can lyme disease mimic pneumonia?

my cousin's son (around 8 I think) has been dx with pneumonia. She posted it on Facebook yesterday, but then I read later another post that they were in the hospital last night, testing for meningitis (which was negative) and that he's lost the use of one of his arms!

To me, this is suspicious of lyme disease. Am I right in thinking that?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

I would also encourage you to find out what his symptoms really are - pneumonia and meningitis is quite a bit to have all at once! It wouldn't surprise me if the poor little guy had Mycoplasma with Lyme - but you would need to get him evaluated.

thanks all for your thoughts.

I haven't talked to my cousin, but just communicated through a couple of Facebook messages, and to her husband too. He's been putting a few updates on his Facebook.

Basically this sums it up as of now:

menigitis was negative, and they don't know what it is, so he's going to a nearby city with a bigger hospital.

his symptoms are:
the pneumonia
and then progressing throughout the day these:

neck pain,
his "legs hurt"
he doesn't have good/full motion in one arm (doesn't want to use it)
has abdominal pain

I don't know anything else, and I'm going to call my cousin in the morning.

She said that myself and someone else also thought of testing for lyme, and so she asked for that to be one of his lab tests. I told her the tests they will run are terribly unreliable (not sensitive enough)

I know it could be something else too, but so far these symptoms do fit lyme and so I think it's good to look into it. Lyme being a mimicker I know it could be something else too.

I feel for her, b/c what's happening now are lots of tests and dr.s not knowing why he can't move his arm normally, and why his neck hurts and why his legs hurt, and why his tummy hurts.

I don't know if theses symptoms were all at once or if they've been building lately.

anyway, thanks again!

little rant on how Dr.s need to be more educated on lyme here:
it frustrates me (and I'm sure everyone) that the dr.s don't think of lyme, at least have it on their radar when they hear these symptoms, to either rule out or in.
I can understand if it's not their first thought or test, but to not think of it at all, and for the mom to have to bring it up, that is frustrating. That's what happened with my little guy, until we got to a lyme literate dr. Hopefully one day lyme will be more understood by doctors and the more sensitive tests will be used and understood. B/c they tested him for strep, realizing that these symptoms could cause that, but didn't mention lyme, which can cause these symptoms too, even if that's not it.

thanks all!

Post Edited (stacestar) : 8/22/2014 10:06:48 PM (GMT-6)

good to know Lymebabe! thanks!