Autoimmune Lyme

I am now treating my post Lyme autoimmune issues with low dose steroids. I've officially been labeled autoimmune. My doctors are viewing this as separate from Lyme but I know in my heart they are connected. My health was 100% until Lyme and the physical autoimmune symptoms began immediately after. The Lyme symptoms have cleared but some autoimmune symptoms remain. The amount of research I have done would boggle the mind and I finally believe I am on the right path. The goal; calm the immune system, reverse body wide inflammation, retrain my mind/body/soul to function as one. I'm already feeling better. Tired... but the good kind of tired. If you know what I mean.

I am curious to hear from anyone who has an autoimmune condition in addition to Lyme. Do you think they are connected? And have your symptoms improved or remained constant over time? Thank you friends...

Hey mysterylyme,
My ANA levels are very off and autoimmune disorders run in the family like crazy, so it has been suspected that I have something autoimmune going on as well as the lyme. My rhumey suspected lupus, but all my other docs think the lyme could be throwing those ANA levels off. They're all kinda in agreement that further investigation needs to wait until I get the lyme mostly resolved.

That being said, my Airrosti doctor (fascia relief recovery technique for sports injuries, alternative to physical therapy) vehemently thinks I do NOT have anything autoimmune because he said the inflammation associated with lupus, even between flare-ups, makes Airrosti treatments completely intolerable and I have been able to tolerate treatments. (Though, I may have called him a MF'er a few times on accident! It's INTENSE.)

My new lyme doc ran another more "lupus specific" test and both my rhumey and I are trying to get copies of those results from her. She's one of the only lyme docs in texas so her office is near impossible to get a hold of. They're so busy. The test came back normal but my rhumey won't be convinced until he looks it over himself.

So the jury is still out. I'm personally leaning towards blaming the lyme for the off ANAs, but that's probably my optimism at work. We'll see once I'm out of the lyme woods.

Jessica... steroids are horrible if you are dealing with an active infection. once the infection is cleared your immune system may still be confused. i recommend taking a look at something called molecular mimicry. it may change how you view this disease especially in its chronic form.

Cat... skin ulcers. mouth ulcers. anxiety. fatigue. i have a form of vasculitis and apparently at increased risk of stroke/aneurisms. fun stuff. this all started immediately after my initial Lyme symptoms and I am certain was triggered by my immune system going crazy from Lyme. Hopefully case closed now and not a lifelong condition...

I was first dx with Lupus, then lyme! Of course it's connected because any time there is a trauma (active infection), it knocks the body out of balance and other issues come into play.
Auto immune is simply a foreign substance the body does not identify and attacks it. This means you need to find out which substance that is.
Steroids only suppress the immune system further and should never ever be given when any lyme is suspected. There are much healthier and natural ways to lower the inflammation in the body.

My ANA has been at the highest titer for 15 yrs and I finally got a neg, results when I removed what my body didn't identify.

"If this is a lyme doctor who is prescribing it that is all you need to know."

Not neccessarily, Bucci. Doctors don't always do the right thing any more than anyone else. They make mistakes, get distracted, and fall into complacency too.

As you pointed out in another thread, there are good docs and bad docs - just because they use the term "LLMD" doesn't count them out of all of that.

Those that were put on steroids before they found out they had Lyme are in a bad spot, but no one knew, so one must just live with it. Those that are so ill that a LLMD does this just to save the person's life, is another story as well.

For almost everyone else, steroids are a no no, as they suppress the immune response, which allows the Lyme Bacteria and others free roaming to infect any ole thing they want as they are un-checked.