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My Wife Had Lyme Years Ago - Was Treated Quickly - Now Has Extreme Fatigue

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Lyme Disease
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Posted 9/29/2014 4:45 AM (GMT 0)
Hey all. I'm a regular over at the Ulcerative Colitis forum. I just wanted to pop over here to ask a question about Lyme Disease.

The question is: Could a person that was treated quickly after getting the disease still have long-term effects from it?? I know that left untreated for a while a person can have lifetime issues that they work against, but I'm not familiar enough with it to know this answer.

Below is why I'm asking...

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My wife went to Maine 11 years ago, and got Lyme Disease. She was treated within either days or a week or so of getting it.

We are now trying to address major fatigue issues that she has. She is set up for a sleep study soon, and has been to several specialists. She also has Thyroid issues, but they are very under control and messing with doses either way has not proved helpful.

Some theories we have on the cause of the fatigue are: allergy medications that she's on or the allergies in general (she has them bad to MANY things), some other thyroid issue that can't be discovered, or maybe a reaction to the birth control pills she's taken for most of the past decade to control heavy periods.

She has extremely low levels of some hormones, such as testosterone. Women should have some T, and she has the lowest the doctor had ever seen. So, something with hormones is also a possibility.

Anyways, I'd appreciate any input any of you have. She sleeps 9-9.5 hours a night, and still gets so sleepy during the day that she can't drive past about 6 pm without worry of crashing from being too tired.
Posted 9/29/2014 5:38 AM (GMT 0)
Did she ever find a tick on her and treated days/week after the bite? Or she just got treated after being diagnosed, not knowing when she got bit? What was the treatment? Doxycycline 100mg twice a day for three weeks? If so, this was not enough to kill the bacteria that causes lyme, it will just stop it from multiplying, not kill it. This bacteria, when threatened by medication can transform itself into a cyst and remain dormant for years till a weakened immune system allows it to emerge from its cystic form, it then multiplies and protects itself by living in communities inside a protective biofilm. It manipulates our bodies for its own survival. Unfortunately, when a tick bites you, it will most likely infect you with other bacteria and protozoan that are as hard to treat as lyme. Lyme causing bacteria rarely comes alone. Read the new to lyme post and you will find very useful information. We are here to help. Have more questions? You are more than welcome to ask.
Lyme messes up our adrenals, thyroid, CNS and more.
Posted 9/29/2014 6:17 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Thoreau. I just wanted to say yes based on everything I read and now know about Lyme disease it is very possible it is Lyme disease even if she was treated immediately.

There are some people for example that got immediately treated after a tickbite with the usually recommended doxycycline, and they are then generally well for awhile. This was probably effective for most of the germs, but not all get eradicated and many may turn into a cyst form to protect itself from the antibiotics. You have to take other kinda of medications or cyst busters to treat these forms. Some people report the symptoms really start to spring up 1 year to 2 years.... Yet other people may never have issues as hopefully the immune system can quickly get any germs under control.

What lyme doctors know these days is doxy is often not enough as adequate treatment for lyme. It is recommended to use doxycycline in combination with metronidazole or Tinidazole to bust the cysts. Lyme doctors these days will often use these medications.
Posted 9/29/2014 11:44 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Thoreau,

I think it's wonderful that you are concerned for your wife! Anyway, in my non-medical opinion, no, I don't think your wife is suffering from lyme for the reasons being she had it 11 years ago and it was treated quickly.

I suggest having a doctor test all her hormone levels (not only progesterone but estrogen as well) and her adrenals. Adrenal fatigue is more common then people think and can cause the fatigue your wife is suffering from. Changing diet may really help (eliminating processed foods, sugars, junk food, etc. as that can affect the adrenals).

www.adrenalfatigue.org/what-is-adrenal-fatigue

Hope this helps,
Denise
Posted 9/29/2014 5:15 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Thoreau,
Welcome to our little spot on the forum!! :-)

Is there any way for you to find out what she took, what dosage was and for how long? That would tell us a lot. If it was Doxycycline, and was less than 400 mgs, the answer would be she still has Lyme disease. There are other abx that are used though so she might have been treated appropriately - especially if she was treated by a doctor that had training through ILADS - International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society.

Lyme bacteria can never be completely removed from the body as far as we know at this time, so even if she did have good treatment that was applied quickly, it still may have managed to hide out and wait until her body was under 'just enough' stress to lower her immune system and then come back out again.

Lyme can cause dysfunction in glands and organs though too - has she had her adrenals properly tested?

And of course, there's the hormone imbalance as others have mentioned.

I do hope that you are able to get some answers from the sleep study though!! It might help unlock this mystery!

Please do let us know if we can be of further help!! And my sympathies for having to deal with your own health issues!
Posted 9/29/2014 5:27 PM (GMT 0)
Allergies can cause tiredness, speaking from experience. Maybe the allergy meds contribute to some of her tiredness too. That most likely wouldn't be the whole cause, though. I hope you get to the bottom of it.
Posted 10/3/2014 3:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hey everyone, I just want to say thank you to you all for the responses you've left me here. I got fairly absorbed this week with some of my own health things as well as work, so I wasn't on to reply to all of you.

I honestly do not know what my wife took for medicine back then, but you at least have me asking certain questions now.

My wife has been to two different doctors that deal with hormones. She's also been to several other physicians, and does not yet have answers.

There are certain doctors that specialize in Lyme, right? We live in the midwest, in Nebraska. Do any of you have ideas on how to find a physician worth their weight anywhere around the region... Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas?

Forgive me if I'm not on immediately to respond to you, it doesn't mean I don't care deeply and want to help her in any way I can.

Thank you so much.
Posted 10/3/2014 5:33 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Thoreau,

I'm sorry to hear of both your and your wife's health concerns. I am not a health professional, but wanted to share my experience- that's why we're here, right?

I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease 16 years ago after having the classic bulls' eye rash, was treated immediately with antibiotics, and never thought of it again (not because there weren't issues, because I never new what Lyme even was or that most everything was related to it)... And I was recently diagnosed with chronic Lyme Disease. It is so unfortunate, but it is real. I had crazy fatigue, which we discovered was from very poor adrenal function, caused by Lyme (amongst an array of other things). I'd recommend having her adrenal function tested as well, and would encourage you to seek a Lyme Literate Medical or Naturopathic Doctor.

I would never want to frighten you, I am just so passionate about sharing my experience with people with similar experiences, just to encourage you to not rule out Lyme until everything else is ruled out (diagnosis is clinical, and often a process of elimination, supported by blood tests), because I never would have thought this was Lyme. I'm not saying I think your wife has Lyme, but if there's anything I've learned about Lyme, it's to not assume that you don't have Lyme until you know for a fact that you don't. Keep pushing until it can be ruled out for sure, especially because you know the history is there.

I'm glad you found the forum and are advocating for your wife. Prayers to you two. Keep us posted if you can!
Posted 10/3/2014 3:38 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Thoreau,
Don't worry about how long it takes you to get back to us! We understand that there are those that have to work and have a life outside of this forum!! LOL!

I'm so glad that you have started asking questions - don't stop until you are satisfied with the answers you are getting!! And be sure to continue to educate yourself on the tick-borne infections as well.

Let us know how we can best help you and your wife!!
Posted 10/3/2014 5:13 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Thoreau,

I was someone that was treated early but ineffectively and became ill years after the fact. It was a slow downward progression, so to answer your question briefly - yes it is definitely possible.

~beth
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