Lyme or?

[kittatt]

Thank you to anyone who reads this. It's kind of complicated, but I've been really stressed over this for so long and wanted to know others' opinions.

Prior to all of this, I was looking for a job and stressing over the fact I was (still am) unemployed. Though that made me feel stressed, I was quite optimistic and happy.

About two months ago I was listening to music with earbuds and noticed shortly after that I had slight ringing in my ears. I panicked after reading about tinnitus and how there is no cure. Went to a wedding later on and realized everything sounded way too loud. My ears hurt when people talked too loud and the music seemed terrible! I stayed out of the room a lot that night, feeling isolated and scared.
Thinking I damaged my ears even more from the wedding, I got even more stressed, anxious, and depressed. My hearing sensitivity remained for over a week. Things like pots and pans hitting eachother and people talking at normal levels made my ears feel weird.
I found out magnesium may help so I started taking that for a week--more than recommended dosage. A week later I noticed my wrists were clicking a lot. Randomly, but a lot more than I noticed before. A couple days later I noticed my knees were sore.
I had been holding my iphone a lot more than usual--researching tinnitus, so when I think about my wrists clicking and occasionally hurting, I wonder if it was caused by repetitive use, but still worry.

There are a lot of possible reasons for my knees. I've gone for long walks for years and around this time I had gotten new shoes that didn't fit right. Wore them a couple days and stopped because they hurt my feet. My old shoes were really worn out, but seemed more comfortable than the new ones, so I kept wearing them for about another week. My knees continued to ache, so I went to buy new shoes. While I was stressing about my ears, I didn't walk quite as much and sat around a lot. This could have contributed as well--(when I started walking again, I started out with too much too quickly maybe?)

I then noticed my knees would pop when I bent them backwards--so I freaked out, thinking maybe the magnesium I took weakened my muscles or something, causing all these symptoms. I felt like a hypochondriac, but I had already been really stressed over the ear ringing for weeks prior to this.
When I went to the doctor, he did some tests for magnesium, calcium, thyroid, and phosphorus--all normal, and diagnosed me with patellofemoral pain syndrome (pain in the knees). I started reading about that syndrome online a lot, finding out it could be chronic, which then fed my stress and anxiety. I started going to physical therapy and my knees haven't hurt like before. I am wondering if it really was just my shoes. My PT also said I had hypermobile joints--I can bend my knees back farther than normal.

What worries me still, however, is that all of this started around the same time and for many of these weeks I have been getting random muscle twitches throughout my body (legs, arms, back) and have been getting dull back aches as well. A couple days ago I even noticed my arms and hands were tingling. These could be the result of using the computer a lot, but I always use the computer and never had all of this happen before.

I was tested for lyme disease last week and it was negative, so it made me feel better. Last year I was bitten by two ticks--which I am pretty sure I pulled off right away. I'm still concerned about LD because I am always outside and like to hike on nature trails. This year I spotted two ticks sitting on blades of grass, but haven't noticed anymore on my body.

I would just like to know what anyone here thinks about my story. Could I just be overreacting? Could all of my recent symptoms be caused by constant stress and the contributing factors like bad shoes, posture, and overuse (of my phone and computer)?

I have had more energy lately--before I was so stressed I could hardly think about anything except the possibility I permanently damaged my knees and the ear ringing. I cried a lot, felt really exhausted and depressed.
I've always been an anxious person, stressing about a lot of little things. Depression isn't knew. I was fine before the past couple of months, however.

My knees don't hurt like they did. Went for a longer walk yesterday, but my wrists continue to act up--tingling and clicking with some pain and my muscles continue to twitch randomly throughout the day.
My ears still ring, but I'm getting used to it--it isn't loud, just scary and stressful at first.
I had no flu-like symptoms except headaches--possibly from stress...

Am I just being oversensitive? Is this stress or could this be something like lyme disease? I know LD can cause a lot of these things, but so can stress! I keep reading LD tests aren't always reliable and that starts to raise my stress level a lot. I really don't have terrible joint aches like a lot of LD symptom lists describe.

I know stress causes bad physical symptoms sometimes--muscle twitching included.

Thank you again for reading. Sorry if it is a little confusing! Just needed to talk to others about it.

[JackieCalifornia]

Sorry to hear about your test results, but at least it means you know what it is -- and that's the first step toward getting well.

Sometimes Lyme messes with blood pressure and related bodily systems, and no two of us get the same set of symptoms, which is one things that confuses docs sometimes.  Low blood pressure could, from what I have read, cause you to feel lightheaded etc.

I just googled

             lyme disease "orthostatic hypotension"

[with the quotes around only the last two words] and got quite a few hits online.  It's something your doc can talk with you about.  Lyme loves to mess with the body's 'control panel' .... hormones, blood pressure, a lot of the things that we aren't normally conscious of till they start getting strange.

Be sure to bring it up with the doc, okay?  As you get treated, it will get better.

Please let us know how the appointment goes and what the doc recommends as treatment, okay?  Some docs get as far as the diagnosis but then aren't as up to date as they need to be about testing for co-infections (other diseases the Lyme ticks often carry too) or giving something other than very basic antibiotics for a fairly short time.

**Be sure** to get copies of ALL the test reports the doc has -- tell him you want to have time to read them at home, and would like copies of ALL the pages.  Sometimes docs only give the summary page, but for lots of reasons, it's important for you to have a complete set of the test results, now and going forward.  It's sometimes hard to get them later, because doc's offices don't like spending money on copies, and will give you only what they 'think' you need to have.  You paid for the tests, and you deserve a full set of test results.  They have no basis NOT to give them to you.  

End of lecture, you've got enough on your plate -- sorry to hear you have Lyme, but finding out what you have is the first step to Getting Rid Of It -- !!

Hang on, we'll look forward to hearing from you soon -- best wishes!  J.

[kittatt]

Hi everyone.
It's been a few weeks but I decided to post an update.

My western blot came back. I talked to my doctor on the phone today and he said I had antibodies for lyme.

I'm relieved to know I wasn't exaggerating my symptoms and I am really glad I was able to figure out what was causing it, but I am scared at the same time.

It seems like the joints in my body are really loose, so it feels like I'm literally falling apart. There's not much pain at least. I hope treatment will help with this.

I don't know if it was caused by lyme, but last week I nearly passed out twice. One of those times I was sitting in a chair, so it wasn't caused by standing up too quickly or anything. It was really weird. My tinnitus got really loud for about an hour.

I've also been having weird headaches lately, which I blame lyme for.


I have an appointment with my doctor again on thursday to discuss my test some more.

Thank you all again for all the advice!

[JackieCalifornia]

I would not take any herbal-type remedies or medicines without telling my doc first and getting an okay.  

Drugs and herbs are all just chemicals, and they may interact in unfortunate ways that make the antibiotics ineffective.  

[kittatt]

Thank you! I'll have to look for that. :)

[cave76]

I have tinnitus also and looked at the ingredient for RingStop. Seems it's homeopathic. I'm glad it's helped you.

Ring Stop Ingredients

ACTIVE INGREDIENTS: Calcarea carbonica: (Calcium carbonate) 8x, 30x, Cimicifuga racemose (Black Snake Root) 3x, 6x, 12x, 30x, Carbo vegetabilis (vegetable charcoal) 8x, 12, 30x, Cinchona officinalis (Peruvian Bark) 3x, 6x, 30x, Chininum sulphuricum (sulphite of quinine) 12x, 30x, Coffea cruda (unroasted coffee) 3x, 12x, Graphites (plumbago) 8x, 12x, 30x, Kali carbonicum (Potassium carbonate) 12x, 30x, Lycopodium (club moss) 6x, 12x, 30x, Natrum salicylicum (sodium salicylate) 6x, Salicylicum acidum (salicylic acid) 6x.

OTHER INGREDIENTS: Vinpocetine, Arginine, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Ginkgo biloba extract 24/6%, Chinese Herbal Extracts (Ligusticum, Gui Zhi bark, Chi Shao root, Ge Gen root, Job’s Tears seed, Magnolia flower, and Chuan Xiong root), N-acetylcysteine, Garlic extract, Ginger root, Kelp, Folic Acid, Beta-carotene, Magnesium amino acid chelate, Vitamin B-12, Vitamin B-6, Vitamin A, Zinc amino acid chelate, and Melatonin.

Calcarea carbonica (Calcium carbonate) relieves throbbing and cracking noises, stitches and pulsing sensations in the ears.

Cimicifuga racemose (Black Cohosh Root) is helpful for tinnitus symptoms, and for people who are very sensitive to noise, as well as pain and muscle tension in the neck and back.

Carbo vegetabilis (vegetable charcoal) - This natural remedy is for ringing in the ears, especially if it occurs during flu or other conditions involving vertigo and nausea.

China (Cinchona officinalis) (peruvian bark) helps ringing in the ears and hearing sensitive to noise.

Chininum sulphuricum (sulphite of quinine) helps relieve violent ringing, buzzing, and roaring sounds that are loud enough to impair a person’s hearing.

Coffea cruda (unroasted coffee) is for people with tinnitus accompanied by extremely sensitive hearing and a buzzing feeling in the back of the head.

Graphites (plumbago) - This remedy is beneficial for tinnitus with associated hearing loss, and for hissing and clicking sounds in the ears.

Kali carbonicum (Potassium carbonate) is for tinnitus with ringing or roaring, accompanied by cracking noises and itching in the ears.

Lycopodium (club moss) is for a humming and roaring in the ears, along with impairment of hearing, and sounds that seem to echo in the ears.

Natrum salicylicum (sodium salicylatae) - This remedy is beneficial if ringing in the ears is like a low, dull hum, and for loss of hearing related to bone conduction, as well as nerve interference.

Salicylicum acidum (salicylic acid) - This remedy is indicated for tinnitus with very loud roaring or ringing sounds, which may be accompanied by some hearing loss. It may also be helpful if tinnitus has been caused by too much aspirin.

[carrie235]

Hi Kitt,

Hopefully you are still reading this but I wanted to tell you that there is a product called for tinnitus and darned if I can't think of it this second and I don't have the bottle with me here at my office. It's called RINGSTOP!!!  That's it!!  ha ha

Anyhow, I feel that it really really helps.  When my tinnitus flairs (and it is now), I take two tablets in the am and two in the pm.  You can get it at the vitamin store but I get mine on Iherb because it's kind of pricey...(but well worth it).  My ears were screaming over the weekend but I was also having anxiety about stuff and I really notice it when I'm anxious.