My sister has lyme now, too…***?

Sooo I've been dealing with lyme for the last 8 months. I don't know how I got it. I just know I had been dealing with strange, but livable "symptoms" for many years until crap hit the fan and my nervous system went under attack.

Well, my sister who I have not lived with in years is now exhibiting lyme symptoms- I was at her house this past weekend, and she woke up with a swollen lymph node in her groin. She had the same problem in college when she was scratched by her stray cat (who I now own) and was diagnosed with cat scratch fever (aka bartonella) and put on antibiotics by a regular MD. I immediately thought that maybe it was recurring, and I told her to get it checked immediately. She didn't.

The other day we talked and she was telling me that she has a horrible flu (stomach upset, fever, etc.), extreme night sweats that kept her from sleeping, fatigue, muscle weakness, the list goes on. Knowing what I know, I told her she needs to get tested for lyme and co ASAP. Luckily I know the process and the good doctors, so I'm hoping if she is treated early enough she will recover quickly. I'm not a doctor, so I can't guarantee this is lyme for sure, anyway. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions because I just happen to recognize these symptoms and I'm paranoid because it's awful.

It's January in Boston, so it's a little odd that it is happening during winter if it were a new bite, although it has been a warm winter…any thoughts on the matter? Could something have triggered it? I'm hoping that it is new and that she is in the fever stage of the illness…I just don't want her to have to go through this horrible disease.

It also seems odd that we would both have it at the same time, although I know it is an epidemic. Could I have passed this to her? Could we be genetically predisposed? What the hell? Whyyyyy!!!???

I'm so glad that you knew what you were seeing with your sister! If she will hear you, you may have saved her years of misery.

It's unlikely you passed it to your sister. While it can happen, usually it takes blood, organ transplant, sexual contact or something along those lines to pass on these infections. I know that people are now concerned that it can be passed by kissing because it has been found in saliva, but it can't be a very good means of transferring these infections, or my husband would be infected and everyone else that I've every kissed. My husband did get infected on his own last year (oh boy) but it was caught very early and he needed only minimal treatments.

From the symptoms you've mentioned, extreme night sweats would indicate possible Babesia infection, as well as the Lyme, and likely Bart as well.

Many times family members are infected at the same time - and it makes sense actually. Family members go to the same places at the same times, and often do the same activities and of course live in the same place. It's not always a case of one person infecting the others.

As Sarah said, your sister's infections could have been reactivated by stress of most any type, even if she hasn't felt "stressed".

I would really encourage you to talk her into going in to a LLMD and get evaluated or to just start on an herbal protocol, whatever you can get her to do.