Lyme Disease Support Group

Is this related to Lyme??

Where are they present?

I have had a cyst on the top of my wrist for many years and it aches - comes and goes .......and is back now.

Is this in relation to Lyme??

This kind of cyst?

I did have a friend(who did not have Lyme and was otherwise healthy) who had the same thing that you described and was told he could have them removed with surgery if they impaired his dexterity but otherwise they were somewhat benign...

Either way, I think you should have a MD look at it when it's present...maybe keep a journal, if you don't already, and see if you can draw any conclussions about when or why they appear...

You could have a lipoma, which is a benign fatty cyst. They usually are fairly small, about a centimeter in diameter, but can grow to as big as 6 centimeters. They occur mainly in those of us in the 40-60 year range. It is extremely rare for them to grow in to a malignancy.

They are usually soft, you can move them around a bit, and mostly painless. They can be removed if they are painful, hinder your movement, or if they are cosmetically unappealing.

I have had one behind my right ear for about 10 years. Over the last two years, it has grown to about the size of a half-dollar, and hurts a lot. It is pushing on one of the branches of my vagus nerve and I believe is responsible for a good portion of my headache pain.

I am in the process of setting up surgery to have it removed. They have told me that the lipoma can appear in two different ways; either as a whole mass, or something that looks like a cluster of grapes. If it is a cluster, they have to make sure they get it all, or it can re-form. They told me this happens in about 5% of the cases.

I wrote to Dr. Alan MacDonald, the pathologist you see featured in Under Our Skin, and asked him if he thought the tissue could be studied as a possible harbor for Lyme bugs. He said no, that it is not a form of tissue that would be indicative of Bb infection.

Anyway, you can talk to your regular doc about it, and have it taken care of.

Oh, one form of treatment is a steroid injection. Us Lymies should avoid that.

Hope the info helps.

Tom

Although a person should always consult a dermatologist or doctor-----the type of cyst Tom spoke of is VERY common.

I only had one (pre-Lyme)and it grew slowly to about 1 cm--- it was at the pantie line and I had it taken out because of location.

How I 'dx' other people's cysts----- if it's movable (doesn't have 'feet' that anchor it to the body,) don't worry---- but still consult a doctor.

Lipomas are always benign.

Most cysts are benign. I'm not a doctor.

But I think Jenny was talking about how lyme takes a cyst form...

I think there has been a little buz around here about that

I seriously doubt if those types of cysts can be seen with the naked eye! And they probably aren't on the wrist.

So, I'll shut up until the OP makes it clear what she means.

Tom

The actual cyst is not so much soft and usually can only be seen when I flex my hand in the downward position. It is located at the top of the hand / bend of my wrist. Thanks to all of you for your time and responses!!

An in vitro study of the susceptibility of mobile and cystic forms of Borrelia burgdorferi to metronidazole.

Brorson O, Brorson SH.

Department of Microbiology, Vestfold Sentralsykehus, Tønsberg, Norway.

The aim of this study was to examine the susceptibility of mobile and cystic forms of Borrelia burgdorferi to metronidazole.

Because B. burgdorferi is a microaerobic bacterium like Helicobacter pylori, metronidazole (MZ) was chosen in the susceptibility test. For both microaerobic and aerobic incubation the normal mobile spirochetes were resistant to this antibiotic with an MBC > or = 512 microg/ml.

Conversion of mobile spirochetes to cystic forms was not observed when they were incubated with MZ. When they were incubated under microaerobic conditions, the biologically active cystic forms had an MBC > or = 4 microg/ml, but the MBC was > or = 32 microg/ml with aerobic incubation at 37 degrees C.

Staining with acridine orange (AO), dark field microscopy (DFM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that the contents of the cysts were degraded when the concentration of MZ was > or = MBC.

Some cysts were also ruptured. When incubated with a sufficient concentration of MZ, core structures did not develop inside the cysts, and AO revealed less RNA in the cysts.

Our observations may help efforts to treat resistant infections caused by B. burgdorferi with a combination of MZ and other antibiotics in order to eradicate both cystic and mobile forms of B. burgdorferi.

PMID: 10379684 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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* An in vitro study of the susceptibility of mobile and cystic forms of Borrelia burgdorferi to hydroxychloroquine. [Int Microbiol. 2002]

* An in vitro study of the susceptibility of mobile and cystic forms of Borrelia burgdorferi to tinidazole. [Int Microbiol. 2004]

* An in vitro study of the activity of telithromycin against mobile and cystic forms of Borrelia afzelii. [Infection. 2006]

* In vitro conversion of Borrelia burgdorferi to cystic forms in spinal fluid, and transformation to mobile spirochetes by incubation in BSK-H medium. [Infection. 1998]

* Susceptibility of motile and cystic forms of Borrelia burgdorferi to ranitidine bismuth citrate. [Int Microbiol. 2001]

* » See all Related Articles...

What this means:

The Brorson's thought that Flagyl inhibited or prohibited the formation of the cyst form of Bb or prevented the formation of cysts.

Bb is thought to 'react' to a hostile environment (presence of antibiotics) by forming cysts which then can't be 'attacked' abx.

These findings are done in vitro and possibly with mice, but not in humans.

These studies are still being debated, but are generally accepted.