Lyme Disease and Pregnancy
I feel like I have been run over by a steam roller, and No, I am NOT being dramatic. Ya see, I got Lyme Disease a year or so ago. I didn't even know I was bit by a tick (oh... how I love ^%$# New Jersey). I just started sleeping and woke up about four months later. I went to the doctors and asked for B-12 shots. Fortunately, the doctor also asked for blood work, where we found out that I had Lyme in my blood....Lyme Disease.
The thing about Lyme Disease is that most people don't know they have it, because MOST don't get the pretty red circle around the bite. The bite you don't feel. The bite, by the tick, you can't see. The bite that will rock your world.
So after 30 days of antibiotics I was able to lift my head off the couch. When I say tired, I don't mean the normal, "I am going to bed honey, I'm tired." I am talking about napping for three hours, then not able to exit the car tired and then going to bed at 7:30 p.m. tired....I am TALKING EXHAUSTION PEOPLE!
So, nobody told me that having Lyme Disease could have an effect on pregnancy, the fetus, the baby, the breast milk...nothing?! Oh how I love how our medical community treats women and women's issues!
So it seems that my Lyme Disease symptoms have returned. So I Googled: Lyme Disease and Pregnancy..BAD IDEA!
I will just say that I am not sure that HAVING Lyme Disease in your body and CONTRACTING Lyme Disease when you are pregnant is the same thing? Thing is, although I took the antibiotics for 30 days, I can still have the Lyme symptoms, so does that mean I still have Lyme Disease? Kill me....
I now I get to wait to find out if this Lyme will affect the baby. I need to wait to talk to a doctor to find out if this Lyme will pass through the placenta and if I can breastfeed, oh yes, Lyme can pass through breast milk...yeah, nobody so much told me ANY OF THIS!!
I read that some women have to take antibiotics their entire pregnancy? I have read that some pregnant women had to take INTRAVENOUS antibiotics for three months during their pregnancy and I have read that Lyme Disease is like HIV and if you don't treat the mom during the pregnancy, the baby will be born with Lyme and die after birth...Oh, I love the Internet.
So this is where I am at. Every muscle aches, my joints ache and my neck is stiff. My eyes don't want to open and I now have information that I can't even process over a bottle of Pinot Noir. Fortunately I have made a remedy for myself for Lyme, which is helping with all of the symptoms, but what I really would have LOVED was the OB/GYN having a Lyme Disease box to check on my intake sheet. Ya know, before number of pregnancies, but after my insurance info?
I hope I am just a victim of Google at this point. I hope I will be just fine and that all of this is just a big misunderstanding. I hope that I will be able to breastfeed this baby with no problems...but if I can't, I guess that is why God made bottles...and blogs, because boyyyyy do I hate bottles.
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The thing about Lyme Disease is that most people don't know they have it, because MOST don't get the pretty red circle around the bite. The bite you don't feel. The bite, by the tick, you can't see. The bite that will rock your world.
So after 30 days of antibiotics I was able to lift my head off the couch. When I say tired, I don't mean the normal, "I am going to bed honey, I'm tired." I am talking about napping for three hours, then not able to exit the car tired and then going to bed at 7:30 p.m. tired....I am TALKING EXHAUSTION PEOPLE!
So, nobody told me that having Lyme Disease could have an effect on pregnancy, the fetus, the baby, the breast milk...nothing?! Oh how I love how our medical community treats women and women's issues!
So it seems that my Lyme Disease symptoms have returned. So I Googled: Lyme Disease and Pregnancy..BAD IDEA!
I will just say that I am not sure that HAVING Lyme Disease in your body and CONTRACTING Lyme Disease when you are pregnant is the same thing? Thing is, although I took the antibiotics for 30 days, I can still have the Lyme symptoms, so does that mean I still have Lyme Disease? Kill me....
I now I get to wait to find out if this Lyme will affect the baby. I need to wait to talk to a doctor to find out if this Lyme will pass through the placenta and if I can breastfeed, oh yes, Lyme can pass through breast milk...yeah, nobody so much told me ANY OF THIS!!
I read that some women have to take antibiotics their entire pregnancy? I have read that some pregnant women had to take INTRAVENOUS antibiotics for three months during their pregnancy and I have read that Lyme Disease is like HIV and if you don't treat the mom during the pregnancy, the baby will be born with Lyme and die after birth...Oh, I love the Internet.
So this is where I am at. Every muscle aches, my joints ache and my neck is stiff. My eyes don't want to open and I now have information that I can't even process over a bottle of Pinot Noir. Fortunately I have made a remedy for myself for Lyme, which is helping with all of the symptoms, but what I really would have LOVED was the OB/GYN having a Lyme Disease box to check on my intake sheet. Ya know, before number of pregnancies, but after my insurance info?
I hope I am just a victim of Google at this point. I hope I will be just fine and that all of this is just a big misunderstanding. I hope that I will be able to breastfeed this baby with no problems...but if I can't, I guess that is why God made bottles...and blogs, because boyyyyy do I hate bottles.
Like what you read today? Post it to your Facebook page so everyone can read it! Click below to share!
Superb blog post, I have book marked this internet site so ideally I’ll see much more on this subject in the foreseeable future!
ReplyDeleteThe thing with the bacteria that causes Lyme disease is it has active and inactive forms, unlike HIV. Only the active form can be killed by antibiotics. Fortunately, from what I have read, the inactive form is not passed to the baby.
ReplyDeleteRegarding transmission rates I found this "Lyme spirochetes have been found in semen and breast milk, and transmission, although rare, has been known to take place through sexual contact. Transmission across the placenta during pregnancy has not been demonstrated, and no consistent pattern of teratogenicity or specific "congenital Lyme borreliosis" has been identified. As with a number of other spirochetal diseases, adverse pregnancy outcomes are possible with untreated infection; prompt treatment with antibiotics reduces or eliminates this risk. Pregnant Lyme-disease patients cannot be treated with the first-choice antibiotic, doxycycline, as it is potentially harmful for the fetus. Instead, erythromycin is usually given; it is less effective against the disease but harmless for the fetus".
Also if you're still having symptoms after antibiotics treatment, you have post-Lyme disease syndrome.
Hope this info helps you.
Thanks Renae!
ReplyDeleteI have been doing much better. It is just so scarry. They tell you this and that at the Drs and forget to tell you about Lyme. But, I guess they can't address everything. When I did call my OB they told me to call my family doctor. Whatever, I am feeling good and I had already gone through the 30 days of antibiotics months ago, so yes, it is probably post-lyme symptoms.