Lyme Disease Support Group

I have gained about 35 lbs in the last few years, prior to being diagnosed with Lyme.

Most of this weight is in my abdomen, hips, lower back. I look as though I am 9 months pregnant. However it is all inflammation,and very uncomfortable.

I was told this is due to the Lyme & will not go away until the lyme does.

I am having a hard time believing that this is all due to the lyme, and before I start yet another search for something that is wrong with me I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this.

Im not quite the same situation... but I was dieting down for a bodybuilding show in March, had abs showing... two months later I could have passed for midterm pregnant. I gained weight so fast and it went mostly all to my stomach, lower back. Which is NOT where I would normally gain weight... normally I keep a flat stomach and add layers to my butt and thighs. Not so much this time.

While ALL the fat may not be lyme... the fact that your stomach is distended (shaped like a prego belly) is amost certainly due to Lyme... possibly bartonella. The bacterias have alot to do with the muscles in the abdomen... some days I feel like I cant tighten my abdominal muscles and I look like a pregnant woman all day. Some days its not so bad.

(edited to add, I have Borrelia, Bartonella and Babesia; though Bartonella seems most symptomatic right now)

Post edited by: equestrian06, at: 08/12/2011 12:46 AM

Yep, some days I am distended and other days I seem normal again. I've got Lyme and Bart...didn't realize there could be a connection with abdominal distension...

Yes, I have this symptom, too. Some days the abdominal distension is worse than others, but it's been a very long time since it was completely gone. At times it's very uncomfortable. I have Lyme and likely Bart as well.

Thanks for the replies, ok so it must be the Lyme & I shouldn't go searching for something else!

I know you all said you have Bart as well, I tested negative for that however my LLMD has told me he believes I have it based on symptoms.

Equestrian, my weight gain sounds like yours, mine too was that fast. Has there been anything that you have found that has helped?

I haven't read anything about the previously, and I can't believe my eyes! I have always had a very flat belly until the last few years. I've attributed it to getting closer to 40. Also, does anyone else look bloated and fluffy all over? Any suggestions?

Thank you for posting, it's amazing how you can always come up with an excuse for Lyme and co symptoms, isn't it?

Yes, yes, yes. Count me in. I am short-waisted so it's really noticeable. There is nothing good about this nasty stuff.

Inflammation in general is due to most bacterial toxins... I've been bloated and puffy since May (when all this crap became obviously active).

I tested negative for all co-infections but I for sure have Bartonella and Babesia (and a positive Lyme W.B.), symptom-wise. Ive been reading that mainstream tests for those are possibly less accurate than the Borrelia western blot)

Things Ive noticed that help:

-keeping a low glycemic diet

-Water

-Detoxing

-Working out

If you can get into a routine where you workout minimum every other day, it helped me alot. I was almost looking normal (albeit heavier, of course.. some of that weight wont go away over night). Weight lifting is really good for this... all kinds of endorphin release, sweating removes alot of toxins. And youre staying active - that's a general good feeling.

I will say its easiest to start something like this:

workout

rest

rest

rest

workout

rest

rest

workout

rest

workout

and then continue from there... if you cant do every other day that soon, go as soon as you feel good enough. Dont put it off if you can help it, its SO helpful all around.

Post edited by: equestrian06, at: 08/12/2011 08:13 AM

Great info about the co-infections and abdominal weight gain. I have this too. Will remember to ask my LLMD about it.

I too have gained 35 lbs in the last few years, prior to being diagnosed with Lyme and BART.

And, like you, most of this weight is in my abdomen, and middle.

I am very long waisted, and even though I gained the 35lbs (in one year) I thought it was due to the complete hysterectomy I was told I HAD TO HAVE.

I have had four vaginal births, and was in my jeans two weeks after each one of them. I NEVER had a belly, so this was extremely new for me.

Since 2003, I have episodes where my abdominal pain and bloating get so severe I look as though I am 9 months pregnant.

And just like being 9 months pg, it makes it hard to breathe because it pushes up on my lungs...just like a baby tends to do in the last weeks before birth.

My llmd says it all inflammation, and he thought (at first) it could be due to the food allergies (we had just discovered in his first round of tests).

So I stuck to a very restrictive diet to test this theory:

NO anti inflammatory foods (you will be surprised what these are)

NO yeast feeding foods, which means ALL fruit, SUGARS OF ANY KIND.

NO SALT, NO SODIUM.

No yeast foods or yeast products.

NO diary, NO eggs. (My allergy foods)

in addition to my other foods on the 'no' list...after one month, the inflammation markers had barely improved.

so he knew it was the lyme.

In addition he put me on NYSTATIN to kill the overgrowth of yeast. Everything I have read says it is not enought to 'watch' your intake when you have an overgrowth of yeast, but to kill what's already there.

My stomach can still blow up like I am 9 months pg,even on an empty stomach. In fact that happens 50%of the time.

HOWEVER, the only thing that has brought relief is taking the right PROBIOTIC TWICE DAILY.

I've taken them before, but was never taking enough.

Your GUT is obviously out of whack. (you didn't need me to tell you that).

And PROBIOTICS (enough of them) could possibly give you the instant relief (of pain, not bloating) it gave me.

Now if I have an episode, it is because I missed a dose of PROBIOTIC. I don't cheat on my diet. it's not worth the pain. not even tempted.

The weight has come down since, for the first time ever, but I think it is truly because i can't get enough calories in (even tho I am almost totally sedentary).

but the 'girth' remains.

The llmd said 'no matter what you do, you will not lose weight now...don't even think about it.'

What he meant was, there are too many systems at work here fighting for survival.

Let the LLMD meds and your treatment take its course and I believe that we will both see this issue as long lost item in our ridiculous list of the symptoms we used to have.

Keep me posted.

I want to know how you are doing.

Do you suffer with chronic fatigue immune deficiency as I do?

If so, leaky gut is part of that as well.

I hven't made the conx between my cfids and my lyme...

which came first?

is the cfids part of the lyme?

I just don't know...

but my llmd is treating the lyme first.

best to you my friend.

you will get throught this.

Post edited by: MrsGreen, at: 08/12/2011 09:35 AM

Post edited by: MrsGreen, at: 08/12/2011 09:41 AM

Post edited by: MrsGreen, at: 08/12/2011 09:45 AM