be aware that Lyme Disease may mimic MS symptoms! be aware that Lyme Disease may mimic MS symptoms!
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Posted by
J.M. Adams on November 21, 2000 at 19:05:20:
A few weeks ago I began to get many of the classic symptoms of MS; tingling hands and toes, muscle twitches, muscle spasms, shaking of the hands, blurred vision and dizziness, stiff joints, and temporary paralysis of fingers on both hands,
in the complete absence of fever or a rash.
Visiting this and other message boards, I saw that many people had written in describing such symptoms and were being told 'yes, you almost certainly have ms'. Indeed, as I was in Italy at that time
(where Lyme Disease does not occur) I was told that very probably had ms, because I did not have the fever or rashes supposed to be associated with Lyme Disease. Neverthless, I insisted that my doctor give me antibiotics
because the symptoms did seem to resemble some internet pages I had seen on Lyme Disease. Within 24 hours of starting the antiobiotics, the symptoms all disappeared. Incidentally, it was only then that the characteristic red rings around the joints appeared. A couple of days later
the characteristic bullseye rash of Lyme Disease also appeared on my hip; though it was tiny (about dime size). When I returned to America and switched to another more effective antibiotic against Lyme (doxycycline), during the switchover period the previous neurological symptoms began returning for about a day.
I have been taking the antibiotic for 3 weeks now and remained free of symptoms and regained full use of my partially paralysed fingers. I had a blood test but (as with many other people who have had Lyme Disease, including several neighbours) it did not test positive. Neverthless; it is obviously Lyme Disease and not ms.
Evidently, there is a risk that a person who has Lyme Disease can be misdiagnosed as having MS. Lyme Disease is a very strange disease that can present itself in many different ways. I did not recall ever having been bitten by a tick, but the ticks that transmit it are tiny, they bite painlessly and so they are easy to miss.
For those of you who have MS, I sympathise; I know something of what you are going through, and for the two weeks or so before I got antibiotics I myself was 95% sure that I had MS, possibly the worst most rapidly developing 'progressive' form.
But if you getting symptoms and have not had an MRI, please bear in mind the distinct possibility you may have Lyme Disease (at least if you live in Northern Europe or the USA)
