Chronic Lyme Disease
Patient's Symptoms
CONTINUED- Part 3
HERXING
What meds are you taking?
How long before herx?
Worse than last herx?
Fever or chills?
Depression, wimpy, whiny?
Sleep more or rest more?
More pain and where?
Problems that were the worst?
How long did it last?
Did anything help it?
Any functioning during herx or bed/home bound?
Did you stop medications at all or back off?
Allergic reaction to any meds?
BLADDER
Bladder hesitancy
Bladder frequency
Loss of bladder awareness
Urinary retention
Incontinence, dribble
Symptoms of UTI
Blood in urine- visible- or by test
Dark colored urine- like cola
Dark colored urine- like strawberry soda
Urine foamy- like soapy
Strong smell of ammonia in urine
Strong smell of urine
MENSES
PMS symptoms exaggerated- ver much so.
Early menopause symptoms that lasted for years.
Spotting
Irregular time, early or late
Irregular amount of flow- flooding
Cramping/pain
Disturbed estrogen and/or progesterone levels
Loss of sex drive
Bloating
Moodiness, wimpy, whiny
Missed periods
Flooding 10 days to 14 days
Flooding month round- non-stop for months to years
Very high estrogen levels, very low progesterone.
STOMACH, INTESTINES
Pain in stomach or intestines
Abdominal bloating
Abdominal pain and cramping. like perhaps ulcer pain
Nausea, gagging
Vomiting
Spastic and painful colon and muscles inside colon painful
Colon spasms- pain strong enough to wake me up from sleep
Stomach acid reflux- burning
Indigestion and burning not caused by food
Loss of day time appetite
Every few weeks vomiting spells with headaches for a week or more
Eating barely anything for days- then like a light bulb went off- I feel starved and eat anything and everything around me
EYES
Photosensitivity to certain kinds of light, such as:
A. Flickering light by fluorescent lights- causing seizures, panic attacks, misery, violent behavior, craziness, crying, or other inappropriate responses
B. TV or computer screens sensitivity to where I can’t watch or use them
C. Headlights of oncoming cars or shining reflective lights hurt eyes and confuse me
D. Halo’s around lights, especially headlights, and reflective street signs
E. Moon- see double or triple moons
Swelling around eyes and eye lids
Eyes water for no reason and light makes them water more and hurt
Blurry vision
Double vision
Floaters- triangle shaped or rectangled shapes- dark box with dots inside on clear background- white, silver or black colors
Yellowish, greenish, or white discharge from eyes
Eye pain
Eyes aching
Eyes itchy
Eyes burning
Foggy covering over eyes
Can’t focus far to near or back again- sometimes all day long
Like looking through a white film over everything I see
Left eye can’t turn to the left
Dark circles (sometimes purple) under eyes and swelling or puffy
Black eyes
Purple/black eyes with yellow skin on the inside corners
Black eyes with blister-like bumps at edges
Transient blindness or blind spots in center of vision
Sensations that the light is fading out or getting dull
Argyll-Robertson pupil- left side
Unequal pupils
Pupils don’t close together at the same time
Sunlight hurting eyes to the point of pain, tears, dizziness, and nausea
HEART
Blood pressure too high or low (max and min- 240/140 high to 40/nothing)
Irregular heart beat or skipping beats
Fast pulse, weak, thready
Thudding or thumping heart beats here and there, especially laying down at night
Squeezing chest pain or like someone is standing on my ribs feeling
Like bra is too tight feeling
Skipping beats or dancing
Heart beats hard and thuds with light activity
Fluttering fast heart while laying down at night or while trying to get up in the morning- like heart is trembling
Must move by holding onto things and only from chair to chair and heart is acting up
SINUS
Food allergies from leaky gut- different ones- any better/worse
Sinusitis and clogged up
Postnasal drip- constant
Allergic or chemical hypersensitivity's problems
Soaps, gas, fumes, pine trees, perfumes, new car interior, new clothes smell, candles, etc make me feel very sick
Overly dry sinuses
Very thick and sticky phlegm (clear).
HAIR AND FINGERNAILS
Hair loss in circle patches or general thinning
Hair growing faster than normal
Fingernails break easily and lose strength
Fingernails growing fast and strong
Body hair growing faster or slower
TMJ
Ice pick type pain in one ear or the other
Jaw pain like a severe tooth ache
Clenching teeth day or night or both
Jaw popping out of joint
Jaw overlapping at joint
Jaw pain R or L
Tooth pain- upper- lower- right- left
Lip numbness or tingling or half of lip numb
Tongue- loss of strength or movement- paralyzed on one side
Difficulty swallowing or chewing food or liquids- choking often
Gums swelling and fluid filled pouches along bones and gums
Ear and face pain from jaws hurting
Continual accidental biting of tongue (ver hard) when talking or trying to chew
Jaw bones pop out of joint and that hurts
BONES
Water on the knees, swelling, or knee pain
Bone pain anywhere (especially very tender shins, arm bones, leg bones)
Gout-like pain in toe- sharp stabbing pain
Dislocating shoulders without reason other than from muscle spasms
Pain in hip bones (pelvis bones and edges) and tender to touch
Sharp pain in tailbone when trying to sit
Feels like one hip is fused with the other.. not two separate ones
Swelling over the bones in elbows
Arthritis pain in joints
Fluid filled lump at the base of my tailbone- size of a golf ball- eventually breaks open and drains internally.
Very painful shin splints- not just in front, but sometimes on outsides of calves, inside calves or in the back of lower legs. Too painful to walk for weeks at a time. Repeated episodes.
LYMPH NODES AND GLANDS
Swollen glands in neck or behind or below ears
Swollen lymph nodes and extremely tender along breast bone
Swollen nodes in groin area
Swelling nodes in groin and infected/draining
Swollen nodes in arm pits
Other swollen lymph nodes/glands
Swollen, puffy, painful spleen. (Yes, I CAN tell Dr. Dummy- had it before several times)
Kidney pain on either side
LUNGS AND CHEST
Light cough
Pressure in upper chest, below the center of the neck. In upper sternum and across, from shoulder to shoulder.
Noticing VERY shallow breaths, like I am hibernating
Difficulty breathing. Shortness of breath feeling, like not getting enough air when I breath.
Feeling like diaphragm is not wanting to move on its own
Hyperventilating spells if sitting or standing upright that are severe enough to seek medical assistance
Shortness of breath- panting
Rib soreness and pain or muscle spasms
Burning pain between ribs. VERY painful making entire rib cage hurt badly.
Feeling as if I have to remind myself to breathe. Many episodes of it. Very scary.
Ribs twisted out of place from muscle spasms or inflammation and they become very painful. Like a stabbing pain.
Rib muscles spasm and shift ribs out of place so they overlap each other. They also twist out of place along the sternum causing sharp pain when ribs meet sternum.
EARS AND HEARING
ALL noise startling and annoying to the point of maddening
When phone rings I jump, badly startled
Ringing in ears
Buzzing in one or both ears
Pain in and behind right ear. If I lightly pull on the outside of my ear- something breaks loose and drains inside my head. Like ice pick pain accompanies it- shooting and stabbing. Extremely bad pain.
Off balance- walking sideways when trying to go straight and legs crossing over each other instead of moving forward
Can’t watch TV or understand it or I don’t have the attention span to follow it
Strain to see TV and it hurts eyes and/or ears
Furnace running and refrigerator humming noise sounds very loud and makes me lose focus and be unable to think right
Can tell music is on, hear it, but don’t “absorb” it. Sounds like annoying noise sometimes.
Can’t listen to the pitches in women’s voices sometimes without wanting to scream
Voices sound faint or distant or muffled
Can’t pick up voices if there is any background noise
Hypersensitivity to sounds
Noises are loud and echoing
Loss of hearing and must have things turned way up to hear them.
Use of phone causes ears to turn red and burn badly
If wind blowing across ear (like window down driving in car) it makes me very ill.
Part 1- https://sites.google.com/view/symptoms-of-lyme/chronic-lyme-symptoms-example?authuser=0
Last Updated- April 2019
Lucy Barnes