Hi everyone, I was on this site often three years ago trying to find out how to deal with "menopause" symptoms. I want to bring to your attention the possibility of LYME DISEASE. I was shirked off by every doctor because I was going through menopause. I knew in my mind it could not "just" be meno. I was going crazy with anxiety, neck and shoulder pain, jaw pain, shaking, heart palps, headaches and head pressure (to name a few) and agreed to try HRT when periods suddenly stopped. However, after years of still feeling the same, I went from dr. to dr. and finally have been diagnosed with lyme disease. Please google or search lyme disease and make sure you are not dismissing all of your symptoms as menopause as they overlap with lyme !! I wish someone had mentioned it to me and I wouldn't be in the predictament I would be in now. Best of luck to you. Feel better!!

What tests were to done to determine your Lyme Disease. I had a blood test done 2 years ago by one of the most reputable diagnostic labs for Lyme, and it came back negative w/ no strands. I was so bad at that time, and a friend suggested that I might have Lyme Disease. I know it is hard to diagnose. I also know of a woman who lives by me that thought she had Lyme becasue she was so sick, but found it was just horrible meno and it took her 6 years to get through it and is doing great now. My thoughts and prayers are with you. I hope you feel better too:)

The standard lyme test has a 70% error rate!! My doctor uses both it and another test that has a 30% error rate. He looks at BOTH to get a best understanding of the likelihood of lyme. Many insurance companies won't pay for the 2nd lyme test ... does that surprise us? Best, Kathleen

Hi All,

I'm one of the other women here whose primary "menopause" symptoms turned out to be lyme. I had an incredibly frustrating and horrifying time going around in circles with my HMO docs who insisted there was nothing wrong with me except for meno related "anxiety". My present lyme specialist is very sympathetic. We've joked about there being only one thing worse than having lyme and that's having lyme at the same time you're in peri-hell anyway.

But it's really no joke, the terrible neurological symptoms I had (still have to a degree 4 months into treatment) were terrifying: shaking, numbness, double vision, loss of depth perception, balance problems, depersonalization/derealization, migraines, horrific back and neck pain and much more.

I would recommend that anyone who has really bad symptoms get tested for lyme. But keep in mind that lyme (for reasons too complicted to get into right now) is a very political illness and there are many doctors that don't believe it exists, don't properly test for it and refuse to properly treat it. The screening tests have something like a 70% false negative rate and even the CDC recommends that people be treated based on clinical symptoms not necessarily the blood tests.

But if you do suspect lyme, talk to your doctor about getting your blood tests done through IGeneX Laboratory in Palo Alto CA. You can go to their website and download the requisition forms. If your doctor refuses, go to another doctor or contact IGeneX for a referral to a lyme specialist in your state. Unfortunately there's a lot of controversy around IGeneX, but as far as I'm concerned they saved my life. My test through then was positive though others I had done were negative, and while I still have a long ways to go, I'm still SO much better than I was before I started taking meds to fight the nasty infections that got into my nervous system.

Hugs to all my PS sisters with lyme and otherwise. You've all been there so much for me, I hope I can be of comfort to all of you!

Best,

Cindy