Lyme Symptoms or Hormones?? So confused.

Hi All,

I am new to this site/forum. A little bit of backstory before I get into my question...I was happily on one type of birth control for over a year with no issues and then was suddenly told by my insurance that they don't cover it anymore, so would have been a lot out of pocket. I switched to another one, which was supposedly the "generic" for the brand I'd been taking. First few weeks on it were fine, no major issues. It was the third or fourth week that I started feeling awful. I had symptoms included, but not limited to: very foggy brain, feeling like I wasn't really present, staring off into space multiple times a day, feeling VERY anxious and like I was going to pass out and becoming more anxious because of it, muscles randomly feeling lose/relaxed/weak, hard time focusing and took me a longer time to process things, everything started to feel like it was in slow motion, nausea, heartburn, waking up in the middle of the night with my heart racing, I also suffered a few panic attacks (mostly when waking up in the morning), sensitivity to light (I actually couldn't watch TV for a while and had to have dim lighting in my home at night), feeling dizzy, very low sex drive, not feeling like myself at all, and I'm sure there are others I'm missing.

Anyway, I had none of those symptoms prior to starting the new birth control so I just assumed that the symptoms were related to it. I stopped the birth control on advice of my doctor, and although the symptoms have improved a teeny tiny bit...I still struggle with some of the above mentioned symptoms (especially before and during my period). Many people have mentioned it is because my hormones are still adjusting to being off of BC in general and when your hormones are off balance it can affect many different parts of your body and therefor have weird symptoms. Anyway, I recently saw an alternative medicine doctor and she suggested the possibility of Lyme disease. I was completely shocked because I thought symptoms of Lyme included the red bullseye rash (never had it), flu like symptoms (have not had the flu for years), and aches and pains (that, thank goodness is one symptom I don't have). So she had me take a number of blood tests, and I tested negative for Lyme on the, I believe its called Western Blot. My doctor however said that I tested positive for ANA (antinuclear antibodies) which means I could possibly still have Lyme and she now wants me to take another test, through a lab called Igenex which is close to $800 out of pocket (insurance won't cover, already checked). I am going to take this test on Monday, but I wanted to check on here - do my symptoms sound at all like any part of Lyme disease (whether it be beginning or Chronic?) I also don't understand how I can have Lyme if I tested negative on the initial test. My doctor's explanation was its not as thorough as the Igenex test and she recommends it because of the positive ANA result. She did say the ANA could mean nothing or possibly a number of autoimmune disorders (such as lupus) which I am also getting tested for next week. I just think it is related to hormonal imbalance because it would be the biggest coincidence in the world if I just happened to have all these symptoms after started a new birth control then going off it and also had Lyme disease at the same time??? Like what??

At this point I'm just really confused and need advice. What should I do?

Girlie said...
Hi anna, welcome to our community.

Sorry you're having these symptoms...but glad you found your way here.

Our hormones can be affected by Lyme disease and vice versa.

I don't know if your issues are because of lyme...but it's certainly a possibility.

When I all of a sudden got strange symptoms in 2013, my periods stopped at the same time.
I had almost no estrogen. My regular Dr. gave me the 'bioidentical' estrogen/prometrium treatment.
After two weeks on that - my symptoms went crazy. That's when i started getting the internal vibrations...
I stopped the hormone replacement...but the vibrations didn't stop.
It seemed to 'kick up' my lyme symptoms (that I didn't know were lyme at the time)

I also didn't have a bullseye rash, or flu like symptoms.

Your Dr. is quite knowledgeable - considering she isn't a LLMD.

Igenex specializes in testing tick-borne diseases...it's a more sensitive test and they test for more strains of LD.

It's possible that you could also get a negative with Igenex but still have lyme. The WB is dependent on your body producing the antibodies...which sometimes won't - if the immune system has been suppressed from lyme disease.

Many people with lyme do get a positive ANA.

Hi!

Thank you for your response and the welcome. If you don't mind me asking, what were some of the first strange symptoms you remember having back in 2013? Did they get worse as time went on or generally stay the same?

It is definitely interesting that hormones can affect Lyme like that. Maybe, if I do have it, something with that birth control triggered my symptoms to flare up? I don't know, just a thought.

My doctor is not an LLMD, but she says she has seen and tested for many many cases of Lyme disease and then referred those who either tested positive or who she truly believes were Lyme cases to a LLMD in our area.

I'm wondering though, if I do test negative for Lyme on the Igenex, would a doctor treat me for Lyme anyway or do I need that positive test result in order to get onto antibiotics? How have you been feeling? Do you still experience symptoms today after having been treated for Lyme disease?

Thank you again for taking the time to respond to my post. This is all knew to me, and although I may not even have it...I just want to know more about Lyme disease in case I do.

Anna

Hormones are involved in the immune system, my treatment recently stalled out because of low DHEA (adrenals) and thyroid hormone. When I started liothyronine my symptoms flared up again. It's very difficult to diagnose Lyme by symptoms since most of them are related to inflammation and overlap with other conditions, I'd recommend skipping the unreliable tests and starting a basic herbal protocol (knotweed, cat's claw, maybe andrographis) to see if you have a herx.