Lyme disease/ ms

[Cann1980]

If anyone has good posts on this already please bump for me ...

I am going to Neuro on Monday... I will more than likely be diagnosed with ms... However I can't stop thinking about Lyme disease... Probably denial ... I know :)

Someone give me anything that separates the two... They are soo much alike ... I can't find anything that is constant with only one and not the other ... It is a tricky mimic.

I am hoping the neuro will rule it out with teats for me :)

Thanks in advance :)

[Cann1980]

Aspen too.... I am going to even go to my family doc if I have to to get the blood test... It should always be ruled out in my opinion.
You should watch that video on YouTube... It is awful and scary.. But real people and thir stories... It explains a lot on Lyme disease. I now have a basic understanding of it.

[aspen2]

I just did some investigating this morning; I was making up my med list for my ms clinic appointment, remembered this thread and realized something fishy was going on.

Went in to the pharmacy and doctor and got a list of all the antibiotics I've been on in the last decade, and what for.  I'm intrigued -- until I was treated for lyme in 2009 (removed tick, rash that wasn't quite right on ankle, fever six days later) preventatively, I had only rarely been prescribed antibiotics (and for specific things).  I had never had a UTI for no reason, nor a sinus infection, in my life.  Very strange.

[Cann1980]

Weakbutstronginside .... Lyme disease scares me!!!! I just want it ruled out!!

I don't think anyone downplays other diseases... Lyme disease is awful... Ms is awful... Cancer is awful.. There is no better or worst .. They just are...
I think everyone with our types of diseases wants the truth... The correct diagnosis...

... In my case I want Lyme disease ruled out.  To which my neuro laughed at btw. He said for sure it is ms and not Lyme...  I still want a blood test ... Not bc I want it to be Lyme ... But bc I don't want to find out later it was all along Lyme disease.

Oh and we all should hope and wish for something better ... I do t think anyone wishes for chronic Lyme disease.. I think we all wish for the perfect early caught treatable curable Lyme disease (which may never be a true thing) bc it is a wish.. And only a wish...
.. We hope... We wish... I will continue to do so as well :)

[MommyofNatTyZach]

I think sometimes when there is a diagnoses to be made we get afraid and start grasping at straws. Researching on the internet, talking to friends ect. To be honest I am praying I just need B vitamin shots!

I don't want either. You make a good point though in saying we shouldn't downplay another illness. I don't know a lot about Lyme disease, but it sounds scary.

I agree we must do the best with what we have :)

[WeakButStrongInside]

Some of you believe that Lyme disease would be a better thing to have than MS.  I used to think that too.  I used to think that, heck, if you had Lyme, you could be cured fairly easily.  I used to think it was just a minor illness.  So I was relieved when I found out I had Lyme.  But now, years later, I find that none of the above ideas about Lyme are true.  Lyme can kill you just as dead as cancer.  Lyme can disable you just as bad as MS.  Most people aren't diagnosed with Lyme in the early stage when it is curable.  Most aren't diagnosed until they reach the chronic stage, when it is essentially incurable, possibly with irreversible disability.  Yes, some people go on to "beat chronic Lyme" - just as some people also have beaten cancer, MS, and ALS.  But most do not beat it. And there is precious little medical support for Lyme patients. No corporate Lyme sponsors.  Insurance companies refusing to pay for Lyme treatment.  Doctors refusing to treat Lyme patients. Plenty of misinformation and denial in the medical community about Lyme.  So don't be quick to wish you had Lyme.  Because if you ever did get it, you'd wish to heck you never had it!  Think of syphilis and all the deaths and disability it caused before they found a cure for it:  That's where Lyme is today!!   Many who have Lyme disease are never properly diagnosed with it - so they go untreated. Chronic Lyme is not better or easier than any other major illness.  What chronic disease is easy?   And those patients with both MS and Lyme have to walk an especially difficult tightrope of opposing treatments.  So people, it's best to just enjoy the good and special times we can still find in our days and savor our lives with whatever hand of cards we have been dealt.  The grass really isn't greener elsewhere - and there may be ticks hiding in it (lol).   We must do the best with what we have!  

[Lulu54]

You can also do a search in the MS community for discussions on Lyme vs MS

[Lulu54]

You can also do a search in the MS community for discussions on Lyme vs MS

[Lulu54]

Wonko comes through again with great info on Lyme disease. She spent time here for quite some time trying to sort out the difference between MS and Lyme for herself     The lyme forum has lots of great people who can help.  Good luck Monday morning with your neuro

[Lulu54]

Wonko comes through again with great info on Lyme disease. She spent time here for quite some time trying to sort out the difference between MS and Lyme for herself     The lyme forum has lots of great people who can help.  Good luck Monday morning with your neuro

[Cann1980]

Ok so I watched "under your skin" ... Wow what a documentary... I think it scared me ... A lot!

Why could I not find that forum before? I looked for a Lyme forum but did not see it. I will now.

To be honest... I just want my doc to rule out the Lyme disease since I have it rolling around in my head...
I do have many lesions in "ms" areas of my brain... One radiologist said it could be Lyme but he would not think so looking at my scan. Due to the location and amount of lesions.

I also had steriods for ON and they worked awesome!

I need to just accept my diagnosis on Monday of MS but for me to pass by denial I truly think I need Lyme ruled out first... I hope he will do the test for me... But then I may still think it was false... Lol

Thank you all for the replys... It has been interesting learning about Lyme disease... And MS

One question... After watching this video...
Do you think the doctor will test for Lyme or just say I have MS for sure? Should it not be standard to rule out Lyme with each ms case?

[Red_Star]

I just watched the full Under Our Skin documentary for free on youtube. I didn't realise this was fully uploaded until i found it yesterday.  Only 50% of Lyme cases can be picked up by lab testing! Crazy.

[wonko]

Lyme disease, while more treatable than MS, can actually cause more symptoms.  That is because MS affects the CNS, while Lyme can attack juts about any system/part of the body.

For example, many people (but not all) with Lyme will have some form of joint pain, while joint pain is not a primary symptom of MS.  Also, while Lyme may cause brain lesions, it does not always do so.  I don't know an exact statistic but I think it is more often than not that Lyme patients have clear MRI's, even if they have profound neuro symptoms.

Another difference is response to steroids.  MS is autoimmune in nature, so attacks may be treated by steroids that suppress the immune system.  Lyme is an infection, so suppressing the immune system is about the last thing that you want to do!  People who have undiagnosed Lyme and get treated with steroids often go on to develop more severe and difficult to treat cases of Lyme.

One reason why it is so difficult to tell Lyme apart from other diseases is that actually a lot of Lyme patients have more than just Lyme.  Ticks carry other diseases, often referred to as co-infections.  Depending on what tick bit you, you can have a very different presentation from someone bit by another tick.  Different people may respond differently to the infections as well.

If you're interested more in Lyme, and how it is NOT "difficult to catch, easy to diagnose, and fast to cure," then consider watching "Under Our Skin," a documentary that is available through Netflix and other stream sites, or check out the book "Cure Unknown" by Pam Weintraub.

Or feel free to stop by the Lyme forum.

Best of luck in getting a diagnosis and treatment.

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Lyme-Disease/show/148

[Red_Star]

Check this youtube video: Under Our Skin - Dr. McDonald Clip, Lyme Disease, Alzhemer's, MS. Very interesting.

[Ojibajo]

I don't know if there is anything that separates the two. I just know that Lyme Disease is an MS mimic and like you I was also hoping for Lyme Disease.

I figured it was a good chance. I worked outside for the city's parks and recreation department for 11 years, spent a lot of time outdoors camping, going to pow wows, doing whatever. Wasn't exactly careful about bug spray because I don't like it. Didn't do tick checks. Thought that I was bit by one in Memphis.  Thought that I had a bulls-eye rash back in high school, but it may or may not have been eczema.

But they confirmed MS. Dang It!

Good Luck! Just remember, it's not the end of the world! There are a lot more treatment options now than there were 10 years ago. There are even more than there were 2 years ago! They are new promising studies being conducted. There are medications, therapies and alternative treatments that can help with managing symptoms. Many people with MS are very active and lead normal lives.

I was only diagnosed 2 years ago and I have found the people on this site to be VERY helpful, often even more helpful than my neurologist! Good Luck and Keep us posted!