Ive read some references here to a link with EBV and Lyme. I would like some clarification on this. Does this refer to a possibility of EBV being a co-infection that can be passed along with Lyme? Or one infection making a person more susceptible to the other?
I had EBV (mono) in February of 2013. I got over that and was fine until July 2014 when I experienced very bad muscle aches in my legs and arms along with muscle twitches. I didn't experience an actual loss of muscle strength but had a perceived feeling of it. I could still do what I wanted or needed to physically but just didn't feel like it due to the excessive achiness. Over the next six weeks I saw my doctor four times while I continued to have the symptoms. He told me my symptoms were vague. He ordered blood work along with two Lyme tests about
two weeks apart in September. All tests were negative/normal.
After the six weeks my symptoms subsided (they didn't completely stop) to the point I felt much better and I didn't see my doctor again. In February of this year I had 3-4 days of symptoms just like I did when I had mono but not as bad. Flu-like ache all over, sore throat on left side, fever at night, ache in my glands in groin and neck. I had a lump on the left side of my neck larger than when I had the initial mono. That took sometime to go away even after the other symptoms had.
On some level I ache all the time. If I exert myself I feel flushed. A day or two after activity I ache more. My knees, hips and knuckles sometimes hurt. I feel tired. Have headaches. Sometimes feel cold. Other times hot. Have a stiff, aching neck down into my shoulder(s). Twitching. Leg or arm jerks. Quick, sudden, stabbing pains. Sudden, shooting pain down my leg. A feeling I can only describe as a combination of an itch, burn and crawling in one spot on my face or head. Frequent (3-4 days a week) heartburn. I take an OTC acid reducer which works. Sometimes even when I don't have the actual heartburn I have a strange feeling of a dull, vague sensation/pain in my lower throat or upper abdomen.
More recently Ive experienced strange symptoms that are fleeting of smelling smoke, a metallic taste in my mouth or excessive saliva. These haven't happened too many times but they certainly did happen. It took me a few times of having these before I wondered if they could be Lyme/tick related. After searching here I see others have described the same thing.
My symptoms are not constant though. At times over a day I can feel quite normal or crappy. I can have a day or days where I feel okay. This sometimes makes me wonder is this all real. But I know Im not imagining all this. Ive read others here describe the same thing. Finding this site has already been a big help. And I already have a test kit from Igenex Labs.
I will add that I live in a rural, tick infested area with many cases of Lyme. I have an office job but am also outside a lot. I do nightly tick checks and have found ticks on me. One was found by luck after my regular tick check and showering. I was sitting on the bed when I noticed a very small brown spot on my right ankle. It was the size of a poppy seed and raised. It came off with my finger nail. It was so small I couldn't be sure what it was. After dropping on a piece of paper it started to move and then I could see it was a tick nymph. So it is definitely possible I could have had a tick on me sometime and never knew it. I never noticed any rash.
Post Edited (ken-ny) : 5/7/2015 10:47:51 AM (GMT-6)