Lyme and how it effects different people (ie 1 round of doxi healing some while others have chronic)

Hi friends,

I'm curious as to something...because I'm sick and tired of other people's reactions to " I have chronic Lyme" and hearing "Oh I had tested positive for Lyme too and got a round of doxi and I'm better." How is this possible? My MIL is the example of this. She has always looked at me as if I'm lazy or spoiled. Quite the opposite. She devuldged the other day that her DR said Fibromyalgia is the "rich lady's" syndrome of little aches and pains and to be catered to. (BTW--I'm a far cry from rich, quite the opposite. I'm busting my rump at a full time job sick as heck so we can make ends meet)

Anyway, I had been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia after I tested positive for Lyme and so that's the diagnosis I was going with for years even though I never wanted to believe that's what I had.  But my MIL said she didn't catch the tick, she had felt awful and was diagnosed with Epstein Bar and Lyme. She was treated with 1 round of antibiodics and had a bullseye rash appear after the abx were finished. She said the dr said she was fine. (no surprise) But when I asked her if she still felt fatigued, she said "I'm always fatigued." She is a very heavy lady, well over 300 pounds I would assume. She had her knees replaced a few years ago. They did the 1st knee and all was OK and when they went on to the 2nd knee, everything went wrong and she nearly died. She is also a diabetic and on daily insulin. But even though she almost died, she still eats massive amounts of sugar.   I don't get it. She has only been married once, to my husband's father, who left her and packed everything up and kidnapped my husband to get away from her. He won't say why, except for the fact that he thinks she wasn't capable of caring for my husband as a child. She's a difficult lady to get along with at times. She acts like a doll in front of my husband, but behind closed doors..

Ok sooooooooooooo...i'm getting way off track here. My question is can Lyme affect everyone differently? Can some get real sick and others not? Cause I'm so darn sick it's rediculous the fight I put up everyday just to do minor things like get out of bed, get myself to work and get home. UGH. My arms & legs feel like dumbells are attached to them, I feel like I'm working through pnuemonia daily and my anxiety is through the roof as well as heart/chest pains, extreme fatigue, OCD, IBS, Horrible RLS, and more. 

So some people claim they got "cured" from the month of abx, but didn't catch the tick. How is this possible?

Trav--I think you're on to something with the Type A vs Type B personalities. My MIL is more of a Type B Personality. Very calm and doesn't get all worked up or driven. Good at making OTHER people that way though LOL.

My husband is also a very laid back person and I will ask the LLMD tomorrow about him being tested as well for Lyme.

I on the other hand, a big hot mess that I am, I'm a very type A personality. VERY driven, can be controlling, intense and very ambitious. It kills me that I can't do more with my life. I have so many things I'd like to do..art classes, be a teacher, entrepenuer, go back to school, make more money, etc. I'm extremely good at sales in the past before getting really sick. Now it just drains the life out of me to fight for/about anything. Makes sense why it would affect me so negatively.

I try not to let others get me down, but with my anxiety being so through the roof, it's hard. Everything gets to me and I can't let it roll off my shoulders as everyone tells me. Just let it go, don't let it get to you, etc. I actually feel much worse if I hold it all in. I'm better to try and remove myself from that situation completely for awhile at least.

My mom (not MIL) means well, but I have a hard time communicating with her at times. She can be combative and it makes me want to argue even more with her. It's draining. I have huge rage. I hope this can be controlled with some anxiety medication. I will ask about it tomorrow..the big day!

There is a very large volume of research that shows a substantial number of people who get infected, never get very sick, never get treated and end up completely healthy. There seems to be general agreement that the size of the infection load transmitted (how many intact spirochetes survive the trip from tick to human), the transmission of co-infections at the same time and the state of the immune system of the infected individual are by far the biggest variables in the equasion.

For those that do get very ill, the biggest factor (way more important than everything else combined) is the length of time between the initial infection and treatment. A single doxy pill taken within a few days of a bite from an infected tick can cure many people; the infection is still mostly in the bloodstream (where doxy works great) and not buried into tissues. If they get treated within the first month the majority of people are going to be cured by a single 2-4 week course of doxy. If the infection goes even 4 months before being treated the chance of a chronic infection skyrockets.

The recent Embers monkey study demonstrates this exact progression perfectly (from treatable to chronic within the 1 to 4 month window), though they didn't test beyond the 4 month mark after infection. I think when they start looking 1+ year before treatment the results will show a month of oral doxy to be almost useless.

I got infected at the age of 20, otherwise healthy as an ox and in good shape, but I was in college and drank pretty hard which left the door open to me getting annihilated. If I was taking care of myself back then I think I would have had an excellent chance of fighting off the infections.