Multiple Sclerosis/Lyme Disease

[StooGrimson]

This is a good thread for two reasons Thump. First, your post was informative. Second, you posted without acting like you were on your period while whining and moaning about a sick/dying relative. Much appreciated!

 

[Thump]

This is a good thread for two reasons Thump. First, your post was informative. Second, you posted without acting like you were on your period while whining and moaning about a sick/dying relative. Much appreciated!

Thanks Stoo.

I know a lot of people out there are falsely diagnosed with MS and want everyone who knows someone with MS to mention Lyme Disease as another possible diagnosis, plus antibiotics can reverse many of the symptoms.

Just a simple blood test that many doctors are too hard-headed to mention.

 

[Taosman]

from 6moons.com
"Terry Cain of Cain & Cain loudspeakers recently passed away after battling a debilitating combination of Lyme and Lou Gehrig disease. He even knew when he'd contracted Lyme. He'd been on his way to a show and had pulled over on the side of a road for a break. Taking his socks off, he'd walked around the grass, stretched out and had a sandwich and a nap. Then he got tweaked by a tick, unscrewed its little head and went to the show thinking no more of it. The spot discolored a week later and less than two years later, it's the shovel and the dirt. It can be the smallest of things."

If you ever suspect Lyme, you should see a doctor who knows the symptoms.

 

[Buckeye Buh Nim]

Thanks for the info Thump, I will certainly pass it on to my parents.

Mom was diagnosed with MS in 1988. They used a spinal tap to determine that is what she has.

I am not going to lie, it isn't easy seeing this disease ravage moms nervous system.

What is refreshing is her approach to it. She either wants to beat this disease, or at the least help others beat it in the future. She volunteers for every experiment on this disease that she is eligible. She has been through kemotherapy for it a couple of times. She goes through all the PT, etc... that she can, and she does it with a smile on her face.

While I doubt that she has Lyme disease, I am sure that she will approach this news like she has everything else with respect to this struggle.

As a side note, I do the MS walk every year possible. (I have missed 3 since 1989) Every year I see the Hoying brothers and Mike Vrabel at the walk.

 

[OCBuckWife]

--edit2--
I've never been tested for Lyme. Sort of funny. I've been playing the failing health game for too long to get excited or hopeful about any potential diagnosis. There are too many possibilities and too little opportunity right now to investigate to bother. I will say that I'm going to try and arrange for a Lyme test soon, just because it's relatively easy and it would be silly not to.

What years were you in the military, Clarity? Did it include the Gulf War back in the early 90s?

 

[NJ-Buckeye]

I'm sure this varies by geographic area.. because in Jersey, the FIRST thing they would do here is check for Lyme... it's very big here because of the hemorrhaging deer population

sorry about your sister-in-law, Thump.. I know folks with it... it's gut wrenching to watch it take it's toll especially in kids...

when my son was a freshman at OSU he came down with a problem that landed him in the OSU hospital... and we had to demand they test him for Lyme.. in the debate with a doctor, he said, "we generally don't test for Lyme here in Columbus"... to which I screamed... "the kid is from Jersey !!!"

BTW.. Lyme is a huge problem in our animals as well.. especially dogs...

 

[Clarity]

The test for Lyme doesn't test for Lyme but the antibodies that fight Lyme. Dr. Phillips had her send her blood to a lab in California that he trusts and also to one in New Haven, Connecticut.

I couldn't find any record of even a discussion about Lyme in my records, which is sort of disappointing given the time and money spent in the Mayo. We're going to call around tomorrow to see what it would take to arrange for such a test. "Scoring" between 48-50 is enough of an eye-opener that I feel it would be silly not to at least take a stab at it "just in case."

MS is what is assumed by the docs I've seen here and there over the last couple years (which is to say in a couple ER visits), and I'll have to have a spinal tap at some point, along with a battery of other tests. All when I can pay for it.

If you don't mind me asking, do you have brain or spinal lesions that show up on scans?

It's not an issue. I do. Not severe enough to show up on xray at last check though. I'll go through and list where my "yes" answers were later in this thread when I have a few moments. None of it is any big secret or private affair anymore.

What years were you in the military, Clarity? Did it include the Gulf War back in the early 90s?

I was in from '89 to the end of '93.

 

[Thump]

I couldn't find any record of even a discussion about Lyme in my records, which is sort of disappointing given the time and money spent in the Mayo. We're going to call around tomorrow to see what it would take to arrange for such a test. "Scoring" between 48-50 is enough of an eye-opener that I feel it would be silly not to at least take a stab at it "just in case."

MS is what is assumed by the docs I've seen here and there over the last couple years (which is to say in a couple ER visits), and I'll have to have a spinal tap at some point, along with a battery of other tests. All when I can pay for it.



It's not an issue. I do. Not severe enough to show up on xray at last check though. I'll go through and list where my "yes" answers were later in this thread when I have a few moments. None of it is any big secret or private affair anymore.



I was in from '89 to the end of '93.

Let me know if I can assist you in any way.

I know of some members on this site who have family members with Lyme.

It's worth a shot.

 

[BuckeyeRyn]

My sister had Lyme's disease a few years back, all clear now though...

Really, any place, even the health department would do the Lyme titer. It's one of those reportable diseases, they like to keep track.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

ive had lyme disease twice, neither time did it get past the "bullseye" stage.

 

[OCBuckWife]

I was in from '89 to the end of '93.

Were you stationed overseas during the Gulf War? The reason I ask is of course "Gulf War Syndrome." I have a few friends that were over there during that time that are having similar issues as you with undefined and wildly erratic symptoms. If you haven't already, you may want to look into it.

Thump, I am very sympathetic for your family's trial. I sincerely hope things work out for the better.

 

[Clarity]

Well, before '91 I was comfortably sandwiched between the female Air Force, and female Navy barracks with the very small detachment of Marines at the Defense Language Institute.

After 91, most of the soil I touched was in Hawaii and/or Maryland/Virginia, even if airspace was another issue.

 

[Muck]

Well, before '91 I was comfortably sandwiched between the female Air Force, and female Navy barracks with the very small detachment of Marines at the Defense Language Institute.

After 91, most of the soil I touched was in Hawaii and/or Maryland/Virginia, even if airspace was another issue.

Were you an 0251, 267x or 27xx?

 

[Clarity]

Were you an 0251, 267x or 27xx?

2673, sitting as a company training chief at the end of my time in what used to be 1st Radio Battalion, waiting to detach for NROTC.

 

[Thump]

2673, sitting as a company training chief at the end of my time in what used to be 1st Radio Battalion, waiting to detach for NROTC.

Any news on an upcoming Lyme blood test?