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Posted 6/10/2010 10:01 PM (GMT 0)
I'm wondering what the arthritis symptoms for everyone else who has Lyme arthritis? Does it involve one joint all joints? Is it symetrical like both knees both hands etc. Seeing my rheumatologist soon they have concluded I have rheumatoid arthritis even though the tests came back negative.... They seem to accept that RA can have false negatives but not Lyme! They also gave me a couple more meds to take, one of them being plaquinell? Not sure of spelling. I'm ok with taking these for the health of my joints for now until I can get a real Lyme negative or positive diagnosis but I wanted to make sure it wouldn't aggrivate Lyme disease in the meantime like how steroids do. Any info u may have is appreciated, everything is so confusing these days. I'll post the name of the other med tomorrow after I go back 2 pharmacy and pick it up. Thanks for any input
Posted 6/11/2010 2:23 AM (GMT 0)
Hi CMRB,

I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia. I was just diagnosed recently. Whether it is from Lyme, I don't know. It is important to take the medicine so that it stops the progession of the arthritis. I think everyone is different in their symptoms. Some people hurt worse than others. For me, my fingers swell on my right hand really bad. At first, they would just swell and hurt on my right hand, but now my fingers are starting to hurt on my left hand too. My entire body is stiff when I wake up in the morning. When I am in a bad flare, I run fever and feel like I have the flu and sometimes it is hard for me to walk. It is definitely not fun. I am also on Plaquenil as well.
Posted 6/11/2010 9:36 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks cajungirl, that kinda confirms my thoughts as well, I don't want my joints getting damaged any further wether it's Lyme or RA. And I can relate that's pretty much exactly how it is for me in the morning, wAlking like a sloth for the first half of the morning. If I don't take my meds I get fluish feeling too. It's funny I notice my joints most affected are the ones I've most abused... Like my left wrist from carrying trays for ten years! And my feet from years of high heel abuse .... Oh how I wish I could wear heels again tho lol thanks for the reply
Posted 6/11/2010 2:21 PM (GMT 0)
 

 

I have severe osteoarthritis in both knees and has been confirmed by xray. The LLMD says it is caused by the lyme and sure enough, everytime I have a medication change, I feel it in my knees.

 

I have also had a torn rotator cuff caused by a breakdown in the tendon by the lyme.

Posted 6/11/2010 3:42 PM (GMT 0)
Stephen Harrod Buhner recommends Nettles for joint pain - 1200mg/day or more. I found this to be very helpful for the hand pain, wandering leg pains, and joint pains. I also sometimes take homeopathic Causticum for these same issues and it works very well also.
Posted 6/11/2010 5:13 PM (GMT 0)
It is only assumed that I have Lyme arthritis, as I have been told I have no arthritis 'markers' in my blood. I can neither afford to go see a LLMD, nor make the trip, as none are less than a 1,000 mile round trip for me - so I doubt I will ever have a dx of Lyme arthritis. My local doc is now convinced that I have Lyme Arthritis though, as my fingers & toes are twisting & turning & the amount of pain I have.

I have been doing a lot of reading on Lyme arthritis though (on Goggle Scholar), but can't seem to make heads or tails of most of the info because of brain fog.

Are there any treatments specifically for Lyme Arthritis????
Posted 6/11/2010 5:36 PM (GMT 0)
Traveler,

Remember when I posted those pictures of my fingers when they were swollen last year and you said that yours looked the same? that's the arthritis doing that to mine.
Posted 6/11/2010 6:31 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks CG,
Now that you mention it ("Doh!!) I do remember.
The interesting thing is that I don't test positive for RA (fortunately). I'm scheduled to have a bone density scan done the end of this month. Last time I had one done (about 2005) I was well into osteopenia, which was explained to me to be the beginning stages of osteoarthritis. BUT (!!!!) the same doc was the first one to tell me I had no arthritis markers in my blood.

Sooooo, still not sure of what may be going on. :(
Posted 6/13/2010 5:46 PM (GMT 0)
My Husband has turned his joint pain and osteoporosis around using supplements:

MSM - lots (~8000+mg/day)
Glucosamine (vegetarian source due to shellfish allergy)
Fish Oil (he uses cod liver oil; he gets bad effects from salmon oil)
Calcium-Magnesium-Zinc-Vitamin D3 supplement
Vitamin C (Calcium Ascorbate powder) ~ 2-3000mg/day

He also goes hiking in the mountains on weekends. The reason he had these issues before was a combination of long-term steroid use (from severe allergic disease) and malnutrition (from malabsorption). He has been able to reduce his steroid requirement significantly also.

Steroids are known to cause osteoarthritis, so this is why I've posted this info here.
Posted 6/14/2010 4:28 AM (GMT 0)
Razzle, so glad to read that about your husband. WOW! Sure that will be helpful to people!!!
Posted 6/17/2010 12:19 AM (GMT 0)
Razzle,
My God, it's good to hear from another hemopath. For your husband's joints look into Bio-Sil. It helps to rebuild callogen in the joints.
I've been using it for about a year and was running out so I started babying it (1 tab a day) and the same with the Super Cissus RX,
so needless to say the joint pain is back. I've had arthritis for about 49 years (I'm 56) and also have fibro. Today I went for
hyalgan shots for the knee. I've run out of Bromelain which is pineapple enzymes for an anti-inflammatory. I've used that for
about 30 years.

For your Gut issues have you looked into Colostrum? It's bovine breast milk and if you're lactose intollerant it comes in goats
milk. I've found since I've been on it and Hylaronic Acid (trace minerals found in Japanese food) my immune system is soooo
much better and I heal faster. Last year I only went to the drs two times for sinus infections I couldn't kick.

I don't use dr drugs unless absolutely necessary. There's way too many side effects and many of them deadly. I don't think
cancer, brain damage, liver problems, kidney failure, etc should be a way of life from the man made items.

Nana Monster
Posted 6/22/2010 6:19 AM (GMT 0)
I got the Nettles and Causticum for Lymes Arthritis hand pain as Razzle suggested. The first day I took it, it gave me some stomach pain. (at least I think that's what it was) But other than that, I think it has helped actually. I haven't been taking it for too long. Maybe a week. But my hands aren't bothering me as much. So I have to assume it's helping. We'll see what happens though.
Posted 7/5/2010 2:44 AM (GMT 0)
I think colostrum might be one of the big things to come, especially for improving immune function. Thaks nana monster.
Posted 7/5/2010 2:01 PM (GMT 0)
Mike,

How is it going with the nettles - still helping, or ?


Nana Monster,

Due to a very bad experience with a certain brand of probiotics and many problems with other probiotic products, I am very leery of trying colostrum (basically, a probiotic, but from cows). I am sulfite-sensitive, which means I get reactions and even can go into anaphylaxis (has happened before) if I get a big enough dose of sulfites. Since many "friendly" critters that are in the gut actually make sulfites, I cannot take much probiotics without getting a sulfite reaction. I'm hoping getting rid of the Lyme will reduce my reactivity to sulfites eventually...I'm already doing the supplements that support the enzymes that process sulfites but still find myself reacting to sulfites when I'm not very careful.

Didn't know the Bio-Sil did that - thanks for the info.

Take care,
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