October of 2003 I was diagnosed with late stage Lyme Disease. Meds until April. That July my lupus symptoms started. Has anyone had Lyme Disease prior to Lupus? I had no health problems besides allergies before all this.
interesting conversation......my dental hygienist was discussing this with me yesterday, her 17 yo daughter is plagued with muscle, joint pain, fevers, fatigue for the past 15 months, they did many lyme tests came back negative until the doc did a western lab and it came back positive, so she has been on antibiotics. were you tested many times? at the beginning of my illness the doc did do a lyme titer but negative.
Yes I had Lyme disease my Freshman year of high school. Then I had Shingles my Junior year and then my Freshman year of college I was diagnosed with Lupus. I was diagnosed with Lupus, March of 2003. My doctors always say that Lymes and Lupus are not related but my Mom and I swear they are.
There is a school of thought that lupus patients only have a genetic predisposition for this disease and that an infection can then trigger the onset
We have a Lyme Support Network similar to this one. :)
Good answer Poobie.
I agree with Poobie.... there are people who are genetically predisposed to developing autoimmune diseases and both viral and bacterial infections can act as triggers. My father's side of the family is definitely predisposed: he had RA, two of his sisters died from lupus, now, because of Lyme disease and EBV, I have lupus plus 5 other autoimmune diseases.
I had mononucleosis as a teen (Epstein-Barr virus) and almost immediately afterwards developed Hashimoto's thyroiditis and psoriasis. Then I was bitten by a tick probably around 2003, caught Lyme disease, Bartonella, Babesiosis and Ehrlichiosis. By 2009 I had developed fibromyalgia, lupus, autoimmune hepatitis, and RA. I was also dx with celiac disease, but I've probably had that since childhood. :(
Anyway, in my case Lyme seems to have triggered several of my autoimmune diseases, including lupus.
I had lupus way before I had lyme disease. I went through SC to FL and actually found the tick embedded inmy thigh a few days later. In less than a month my heart and blood pressure was so bad I could barely move. I was hospitalized for a week and had a lot of test. My test for lyme disease came back undefinative but I let the doctors kmow what happened and was on treatment for a long time. Sadly I do believe this is what brought my lupus out of remission. I still wonder how bad it could have been but glad we caught it.