can it be lyme

[maylise]

Lot's of symptoms
Balance out of order.....having to hang on to walls. Eyes so sensitive to outside light and they hurt at times.
Anxiety and depression. arthritis pain and many more
Majalisa

[mojogal]

Just an FYI, I had trouble with my vision. I was sent to a retina specialist who just happened to be Lyme aware. I had terrible dry eye and borderline neuropathy which the doctor said could be from Lyme.

[mkh9]

Just saw this message. Yes those are wild swings in thyroid. I hope it isn't Lyme too. The kind of dizziness I had checked with and ENT to rule out the
benign paroxysmal positional vertigo , and Menieurs disease. He sent me back to the neurologist who tried several meds and I responded very well to the migraine med Topamax and she did mention that since I was hypothyroid it could be that too but because I was responding so well to the Topamax that it was more like the migraine variant I had. I am stabile (so far no vertigo since Topamax). Anyway, It sounds like you have some searching and more tests to do. I hope you figure it all out soon.
take care,
mkh9

[maylise]

Cave I'm lucky not to have the double vision although my eyes can get a bit blurry sometimes.
But I suffer from dry eye syndrome and the drops I'm taking for that, hardly helps anymore. I should go and see a specialist but they know how to charge. Besides, I can't say that I suspect Lyme disease here.Wish I could but they just think you are crazy so not going to give them the chance.

[cave76]

There IS a difference between vertigo and being dizzy-----as you said. And believe me, vertigo is hard to miss!!

I also think that there's a relationship between the kind of dizzy you're talking about and the eyes. I saw an opthalomologist who went past the usual tests and although he didn't 'find' evidence of Lyme he did rx Fresnel lenses for my double vision which also helped a bit with the dizziness.

As it turned out those ground-in lenses weren't too good for me BUT then I was given a press-on Fresnel lens that works a charm! And cheap too!

[maylise]

Yes I will thanks
The dizziness could also be because of anxiety at least in my case. Been told that dizziness is one of the hardest things to diagnose.....with me it comes and goes.
But the balance problems are there all the time.
The meds I'm on for high bloodpressure seem to be working ok now. Got one of those little monitors so I can check it now and then. And I can usually tell when it's too high.
Thanks for all your help and take care!

[mojogal]

The test they did for you is for balance. Mine is for dizziness too.

I hope you don't have neurally mediated hypotension especially if you don't do well on beta blockers. So it can be a piece of knowledge to keep in the back of your mind.

I truly hope you feel better soon.

[maylise]

Mojogal
I don't seem to be able to tolerate beta blockers. Well,I didn't in the past anyway.But as i have high blood pressure and not low perhaps this test is not for me.
Guess I have to do the tests the docs up at the hospital wan't's me to have......walking in a straight line with one foot infront of the other is one test they have done.And I failed that one badly.

[mojogal]

If possible, try to get a tilt table test. You are strapped on this table which moves to get you upright and then all the way back. They do it several times. I not only threw up but passed out. Some people just get really dizzy.
After I was given a beta blocker, I stopped passing out and getting dizzy.

Now that my Lyme is worse, I am getting really dizzy again. My LLMD increased my beta blocker and I am much less dizzy.

I never knew, until I heard it from many lymies, that this can be a side effect of Lyme.

[maylise]

Last time in hospital when i went in with high blood pressure.....it went up a lot after lying down for a while Went on like that for quite some time so they kept me there until it was stable enough for me to go home. Blood pressure seem to be under control now. It's still high but not to bad

[maylise]

I had severe vertigo many years ago when even in bed everything was spinning around. Hubby got me to a GP and he did the Epson manouver. It was not nice but it did the trick. Like you i felt a bit dizzy afterwards.....no way I could have driven myself! Next day I was fine.
hospital will contact me when an appointment will be available with an ENT doctor but that could take forever. No medical insurance or I  would have had it done by now.This time it's not like true vertigo......feels at times it's connected with the eyes and the sensitivity to lights.It's more of a balance and feeling unsteady kind of thing. Have to hang on to things most of the time. I have dizzy spells sometimes  too but it's not vertigo.

[maylise]

I remember when young and became hypothyroid.....it took 6 months to get back to normal again after taking 100mg of synthroid a day. It was a great feeling.
Gp took me of synthroid all together when I became hyper because of the symptoms I had. Very high unexplainend blood pressure,panic attacks and nausea.I was already on meds for high blood pressure and have been for years.Then thyroid went to hypo within a month. Doc couldn't believe how it could in such a short time. Calcium in blood went crazy too and that's another reason why i think I might have lyme. Together with finding ticks inside. I do hope I'm wrong.

[mojogal]

I want to mention, re the balance and dizziness. Many lymies I know, as well as myself have neurally mediated hypotension and get dizzy. Our BP drops when we first stand up or stand for a long time.

My GP tested me for this many years ago, before I knew I had Lyme. Perhaps you can ask for the test?

[cave76]

I developed severe vertigo last year and had a Physical Therapist treat it with a simple maneuver called the Epley Maneuver.

This YouTube video shows different versions of it. I didn't need all of them----- the PT determines which ones.
Just one treatment worked for me----- although I did get a bit nauseated afterward and remained a bit dizzy (different from vertigo) I just waited in the waiting room until that passed before I drove home.

If I ever needed it again I'd have someone drive me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq-IQWSrAtM

"Developed by the American Academy of Neurology, the guideline "Therapies for benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (an evidence-based review)" was published May 27, 2008, in the journal Neurology."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq-IQWSrAtM

This site below explains about the 'rocks in your ears' that can be the cause of vertigo. :)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103463

[mkh9]

I hope it isn't Lyme either. I hope you get it all figured out so you can be stabilized. I just became hypothyroid and also have a migraine variant and don't have lyme and I got severe vertigo and I went to a neurologist that specializes in migraines. She put me on Topamax and it got rid of my vertigo entirely. I was on a little too much of it at first and it made off balance and I would almost fall over if I didn't grab something. I went down on the Topamax and it seems to have stabilized things. The neurologist also said it could be the thyroid causing the vertigo. But now that I'm stabile on the Topamax we're leaving things alone. I was so wiped out before taking synthroid I could barely take a shower. My regular family practice doctor said it takes months to get the brain stabilized on the right amount of thyroid. So if you went of the thyroid now you are hypothyroid it may take some time to get back to normal and less tired and dizzy. It has taken me 6 months to get pretty normal.
hope this helps.
mkh9

[mojogal]

When I had Babesia, a co-infection of Lyme that is like malaria, I was on a medication that can make you anemic. I tested my blood and no anemia, 3 days later I was in the hospital having a blood transfusion from bad anemia.
Crazy.

[maylise]

Yes my blood test was a bit weird too.....calcium was very high. Doc couldn't understand why when it was fina just a few weeks before. So she tested me for hormonial cancer and it wasn't that.Then she went on holiday for a month and I'm without a regular Gp again.

[maylise]

No I don't have a diagnose yet and i don't wan't it to be lyme. Have so many symptoms of it though.That's the problem

[maylise]

i've lost about 15 kilos since march and I haven't tried too. Just been so sick with nausea and balance and all the rest of it.I actually thought at first it was because I turned hyper thyroid after being hypo after 20years. But I found all those ticks inside at the same time that the dog brought in. I have always treated him  in the past. But not this time.My thyroid is barely funktioning at all.......have been back on the meds for some time now.Doctors(ER) at the hospital absolutely baffled and can't understand how this could be.

[mojogal]

Yes, Lyme can mess with everything. When I first got Lyme I didn't know why all my blood values were going crazy. Now it makes sense.

I actually had to try several anti depressants until I found one that worked. Don't be afraid to ask your Dr for a different one if your current one doesn't work for you.

[mkh9]

Oh, now I just read your post to mojogal and saw you had thyroid problems so that is probably why your weight issues. Sorry about the last post it worried me when I saw your weight loss. If you are hyperthyroid that would explain the weight loss. You don't know you have Lyme yet. Lets hope you don't have it.
mkh9

[mkh9]

How much weight have you lost and I assume you weren't trying to? How much time has the weight loss happened?  My friend with lupus also got breast cancer and she lost a lot of weight before she would she had that. I hope you don't have anything like that. Do you know why so much weight loss? How is your thyroid? I don't have lyme I just come on here because I am a microbiologist and try to help people.
mkh9

[maylise]

Thank you
They are willing to give me antidepression meds but nothing for anxiety.I tried one antidepressant but the side effects made everything worse and I couldn't sleep. She said that it would help with anxiety as well.......
My thyroid is barely functioning at the moment. Doc first took me of all meds because it was going hyper and then back on again but it's still very low.
I've had anxiety in the past when first diagnosed with hypo thyroidism but nothing like this.It's like I'm not absorbing the meds.Guess it's the lyme messing it all up

[mojogal]

That actually happened to me when I first got really sick. I lost 40 lbs in one month and I didn't have that to lose. All my skin hung down and I looked deathly ill.

My thyroid got messed up from Lyme and I couldn't eat anything then I gained too much back, then it became normal Once they got me on thyroid meds.

Lyme anxiety and depression are one of my worst symptoms now. I know how you feel. I finally gave in and got on medication for that.

Feel better.

[maylise]

Hope you don't have anything auto immune. It seems to complicate everything in a big way when you have lyme.
Anxiety is the biggest issue for me right now...and I know it doesn't help my other symptoms at all. I've lost so my weight in such a short time and I don't feel like eating.