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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Feeling Sick, Had Lyme Disease, Raced Heart Beat, Fatigue, Less Sleep, Exhausts While Talking

Hello. I am 62 years old & have been sick for a year & 1/2. Had to stop teaching because I got to where I could barely walk down the hallway & could barely speak at times. 14 doctors later, I am still suffering. They are just scratching their heads or tell me l am not sick. I went from a very active woman to barely functional some days. After 5 months of being sick, they did say l had lyme disease, plus l had it 5 years ago too. Had the doxy drug for 3 weeks & continually got worse. I have seen more ID doctors & took 6 more weeks of that drug. No improvement! My heart races & wakes me up. I dont sleep well & am very fatigued most of the time. Labored speech is "normal" for me & talking exhausts me. Aching too. So many blood tests done for a little of everything. Very frustrated with being so ill & no one can figure it out.
Fri, 27 Sep 2013
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Infectious Diseases Specialist 's  Response
Hi,
Welcome to HCM.
I understand your frustration and concern about your deteriorating health. Lyme disease as such occurs in three stages. First stage is just a rash at the site of tick bite. This disease is caused by bacteria called borrelia which survives in gut of ticks. Second stage presents with fever, headache, joint pains, body pains and swelling of nodes. Third stage is the chronic stage where the patient is having joint pains, fatigue and dermatitis. You are suffering from the third stage where generalized weakness will be present. Diagnosis of Lymes disease is difficult because the bacteria causing it does not grow so easily and isolation is difficult. Also antibodies against this bacteria is produced late (almost 1-2 months), so difficult to diagnose by lab tests too. Doxycycline is the drug of choice for this infection. I suggest you get in touch with your doctor for change of antibiotics as you are not responding to Doxycycline. Cephalosporins are useful to control this infection. Also you have to understand that age plays an important role. I suggest good healthy diet to boost your immune system. I hope I have helped you. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Thanks.
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Feeling Sick, Had Lyme Disease, Raced Heart Beat, Fatigue, Less Sleep, Exhausts While Talking

Hi, Welcome to HCM. I understand your frustration and concern about your deteriorating health. Lyme disease as such occurs in three stages. First stage is just a rash at the site of tick bite. This disease is caused by bacteria called borrelia which survives in gut of ticks. Second stage presents with fever, headache, joint pains, body pains and swelling of nodes. Third stage is the chronic stage where the patient is having joint pains, fatigue and dermatitis. You are suffering from the third stage where generalized weakness will be present. Diagnosis of Lymes disease is difficult because the bacteria causing it does not grow so easily and isolation is difficult. Also antibodies against this bacteria is produced late (almost 1-2 months), so difficult to diagnose by lab tests too. Doxycycline is the drug of choice for this infection. I suggest you get in touch with your doctor for change of antibiotics as you are not responding to Doxycycline. Cephalosporins are useful to control this infection. Also you have to understand that age plays an important role. I suggest good healthy diet to boost your immune system. I hope I have helped you. Wishing you a speedy recovery. Thanks.