Can Lyme Disease Progress into Multiple Sclerosis?

When I first became ill with what turned out to be Lyme and Bartonella, my PCP referred me to a neurologist to rule out MS. An MRI of the brain failed to show lesions which were conducive to MS, otherwise known as McDonalds's Criteria.

The neurologist said that there is no MS diagnosis without the lesions, which are of a specific shape and size, and all go in the same direction (whatever that means). He also said the lesions appear first and then the symptoms, but if you have the symptoms and no lesions, then another condition needs to be considered, because without the lesions there is no MS.

As far as having both diseases concurrently, I do personally know of one person who was first diagnosed with MS, and then later on diagnosed with Lyme. When I mentioned to her that the MS diagnosis could have been fallacious (which is actually a common occurrence), she said she thought such at first, but her MS meds had actually had helped her throughout.

MS is a complex and complicated diagnosis, and neurologists use a variety of factors to come by their diagnosis - not just an MRI or a lumbar puncture. Sometimes it may take several visits over a period of months to be able to make a definitive diagnosis, or to rule it out.

When they say to come back in six months, they do so because they want to see if there are lesions which fit the McDonald's Criteria, or if non-specific lesions on the white matter of the brain have grown or changed.

Post Edited (svalentina) : 12/2/2015 12:49:05 PM (GMT-7)

I was told that you can have symptoms of MS and the mri can be clean.
The lesions sometimes show up later on - after a person has had symptoms for awhile.

For me, the mri was ordered because of my symptoms. When the mri was clean, my GP sent me to a Neurologist, as she said that diagnosis isn't that simple.
The Neurologist did some tests, and ruled out ms and als.

I had also visited some ms forums when my symptoms first started...and that was something that was discussed - that a clean mri doesn't rule out ms.

I, too, have neurolyme, and 90% of my symptoms are all neurological. My LLMD put me on minocycline when I began treatment, because out of the three tetracyclines used to treat Lyme, minocycline has the greatest efficacy is crossing the Blood Brain Barrier. I have had great success with it in helping to resolve my symptoms. Yes, I have periods of major die-off, but I know that is to be expected, and I do what I can to detox.

I still have a ways to go, but at least I am in a better place than I was several months ago.

That being said, have you considered Lyme-specific herbal tinctures from Nutramedix? Samento, Banderol and Cumanda. What I like about tinctures is you begin using them one drop at a time, and work your way up as slowly or quickly as you deem yourself able to handle.

Eva Sapi, a famous Lyme research scientist with University of New Haven, and who also contracted Lyme some years back, performed a clinical trial testing the efficacy of Samento and Banderol, and the trial had very favorable and positive results in the treatment of Lyme. She herself also used them as part of her own treatment, so she was able to personally attest as to their effectiveness.

Iherb.com carries Nutramedix products at a reduced price, and their shipping is expedient. I usually receive my products within no more than three days. I also use Burbur and Pinella (Nutramedix) for detox and for brain relaxation. They work best when used in conjunction with each other. I put ten drops of each in a four-ounce glass of water in the morning and before I go to bed. Again, you work your way up.

Hope this helps.

No, samento, banderol and cumanda are not specifically for co-infections, as far as I know, though they may help.

www.nutramedix.ec/ns/lyme-protocol

You were told you had Babesia, but was it ever treated? Babesia is a very dangerous and deadly disease if not treated. In fact, none of these diseases are anything to fool around with.

As far as your going by what the nurse in your doctor's office says about treatment failure, you really should not be going by what other people say about their treatment success or failure. We are all different, not everything works for everybody, and anti-biotics alone are not going to be what makes us succeed or makes us fail at eradicating these diseases. It goes much deeper than that, and requires long-term changes on varying levels. That includes diet.

As far as your liver toxicity with your herbal remedies, understand that every type of medication/herb/vitamin/supplement you take is processed through your liver. The fact that you were taking 30 pills a day and ended up with liver toxicity does not surprise me in the least. The herbs were not causing the toxicity per se, but the fact that you were overloading your liver and it not having the ability to remove the toxins in a timely manner was more the cause. This is why it is so important for you to go slow, start low, add one thing at a time, and detox, detox, detox. Lemon water, salt baths, herbal detoxes (burbur, milk thistle, etc).

Has any doctor ever presented the strong possibility of your having Bartonella in addition to Lyme and Babesia? Up and down the Northeast corridor the common combination of tick infections appears to be the three B's - Borrelia, Babesia and Bartonella.

Bartonella is also a very dangerous and deadly disease. It makes other diseases go into hiding, and treatment causes them to come out. My babesia just this week came out after several months of anti-biotics for Bartonella.

I was not aware that there were any (competent) LLMD's in NYC at all? I live out on the island, and I travel two hours to CT for my doctor, whom I found by word of mouth.

IV abx are good in the respect that they go directly into the blood stream and do not cause the digestive distress and other stomach issues that oral abx do. A good LLMD worth their salt treats their patients from an integrative approach - not just from a Western Medicine approach. That includes dietary changes and restrictions, herbal remedies, vitamins and supplements. And plan on being in treatment for a year to two years, sometimes longer. It is a long haul and a large commitment on the part of the patient. Treatment is a trial and error process. If one thing does not work, then you go onto something else. If something works, you stick with it. One trick is to switch abx ever two to three weeks so as to prevent resistance.

As far as houttuynia, I drink it in the tea form twice a day, and I feel it has benefited me greatly. I do not use this as my sole form of treatment, but I do deem it as an important part of my healing. I have a large bag in the powdered form I ordered from 1stchinesherbs in Seattle. Paid just under $30 with shipping. It will last me a while.

Next week I am ordering Cryptolepis (an herbal remedy) for my Babesia. This in addition to the Malarone and azithromycin I just began taking for Babesia.

Please do not give up. While I wholly agree there is a direct connection between Lyme and MS, I really feel the source of your symptoms right now is neurolyme, as it can cause all of the symptoms you first described. Samento, Banderol and Cumanda are solely for Lyme. If you go onto Nutramedix and click on each product's PDF sheet, it will tell you what it is designed for. These product sheets can also be found on Iherb.

Post Edited (svalentina) : 12/3/2015 1:00:44 PM (GMT-7)