Thinking Back on Symptoms Over the Years

In August of 1989 I had a teeny tiny tick on my arm. I removed it and never thought anything about it afterwards.

That November I had an episdoe of Tachycardia. In January I woke up in the middle of the night with flu like symptoms and my heart was racing and palpitating wildly. My heart didn't stop doing this for several weeks. I also recall having severe tinnitis for months after this.

Dr. couldn't figure out why my heart was so irritated, chalked it up to hormonal changes as I was 14 and obviously going through puberty.

Heart problem has never subsided, and oddly enough, it tends to flare up every few months along with bouts of fatigue and then will become normal for some time.

So for many years I suffered with fatigue, unexplainable.

And then I started getting swelling of my hands and feet. Unexplained. For several years in my early 20's I had unexplained hormonal problems, my body actually went into some state of menopause and I developed Lichensclerosis, which the Dr. said she usually only sees in women who are elderly.

During this time I started having weird visual problems. Seeing flashing lights, floaters, and if I looked at anything light in color, I'd see sparlklies all over my vision.

Then one day I woke up, this was like in 2000, and the entire side of my vision in my right eye was this electrical sparkly flashing spot. Dr. couldn't find out why. Told me if it persisted to see a neurologist. It stopped after a few weeks and I never went.

In 2001 I had a throat infection that wouldn't subside, had it for like 6 months, swollen glands etc. Couldn't find a cause for that either. I might note that during that time a friend of mine developed Lyme disease and I had been spending time at her house.

In 2002 I suspect getting bitten by another tick, was working in the garden, saw a black spot on my forearm and tried wiping it off, it stuck, I dug at it and it came away, leaving a small red mark behind. About 2 weeks after that I noticed this weird raised but flat pink rash on the same spot. About the time I got the rash, my glands became swollen, had a terrible stiff neck, body aches, sweating. This lasted for months and months. I hate Dr.'s and was scared to go.

After about 2 years the glands and neck pain went away. But the fatigue has persisted.

Now, I'm noticing tremors in my hands, started with Left hand fingers and now the whole hand just feels clumsy and sort of weak. I'm getting muscles twitches, tiny ones under my skin all over my body. This is all the past 2 weeks mind you. Fatigue is even worse.

I still get joint pain, stiffness regularly.

Is it at all possible that all this could be from Lyme. Has anyone else experienced these sort of symptoms?

Thanks

The one thing in your post that really sticks out for me is that you were diagnosed with lichen schlerosis at a young age. Me too! I accidently ran accross some articles on the web linking lichen sclerosis with lyme. Right after that I scheduled an appointment with a lyme dr for an igenix test. I get my results next Thursday. My twin sis has lyme and also has been diagnosed with lichen schlerosis.

I have achy joints, muscle twitches (in my butt cheeks mostly!) fatigue etc. I have "floaties" in my eyes. All these are lyme symptoms. Stiff neck is a symptom as well.

I would say there is a very good chance you could have lyme. I would recommend finding a lyme doctor and getting an igenix test.

Good luck to you!

Wow, that's a shocker.

I'm not sure if there are different forms of Lichen Sclerosis, are there options to send private messages on here?

We are not allowed to post email addresses here. It's against the rules. People get banned for doing that. And everyone can see all posts by clicking on them.

I didn't think there were more than one form of lichen sclerosis. It's usually "down there" but can be in other areas.

Google Lichen sclerosis and lyme disease and see what you get. I think it was mostly overseas that the research was being done. I found a few articles on the subject. It was very interesting.
[This Message was Edited on 02/14/2007]

This is the article that prompted me to get my ingenix test.

We present further evidence in support of the notion that Borrelia burgdorferi is possibly involved in the pathogenesis of morphea and lichen sclerosus et atrophicus (LSA). Running a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with a primer set specific for the flagellin gene of B. burgdorferi enabled us to demonstrate the presence of Borrelia DNA in skin biopsies of patients with morphea (nine of nine) of LSA (six of six). Biopsy specimens obtained from patients with erythema chronicum migrans (two patients, four of four samples) and acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (one patient, one of one sample) also showed positive PCR results. By contrast, there was no amplification of Borrelia DNA in control biopsies either from patients with chronic eczema (three of three) or psoriasis (two of two) or from normal skin (three of three). Antibodies directed against B. burgdorferi were only detected in the serum of patients with erythema chronicum migrans (two of two) and acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (one of one) but were not present in cases of morphea (five of five), LSA (three of three), or in control subjects (three of three). These data suggest that B. burgdorferi may play a role in the pathogenesis of both morphea and LSA. Furthermore, we conclude that PCR analysis provides an important diagnostic tool, even in seronegative Borrelia infections

I just don't know what to say about the Lichen Sclerosis thing. When I got diagnosed with it, my Gyno pretty much made me feel as though she had never seen it in a woman my age. I had hormonal problems for years during this time, put me on all kinds of drugs for it that just made me feel like crap. I can't believe that you two have both had it as well. How did they treat yours btw?

I'm definitely going to my Dr. with this info and see about getting a Lyme test, maybe it'll explain how lousy I've felt since 1989.

My gyno gave me Clobetasol Propionate USP .05%. For a month I was to apply everyday, then another month every other day, now twice a week.

It pretty much takes care of the problem.