Non-Hodgkin and Borrelia (Lyme's disease)

otto · New User Joined: 30 Sep 2005 Posts: 2 Location: belgium

Hello,

In june this year I was told to have a diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma stage 2, between lungs and heart, after some weeks of low fever and pain in the chest. After a lot of tests, (blood, echo's of the heart, CT/PET scan and a biopsie) I started chemotherapy (CHOP) + Mabthera. I have had my 5th chemo and now I have only 1 to go, because the latest PET scan showed no more signs of active tumor tissue. Good news so far.
But there seems to be another problem: There are antibodies for Borrelia in my blood, caused by the bite of a tick. The past 2 months I've had problems with my leg, I looked red, swollen, there was an infection in my knee, so I couldn't walk. Doctors said I just had to rest and it would heal, but only after 6 weeks, when the fever stayed and my whole leg was red, they gave me antibiotics.
I just found out that there are antibodies for borrelia in my blood since june, so with other words, they already knew I had borrelia for 4 months, but they never told me, untill now (because I asked for that test result).
Now I don't know if I have Lyme's disease or not. In fact, even before they told me I had cancer, I have had strong pains in the elbows (march-april).
I asked if my NHL could have been caused by that borrelia infection, but they say it has nothing to do with each other. But when I check this on the internet, I find a lot of sites that say infection with borrelia is a risk factor for non-hodgkin.
I don't know why they didn't tell me I was infected with borrelia.
Maybe I even didn't have cancer at all and I'm having chemo for nothing?
Borrelia can cause swollen lymphe glands too...
Someone else with borrelia - NHL experiences?
_________________
to have peace on earth, we must first have peace with the earth

bwkg · New User Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 1

I was diagnosed with Lymes 6 years ago, and last year I was diagnosed with Mycosis Fungoides.

wjsmith82 · Regular Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 13

"Maybe I even didn't have cancer at all and I'm having chemo for nothing?"

Hi Otto,

To be given a specific diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell NHL, your doctors must of had compelling evidence. Pressumeably from the biopsy. In fact this biopsy was probably used to determine if you would be a candidate for Mabthera (CD20+ antigen).

Regarding the correlation between NHL and the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, some infections can cause long-term inflammation and over-load a person?s immune system. Any of these pathways could lead to a finite risk of cancer, but necassarily in themselves, a cause.

On a personal note, I hope your 6th round of chemo is uneventful and leads to you being cured.

Regards,

Bill

beesb · New User Joined: 07 Nov 2005 Posts: 7

Hi,
I am a healthy 18 year old student who doesnt get alot of sleep due to the college atmosphere and i am worried at times that i have some type of cancer because of swollen lymph glands in my neck, behind my ears, collar bone, and groin. All of which are not relatively huge, and are all movable. I went to the doctor several times and had many blood tests done. The first time i went i had a test i tested positive for mononucleosis. After time went by (4 months) the same lymph nodes havent gone away but some have gotten smaller. I went back for a sum up of the lymph nodes, and she said i could just reassure my worries by going to get more blood work done. They checked both my liver enzymes and gave me a CBC. Everything came back positive and the doctor assures me everything is normal and I am healthy. I sometimes think i am overly worrying about my situation, and I dont know if i should wait or do any more tests. Please help me out if you have any suggestions! God Bless!

jgf0013 · New User Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 3

Hey Ott.

I was diagnosed with Lyme disease back in July and was put on Tetracycline for only 10 days. The doctor nor I could find any rash where I could've been bitten, but my blood tested positive for Lyme. I felt great after only 3 days, but continued to take the presription as suggested. In late December and through January I had a cold. It wasn't too bad I thought, It was just the first time I had a cold in nearly five years that I was guessing on. One day while singing in the car, my head felt numb. Almost like a tight-sinus-disconnected feeling. It freaked me out, but I carried on. On January 31st, I went through a physical in order to get into the academy for a correctional facility. I received an alarming call nearly a week later stating that my chest x-ray showed a slight bilateral hilar fullness and a mild paratracheal fullness suspicious for adenopathy. The diagnose was possibly sarcoidosis. A CT scan (contrast) of the chest was prescribed. This actually made me start to have some of the symptoms (psycological I assume). On february 17th I went in for my ct-scan.

Today I was informed that I possibly have lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes) in my lungs. The more I read how Lyme disease is mistaken for many other diseases including cancer, the more comforted I feel. I will be taking my ct-scan results to a Cancer Center near me for further evaluation. I am sure that a biopsy will be required. The only symptoms I feel are (tight chest with deep breath, slight head aches, eye abnormalties and stress). I guess I will find out soon if I was misdiagnosed. I sleep great at night, I am not losing weight, not coughing too much, not coughing up blood, and always hungry. This diagnose does not sound right to me. I can't even imagine it being Sarcoidosis. I have recently changed my eating habits to improve my once strong immune system. Wish me luck as I wish you a great recovery...Sincerely, Jeff F. Edison, NJ

jgf0013 · New User Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 3

Great news.

A Cancer specialist doubts that it is Lymphoma. Two pulmary specialists doubt that it is Lymphoma. All blood tests came back normal. They doubt that it is Sarcoidosis. No biopsy needed for now. I will be getting another CT scan done in a few months. They imagine that it is an infection caused by the Lymes. Thank God for natural healing!!! I think that I had something worse, but my body is fighting it off as I am feeling a lot better.

sara · New User Joined: 19 May 2006 Posts: 4

hi otto , hi jpf...your story sounds very familiar, specially yours jpf, i went ti something very similiar to you...in july 2005 i was in brazil the day i was leaviong, i develop a rash on my right arm, within hiours star growing and growing , like tha size an shape of a fry egg.. very hot, itchi, then painfull, back on my country, nobody could tell what was it.. they i develope lioke 6 mopre, really painfull, got bipsy and the only answer i got was inflamation... started lots of medicines, abx, parasite pills,, etcafter 6 weeks those rashes clear, one night i had chest pain, my only symptoms before was rapid hearbeats and anxiety,, i went to ER i had fever, not high, did a cat scan on my chest and found liquid and a limph node. so a week later i had a thoracotomy, a lujg biopsy, and it showed infections, either parasite or bacteria.. i week later i started to feel bad... really tired, dizzy, leg pains, joint, muscle, tendons pain... and started to have low grade fevers for month..pain on my neack, headaches, sinus pain, brain god, anxiety, pannick attacks...went to 30 doctors, they said was in my head, i also have some enlarged lymph nodes... soo i started a disease search on line since i knew it wasnt on my head... so found many disease that matched my symtomj, so did tons of tests, spent thousend of dollars in that... cat scan from head to toes, mri, tons of bnlood work... finally lyme disease , i sent my blood to igenex, the mosst reputable lab , i sent my blood by mail, and was positive. actually was indeterminate, but was consider positive because some important and specifi bands showed positive, so the doctor consider that a positive..lyme also comes with co infections. there are 4, got tested for them, and showed negative, but the thing is that none of them are 100 percent acurate, so the only way to diagnose that is going to a lyme specialist, i live in south america and went to ny to see a llmd, a lyme specialist... and i started treatment,, its been 3 months that i am in doxy and have improve a lot of symtoms... so i am really surprise thata doctor gave you just doxy for 10 days!!! having a lyme test positive!! if it showed positive, you defenutely have it! and if is recent, within a month, 6 weeks of doxy, 300 mg a day will cure you, but if you have it more than that, you need treatment much longer than that!! ususally 5 months to 6 years! it goes by the symtoms, Lyme disase is a very degenerative disease, makes you really sick very slow...thats why you need to see a specialist as soon as posible so you can avoid all the pain a suffering from lyme! is so easy to be cure at the beginning, with the right dosis of abx...most of the peolple get very sick because most of normal doctors dont know how to treat it and dont like treating it since is a long time of abx and they are scared to get sued..there are very reputable llume literate doctors in the us, peolpe from all over the word flight there to see them...they are the only ones that can cure you, the thing is that it takes a while to get an appoinment since there are not many,the one i went was in ny, and took me a week to see him, but the rest can be many months, but is something you should consider right away..my lymph node on my chest was an infecction... and because the 30 doctors i saw wasnt literate in lyme, became cronic but you are on time to recover much much faster than me... i the other han , besides lyme, i have suspicios on lymphoma, because of the low temperatures for 9 month.. but in the lat 2 weeks have decreasethe doctor ask me to have a galium test and i am pretty scare of having more chemicals on my body... and a have some enlarged lymh nodes that showed on the cat scan, 2 of 12 mm, 4 month ago some other were biggers, and have decreased.. so i guess i migh wait a 2 more weeks to have the test snce my temperature is kind of going back to normal.. maybe was from lyme..who know... but please, go to a llmd as soon as possible, lyme is something you want and need to care as soon as posible... good luck!!!! a keep me posted

jgf0013 · New User Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 3

I just got results back from my doctor on a pulmonary fuction test and blood work. I was diagnosed with copd (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and my blood work showed positive for lyme. I've been finding it hard to breathe lately and can't wait to rid of the lyme disease. I feel sick. The lyme must be effecting my breathing. I feel dizzy and have some vertigo. I always feel like I am intoxicated. I can't believe that i am this vulnerable to a little insect. I used to be a hard-core gym rat. I haven't work out in over a year because of this. I am too dizzy and out of breath. The doctor is out of town so I have to wait for him to get back. I hope that you are feeling well.

Yours Truly,
Jeff

TheNaturalWayofFarming · New User Joined: 24 Jun 2009 Posts: 1

I have a similar story, I dont know if i can give an accurate timeline but in any case it started with lyme. I had the rash, I developed Bell's Palsy, and i had/have the strange moving joint pains, So my doctor put me on that same antibiotic for ten days and i felt better than i had for sure, somewhere along the line they sent me to a "specialist" that told me that i either did not have lyme's disease or that it was treated at a very early stage so I wouldnt have chronic problems, I had tested negative. But from what i understand there are a lot of causes for false positives and I KNOW I have lyme's disease, and It was a late stage, I mean the bell's palsy is a dead give away with all other symptoms, I had the target rash and everything, just not when i got sent to the specialist. So they push that aside, maybe 6 months later I develop a swollen lymph node in my neck on the left sde, so i figure im getting sick, go to the doctor, take antibiotics-amoxycillin for about a week or so and it seems like my lymph node gets smaller, So i think hey it must be an infection i can fight it off Ill be fine. Well i lost my health insurance for the most ridiculous reason you can think of and my lymph node never goes down aside from that initial decrease and it stays that way for months and im scared to get it checked out because i dont have insurance and im trying to get it so that i dont get sacked with a pre-existing condition. But then i started to notice other bumps up closer to my ear so i naturally get real worried until i cant take it and i have to check it out. I went through a needle biopsy, not enough tissue, then an incisional biopsy and they diagnose me with Hodgkins. Ive had one chemo as of now and the swelling has gone down dramatically already, But i still feel that same strange shooting pains through my legs that i did when i had lymes. I have no idea how theyre connected but they are, I mean perhaps my immune system was just so bettered that my cancer cells became active, but what if its something else? And now that im on so many meds and chemo how can i ever persuade a doctor that im having Lyme's symptoms. Lymes is a very strange disease and I dont think there is much clarity about it. So, Thats my story in progress, I felt it was important to post it

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