Have you seen Lyme Disease resemble ALS? - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) Message Board

nightshade · 05-25-2003, 09:53 AM

Our son was diagnosed three years ago with ALS. At our request blood tests were submitted to two labratories specializing in lyme disease and it was confirmed he had been exposed to the lyme spirochete.
He was seen by a Dr. specializing in lyme disease and began the antibiotic treatment.No major change was noticed nor any real lyme disease symptoms.
After treatment at an alternative therapy clinic he showed improvement. However,it was exceedingly expensive and he was unable to return for follow-up treatment and has continued to decline for the last 9 months.
Has anyone ever seen lyme disease look like ALS? Desperately seeking a "cure" for this awful disease!!!!

slaughter17 · 06-05-2003, 05:36 PM

Yes I have also noticed. Lyme disease and ALS have very similar symptoms. My father was diagnosed almost 2 years ago with ALS. It took almost that much time to just diagnose him. We made the doctors check for Lyme disease before they finally diagnosed him with ALS. We would have been happier with Lyme disease. At least it's treatable. I did extensive research on both ALS and Lyme disease, just because they are so much a like. I keep hoping that the diagnoses is wrong. But I know deep in my heart that they are right. He does in fact have ALS. When they tested him for Lyme it came back negative. I even requested a second test just to make sure. ALS is a terrible disease and I hope that your son does not have it. I pray for you and your family. Good luck...

harley · 07-17-2003, 01:23 AM

Hi nightshade,
I have Lyme Disease.
Lyme Disease mimics alot of different diseases.
ALS being one of them.
The blood test for Lyme Disease is not very reliable you have to get tested by Igenex.
I found a tick on my stomach but it was really small about 3 days later I came down with flu like symptoms that was 2 years ago.
I now have terrible joint pain,numbness and tingling,fatique and I now have to use a wheelchair all my symptoms are left sided from my neck to my toes.
I see a LLMD (Lyme Literate MD) in Missouri he has patients that were told they had ALS and turned out to be Lyme Disease.
It might be worth checking in too.
I was healthy all my life and Lyme Disease has destroyed it.

TxGirl1 · 07-18-2003, 09:29 AM

We thought my dad had Lyme Disease after his diagnosis of ALS in December 2002. Unfortunately, he does have ALS. He is seeing an ALS Specialist in Houston.
A spinal tap can rule out Lyme.

My dad had the typical ELISA and Western Blot tests done for Lyme and both came back negative. However, these test are very unreliable if you have had Lyme for many years. This is a good website to go to: [url="http://www.*******.org"]www.*******.org[/url]

TxGirl1

nightshade · 07-18-2003, 07:15 PM

Thank-you for your responses to my question. I've been very busy with "summer" stuff and not very communicative.
Our son continues to deteriorate little by little. By some miracle, they will be welcoming a new baby within a month which gives him something to look forward to. He is totally fed-up with testing to possibly find some other cause of his symptoms. His Dad keeps suggesting "try this" or "try that" and is just not able to accept the ALS diagnosis, even though it is very apparent. I have seen no Lyme symptoms like achy joints,etc.
I will check back again and thanks so much for your concern.