grandfather. Then add that to a cheating fiance.
A few months later, non-stop insomnia began one day and has never left. Then symptom after symptom followed.
I almost fell for the 'it's depression' diagnosis because it did happen shortly after all of this trauma.
I've often seen posts here where someone's symptoms began after incredibly stressful events. It makes me wonder if the 'dormancy' of it was jarred by the upheaval in neurotransmitters produced by such traumatic events?
-------------------- ---------- Danni Posts: 311 | From Glen Mills, PA | Registered: Jan 2009
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Pinelady
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18524
posted
I agree. I just talked with a lady who was
diagnosed several years ago and was cured. Or so
she was told. Then last month her chimney caught on fire and her brother died and went to doctor to
find something to help. They gave her a 2 week pack of steriods to get her through to funeral. It may
very well be some kind of adrenal stimulation that sets it off. Maybe it is viagra to borrelia?
Or the adrenalin has some kind of altering effect on biofilm. You would think we would know these things by now.
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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lymebytes
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11830
posted
I believe our Cortisol levels play a key roll in triggering Lyme from dormancy. Cortisone (the pharmaceutical kind that annihilated me) is very similar to our own natural cortisol.
Many LD patients who have done corticosteroids have "triggered" Lyme symptoms. After surgery sometimes corticosteroids are used to wake a person up, I was told by a doctor. That would explain the surgery-Lyme connection.
Corticosteroids are a "disaster" for Lyme patients (as Dr. Burrascano has said) and I bet our own cortisol levels when up from stress (for prolonged periods of time) are just as bad.
I have a tendency to believe that when cortisol is high, as with any stressful event, it lowers immunity (just like corticosteroids do) and Lyme is unleashed, free to run with a "downed" immune system. I really believe "cortisol" is one of the main culprits to activating symptoms.
While sick w/lyme, we are constantly under stress from the disease, which makes me wonder if the stress of lyme can keep us sick, creating a vicious cycle.
I have on all doctor's records and pharmacy lists that I am "allergic" to corticosteroids, so they NEVER do this to me again.
This is just my own theory...but seems to make sense.
Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- How many People had a Huge Life Event / Trauma Experience before they got Sick ?
--
Yeah, I got deathly sick with no explanation.
Thinking back, I had been bitten by a tick - actually 3 ticks at once - but they were so small that, for days, I thought they were just dots of oil or something on my hairline. I barely gave it any thought at the time though. Never knew ticks could be so small or even carry disease.
Doctors dismissed me for years before I was finally dx with 3 long-term but active tick-borne infections and, STILL, no doctor in my state to treat me. Seizures would cause real physical trauma but having serious infection ignored for years - that's pretty huge.
Infection is the most significant factor here, not some life event. The worst life event for most of us here is being bitten by an infected tick and not getting proper medical care.
Without tick-borne disease, I sure could have handled anything else that would have come my way. Anything. Brain infection changed all that.
Lost my job, my car, my apt., my family, my future. That's all pretty big but nothing compared to being denied medical care for infection that caused seizures, falls, loss of speech, etc.
sparkle7
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10397
posted
This is interesting. I'm sorry so many of you have suffered so much...
It seems that suffering is part of life. I know many people who have been though big traumas who never got Lyme.
In the Fibromyalgia world - there are scientists & doctors who try to say there is an emotional trigger for Fibro & that it's a psychological illness. I think they were saying abused people were the ones who got Fibro - if I recall correctly.
I don't think it's true. We all go through stress & traumatic events to one level or another. People handle things in different ways. What is horrific to one person may be something that another person just sucks up & goes on with things.
I do think the emotions can greatly effect our health - it's just something that is individual, though. I don't think it necessarily correlates to any particular illness.
Trauma & stress are definitely things we should try to decrease if possible. Being bombarded with images of violence, threats of terrorism, losing your home, job, health etc. are all very stressful things.
None of it is good... but it's the way life is here. We have to find ways to cope as best as we can. It's how we handle the stress that makes a difference.
Posts: 7772 | From Northeast, again... | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
9/11 and my brother dying started things with me. Breathing issues, sinus and knee and foot pain. The doctors gave me steroids which along with my grandaughter dying in 2004 my life has never been the same. Finally with long term treatment I was able to return to work just 2 weeks ago!! Never take steroids and if you must have surgery, ask the anesthesiologist (sp?) not to give you any steroids!
-------------------- Margaret Posts: 103 | From CT | Registered: Feb 2007
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I had a couple of weird symptoms for years but nothing that really interfered with life.
Then during a major junction in life I got sick with standard infections (bronchitis, sinus and ear infections). I think stress caused my immune system to tank.
I got over the acute infections, but never went back to "normal" and instead began to present with mostly neurological symptoms that slowly worsened and spread.
I don't recall a bite ever, but my hypothesis is that I had a quiet smoldering infection from some previous exposure that came to the surface when I was weak from stress during major life events.
Posts: 455 | From Was in PA, then MD, now in the Midwest | Registered: Nov 2008
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lightparfait
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 22022
posted
Yes, every stressor in my adult life had brought out symptoms...immune system was on overload and I did not know it until the stress took it over the top.
Like an air conditioning unit running all day and night for years to keep a boiling hot house cool and comfortable. Then someone opens the windows and forgets to close the doors...lets in that stinking hot air...and bam...it shuts down! Too hot for the unit to handle...overloaded...that was my immune system!
Pregnancy was particularly bad postpartum...got very ill both times physically. so when lyme showed up...I was already over the top internally I believe...but is seemed under control so I never knew I had any internal problems until they were triggered, different symptoms at different times in my life over the years. This seems to be many people's story for those who say they have chronic lyme.
Fibro symptoms were the ones to come out first..as they were the minor symptoms for me...with just holiday stress.....happy stress or having to cook for a crowd!
Lyme was also another tipping point for me, and what finally caught my attention to seek help for that along with understanding all the underying conditions that has kept the lyme chronic...all those things that kept my air conditioning unit on overdrive..until each tipping point!
These episodes we all have should be signs for a trained MD....they get no training on how to distinguish chronic underlying condition symptoms versus acute problems. They treat all acutely!
Stress should be a very big indicator for the medical community! Not for them to think it's a Mental problem only...as that is all they see when we come into the door...
A problem for all of us is that some lyme patients do have mental illness, most likely acquired over time, that may or may not get better with treatment. Those people taint the MD"s mind for all of us, thinking that everyone who has fibro or says they have chronic lyme is mentally ill or has bipolar. I've had these discussions with LLMD's and lyme pshcoogists.
I know people and support people who are very ill mentally, and know they drive their LLMD and MD crazy sometimes...but they are just being themselves and looking for help. They are obsessive.
And they could get better to at least some degree with propper treatment and to just have a MD believe them.
The negative emotional component of our illnesses deminishes our value and self worth which is so important to our healing and moving on in our life...to do what we can toward healing, then to accept and live as free and happy as possible. Life is too short to waste!
But to realize that the mental stress, is coming from a physical problem...underlying...and attacking our immune system....not stemming from the emotional trigger or only from mental illness.
Posts: 1009 | From NJ | Registered: Aug 2009
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Just Julie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1119
posted
I'm coming up on my 10 YEAR anniversary of having my first symptom. Can you believe I actually remember the date(s) of my 3 emotional traumas that triggered my muscle twitching, that caused me to panic and thus research?
1st week of May (2000): was contacted via an email by guy who attacked me in high school. Out of the blue, he sent me an email, as if nothing had happened. If I had had someone strong with me at the time of the attack, this a$$hole would have gone to jail. For a long time. So, I was a bit unnerved by his contacting me some 20 years later!
2nd week of May (2000) I found out my mom fell at her nursing home (400 miles away from where I lived) and broke her hip. I knew that was the beginning of "the end" for her. And it was.
3rd week of May (2000) found incriminating emails that appeared my husband may be having an affair.
That last one did it to me--I developed muscle twitching so bizarre, it led me on my merry path of doctor dancing, to try and find a diagnosis.
So--3 incredibly emotionally draining traumas, all back to back, and bang! my body threw in the towel.
My only known tick bite was 13 years prior, in 1987. It was attached, removed by putting vasoline on it, by an ER doctor at the hospital I was working in at the time, I had an extreme stiff neck the morning I found the tick in my neck, developed sore knees, saw a rhematologist, who told me that my lyme test was negative (of course it was, this was 1987) so I probably had rhematoid arthritis!
I was healthy, strong as a horse, back then. My muscle twitching continues to this day, in fact, right now, as the stress of my life is ramping up at this point (teen son putting me through the mill) my right eyelid has been twitching non-stop for 3 weeks!
I'm so tired of it all. Sorry for the depressive note, but I knew y'all would understand.
Still here, Julie
-------------------- Julie Posts: 1027 | From Northern CA | Registered: May 2001
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sammy
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13952
posted
Lyme put an end to what was probably the one of the happiest and most successful times in my life. I had just graduated from college, had a wonderful job, great friends, uplifting family, time to volunteer, etc. I was physically fit and well. Everything was good. And then I got hit with Lyme. It was so sudden.
It is humbling to read all of these stories. We have all suffered a great deal with Lyme. Hopefully this will make our success stories even sweeter. I know for sure that I will never take my health for granted. I'm grateful to be alive today.
Posts: 5237 | From here | Registered: Nov 2007
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
Yes. Daughter in high school. We moved so she could attend the high school for the theater department. Teacher betrayed and lied to her, turned the other students against her. She had to drop school. Health tanked from there.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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linky123
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19974
posted
Very stressful summer of 1988 - the Yellowstone fires, worked as a ranger and on a fire crew, it absolutely wore everybody out.
Then the next winter was very severe. Snow almost every day, lots of shoveling etc. It took it's toll.
So sorry to hear of all the suffering and loss posted here.
Praying for better days ahead.
Posts: 2607 | From Hooterville | Registered: Apr 2009
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
My stressor was work work work. I worked myself to death. My body just gave in to the fight.
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Yes, all the neuro symptoms started to creep up and then hit the fan about 6 months after I herniated a disc in my neck. This was a spontaneous herniation, which I believe was also caused by the Lyme eating away; but, guess I'll never know for sure.
Posts: 566 | From West Coast | Registered: May 2008
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posted
I had weird symptoms on and off for years, and was labled a hypochondriac.
Then my husband divorced me and my father died, and I was brought to my knees. Took a while but was finally diagnosed.
Posts: 161 | From midwest | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
I was perfectly happy... working 2-3 non-stressful part-time jobs at a time (I only work in fields that are fun for me).
No huge life event and no trauma at all. I was a little bit freaked out (in a normal sort of way) when my vision started to go blurry at 22. Then **** hit the fan, and I ended up in bed for months and months. PCP called me a hypochondriac and such and told me that it's all in my head. Just anxiety. She said that she thought it was just anxiety because I came in last year around the same time with a 15-day bout of constipation (what the hell?). I was fine for a year.
If there was anything that impacted me negatively, it was my physicians arrogance and attitude about my health. According to her, I was anxious, depressed, and probably bipolar. She was the one that was bipolar (not joking).
Posts: 967 | From A deserted island without internet access | Registered: Sep 2009
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posted
Bingo! I was a healthy, happy camper, and in Sept.06, my sister who lived next door had a disabling stroke and became confined to a wheel chair.
Then about a month later, my 89 year old mom had a sudden heart attack and died. I was divorced and living back at home with her. We were very close and that was a HUGE stressful adjustment.
(I've lived alone ever since) Then a few months later, my nephew was killed in a motorcycle accident.
That was 3 BIG things in about as many months. It was then that the crazy symptoms came on, and are still around to this day.
I'm just about to get to a LLMD tomorrow and get this lyme thing rolling I hope!!
Posts: 67 | From Alabama | Registered: Feb 2010
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steve1906
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16206
posted
Hi,
Two years ago to the month: Had a lump removed from my head (Cyst). Had a couple of teeth pulled. Got the flu. Got 2 sinus infections, I know I had more problems than these at the same time but just can't think of them right now.
I was healthy, happy, strong etc till I got Lyme or what ever I may have...
This all happened within a 2 week span and been sick ever since - like all of us I have the 15-20 symptoms day after day...Lyme sucks!!!
Roy
-------------------- Everything I say is just my opinion! Posts: 3529 | From Massachusetts Boston Area | Registered: Jul 2008
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posted
swine flu 8/2009 brought out my lyme, bit 3/07 dx 11/09
Posts: 443 | From The North Star | Registered: Jan 2010
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bcb1200
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 25745
posted
I had a stressful time at work. Went around the world on a biz trip for 12 days with little sleep and poor diet.
Started to feel unwell when I came home. Wife was 8 months pregnant and I am freaking out about being ill when the baby comes. How could I support her, etc? Then have upper endoscopy under anesthesia and went downhill.
As compared to some, I am not so bad. But I still wouldn't wish this on anyone.
-------------------- Bite date ? 2/10 symptoms began 5/10 dx'd, after 3 months numerous test and doctors
IgM Igenex +/CDC + + 23/25, 30, 31, 34, 41, 83/93
Currently on:
Currently at around 95% +/- most days. Posts: 3134 | From Massachusetts | Registered: May 2010
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posted
i had a fall at work and landed on my tail bon pushing my cocyx straight up and that was found a year later by a physical therapist. from the time i fell, i have been in a downward spiral. was told i had fibro for almost three years. now i know i have lyme, babesia, cf, fibro, osteo arthritis, being treated for major depression. i am unable to work now. i was a non stop work aoholic, stayed active with my husband hunting, fishing and four wheelin. with the fall and the major stress that was continuously getting worse at work because i wa being deemed an under performer. i could no longer keep up i was having mental breakdowns daily. i had to go out for now. doc says he doesn't see me beinf able to return. i have to take so many meds to make it through the day. yes. trauma and stress bring this s@#$%$# out.
-------------------- broncomom Posts: 25 | From virginia beach va | Registered: Feb 2010
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lymeladyinNY
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10235
posted
I had an emergency c-section for my 3rd son a week after a tick bite on the abdomen. I had been working second shift and during the day I was taking care of my older two little boys, one with Down syndrome and autism. I was exhausted and stressed out.
I think my immune system was completely overwhelmed and as a result I've been a severely ill Lyme and co-infection patient.
I also struggled with obesity but I've been working on that and have gotten my weight down by about 50 pounds. The less I weigh, the better I feel, it seems.
- Lymelady
-------------------- I want to be free Posts: 1170 | From Endicott, NY | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
Wow, everyone. Thank you so much for sharing.
I spent 15 years treating "anxiety" and ruling out other causes for my symptoms, that gradually grew over that time. In those years, I explored many "causes" of my anxiety. Bad marriage, stressful job and hours, bad family of origin, loss of friends, bike accidents, 9/11. What I was feeling and had previously called anxiety, I now know is the lyme (trouble catching breath, bad concentration, avoiding friends, disturbed sleep). Now that I am in treatment and have some "lucid" moments of relative health, I can actually feel the difference between my lyme symptoms and the symptoms of "stress" put on my body from worry about life's events.
As others have posted, I believe this stress contributes to the overall inability of the body to effectively handle the bacteria. I think this must be both physiological (someone mentioned stress hormones) and spiritual.
BUT, I believe that the root cause of my symptoms are the bacteria.
Not how @&*%ty my life was. Not how disconnected I was from myself. Not the accident that I had that knocked my tailbone and caused my most recent "flare" (release of bacteria into my system?).
But, now that I have these damn bacteria, I will strive to achieve better balance and avoid trauma. And, if I have to encounter stress or trauma, I'm doing what I need to do, immediately, to manage/process. Part of my Lyme treatment is better managing my life.
I have also "redefined" what I see as "stress." I do this mostly through my toddlers, who really shine a light for me on what constitutes "stress" in a person's life that most of us accept as normal. Simple things like getting dressed every day, having someone take something from us, being pushed, even if unintentional. We all need to cut ourselves some slack and be more understanding of ourselves and our limits. Not just lyme patients, but everyone.
The question of the impact of emotional trauma and stress on physical health is such a complex question that is being investigated by so many kinds of professions in so many kinds of fields. For me, though, and what I'm going through right now, it all comes back to those little bugs.
Posts: 252 | From New York | Registered: Apr 2010
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Elevated cortisol (stress hormone in excess) damages our body. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
My illness onset was so gradual. I have no idea when I ever got bitten.
I had a pretty traumatic childhood and suffered from severe eating disorders from age 14 until 26. I lived on coffee and cigarettes, drank too much and did drugs.
I always felt tired and had some weird symptoms, but I was never surprised given what I was doing to my body.
I had a very traumatic break-up with my ex-fiance and then tried to get healthy. I stopped coffee and cigarettes all at once. I got very sick, but ended up being diagnosed with candida and treated that for 6 months. I still never felt well during and after treatment, but was somewhat better.
It's been 9 years since the candida diagnosis and I have been to so many doctors for fatigue and other weird symptoms.
Interestingly, the only time I really felt relatively healthy was when I was pregnant/breastfeeding. It has been a full year since I stopped breastfeeding and resumed my pursuit for health.
I was just diagnosed with lyme a few weeks ago. I'm really hoping things will turn around soon.
Sorry for the novel.
Posts: 98 | From NH | Registered: Mar 2010
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