Lyme Disease Support Group

I have Lyme, babesia, and ehrlichia. I have occassional shortness of breath and slight chest pain in the heart area. Does anyone know WHY Lyme and babesia cause these symptoms? I'm starting to freak out because I read that these are also symptoms of heart failure and that Lyme and babs can cause this. Is the shortness of breath and chest pain because Lyme and babs has given me heart failure or is because of something else? Please help, I'm freaked!

Mammabear

Hello Mammabear, Happy Mother's day! I have heart failure and I'm 100% sure it's from lyme. The reason I put it that way is I have'nt been formally diagnosed yet. I'm currently going to a Dr. that does'nt know much about lyme and I'm having to beg for the Igenex testing. I was diagnosed with dialated cardiomyopthy about a year ago. At first they thought it could have been caused from a virus, but that did'nt explain all my other sx. Read my story under "introduction" You should see a cardiologist ASAP to rule it out. Any other ?'s you can pm me. Also please decribe your chest pain. I have sharp pain but my Dr. told me it's just a muscle tightness in my chest. If you feel like an elephant is sitting on Your chest and extreme SOB, call 911. Take care,Denise

Hi Denise,

Thanks for your reply. I'm sorry you are having health issues. I hope you get a diagnosis quickly so that you can be treated and get better. You asked for me to describe my pain to you. It's hard to describe, I guess. It comes and goes. I don't have it every day. Sometimes I go several days or weeks without any chest pain at all. I don't think I'd describe it as a sharp pain. It's really kine of a slight, quick discomfort and then it's gone as quickly as it came. I think I'd call it more of an ache than a sharp pain, if that makes any sense. Also, the shortness of breath confuses me. I actually haven't had any shortness of breath since I started Lyme treatment (about one and 1/2 months now), but it was/is weird how random it is. One moment, I could be out and about hiking a couple miles with my baby on my back with no shortness of breath what-so-ever and then I could have a time another day or the same day when I'd feel a little short of breath just standing up from a sitting position. Are these the kind of symptoms you have? I always read that babs and lyme can cause chest pain and shortness of breath, but I never considered why they cause it. I hear of people who have their chest pain and shortness of breath go away after treatment. Does that mean that their heart failure has been reversed or does that mean that it wasn't heart failure to begin with, but something else caused from the buggies?

Thanks for your time,

Brooke

Hi Brooke, Wow you can hike a couple of miles? You probably don't have heart failure or if you do it's not bad. Have they done an EKG? My HF came on gradually. I became less and less tolerant to exercise and it seemed to bring on my recurrant flu sx. Fianally I passed out after a lot if walking at a festival. They did an EKG and then a 24 hour halter monitor and found I had a lot of abnormal rhythums. This lead to an echocardiogram and found my ejection fraction was 30-35%. After nine months on meds it is up to 50%. My endurance is still poor because I can't get well enough to exercise. As far as your chest pain it sounds harmless probably musclular. As far as HF if your heart is damaged it just doesn't go away with your lyme tx, you would also need to be on heart meds. Sorry if some of this is to technical, it's hard to explain some things. Hope this helps. Denise

I don't have heart problems that I know of, at least until recently but I do have the sharp pain in my chest and a lot of trouble breathing. I'm a person who would exercise and run 5-10 miles everyday and still don't always have trouble breathing with exercise but do a lot laying down. I found mine is from pleurisy. It's kind of a swelling in the lining of the membrane (Pleura) surrounding the lungs which has some fluid to keep there from being friction when you breath. With pleurisy that lining swells and the sharp pain (usually more on one side but mine is in the dead center of my chest) is from friction where your lungs are rubbing. The shortness of breath it feels really tight and restricted like having an asthma attack. I think sometimes it can be seen with a simple x ray but in what I read it's caused by infections and will go away with the treatment for the infection.

Hope that helps,

Jessica

Hi Denise,

Yes, I'm pretty active and not particularly sick. My doctor says that I'm really lucky that we discovered I have Lyme before things got bad. I've had Lyme for about 4 or 5 years and I do show have a lot of symptoms, but they're not debilitating yet. I'm hopeful that we caught it in time that the antibiotics will do the job to get rid of it once and for all. My system seems to have handled the Lyme pretty well up to this point. I'm glad you don't think my symptoms sound like heart failure. Can you have heart failure that's "not so bad"? Is it a gradual thing? I have not had an EKG or any other type of heart function test. I've told my doctor about my heart symptoms, but she has not suggested any of this type of testing. I was wondering what you mean by my symptoms sounding like they're probably muscular. Do you mean muscular as in "heart muscle" or do you mean chest wall muscles? It's just that my chest pains are always in the heart area (on the left side of my chest) never on the right side. Do you have to be on heart meds the rest of your life or can you go off of them once your heart is healthier? Can heart failure be reversed or is it forever? Sorry for all the questions. I'm just really anxious. I go to see my doctor tomorrow and I'll ask her some of these questions then. Happy Mother's Day.

Mammabear

I had babesiosis for months before getting rid of it with mepron. Babesiosis can cause "air hunger", which is a symptom that I had frequently. It's where you feel as though you are suffocating and can't get enough air. I'm not sure if that is what you mean by having shortness of breath... but I certainly experienced "air hunger" with Babesiosis. Babesia is Malaria's closest cousin and infects the red blood cells, which is why it causes malaria type symptoms. Your red blood cells carry oxygen, and if they are infected with Babesia, they can't preform their duties. As a result, your body is "hungry" for air and you feel as though you aren't getting enough oxygen. I felt like I had emphasema or something.... it was quite awful. I also had chest pains that I thought were heart problems, but my sternum was inflammed because it's a joint where the ribs connect. That subsided with antibiotic treatment.

Mammabear,

There are heart problems associated with Lyme disease, no doubt, but the key thing here is to not panic. Panic, due to symptoms similar to yours, put me in the emergency room 5 different times.

Lyme Carditis is a general term used to describe heart problems from Lyme disease. The different forms of heart problems show as heart block (inflammed blood vessels of the heart, limiting blood flow) and abnormal heart rhythmn (which sometimes requires the temporary insertion of a pacemaker). These problems more often than not will resolve themselves with proper antibiotic treatment.

Juelz1981 has given you great information above. It is unfortunate, but both Lyme and Babesia can cause chest wall pain and difficulty breathing. However, Babesia is the usual culprit. If you have been tested positive, then you need treatment.

Chest pain and breathing problems have been the most significant problem I have had for the entire time that I have been sick. I have not had 2 minutes of good clean breathing for over 2 years now. Like I said, when it first started, I panicked because I had no idea what was going on. It felt like (and still does) I was having a heart attack all the time. Once I knew what was going on, I didn't panic anymore and have learned to deal with it as best I can. I hate it, but I deal with it.

My chest pain is in my pec muscles and my sternum, and moves over near my armpits as well. When I have the worst pain in the center of my chest, I can feel my sternum hurting just by touching it with my finger. And here is another thing, there is almost always a pain in my back on the exact opposite side...how weird is that? For me, it's like someone is inside of me, pushing on my sternum and back at the same time, trying to bust out. The pain in my pec muscles is just unbearable at times, but it does go up and down.

For me, breathing and chest pain are worse when I am sitting. If I am up and around, I guess my mind is occupied and I don't think about it as much?

My goodness, do I have chest pain and breathing difficulties.... Most of the time, I can't get a good clean breath, and have to breathe through my mouth (I also have chronic sinusitis, my sinuses constantly fill up and I can't breathe through my nose very well...another symptom of Lyme disease). Sometimes, I feel like I can't get my breath all the way out, which is the opposite of air hunger, and is a mimic of asthma symptoms. Sometimes I run out of air just speaking a short sentence. Sometimes I get very lightheaded when the breathing problems are at their worst.

I have had all kinds of cardiac workups. Regular and nuclear stress tests, normal. Echo cardiogram, normal. Doppler on my carotid arteries, normal. Dozens of EKGs, normal. I have seen a pulmonologist, all things are normal. CT scans of the chest and heart, with and without contrast, normal.

This is part of the usual litany for Lyme disease patients...you get tested until there are no more to do...and it's all normal. But still, you can't breathe and your chest is in constant pain, and all you want to do is cry out WHY?!!?

I have just started treatment for Babesia after nine months of Lyme treatment, 7 of which were wasted on low dose antibiotics and herbal supplements, which just allowed me to continue getting sicker. I am taking Alinia, an antiprotozoal agent. Some LLMDs are trying this instead of anti-malarial drugs, because it is much easier to tolerate. And here is the good news, Babesia can be eliminated from your system! You can be cured and not have to worry about it again...but you have to get the Lyme under control too.

I've run on a bit more than I wanted to, I'm sorry, but I want to suggest that you go ahead and get your heart checked out TO YOUR SATISFACTION! If you don't, then you are going to be wondering all the time whether or not you have a heart problem. Information is power. If you find out your heart is fine, then get treated for Babesia and hopefully the chest pain and breathing difficulties will go away. It can take up to 3 months of treatment to beat back Babesia, but it can be done. I'm hoping I am on my way to getting my breathing back to normal. I'll tell you, if I could breathe normally again, I could handle anything else this stupid disease wants to throw at me.

Get that heart checked. If it's normal, get Babesia treatment. If you do find a problem, have it handled and get on the proper antibiotics and see if you can take care of it that way. I hope it is nothing, but if there is a problem, I hope antibiotics can treat it. If it's a problem unto itself, then at least you know and can take care of it. Good luck.

Tom

mamabear, don't freak out. yes, lyme can damage our hearts, yes, lyme is EVERYWHERE in our bodies, but it's also true that babs causes "air hunger" which can be severe at times. I had an episode the other night, in fact was just telling Tom about it, I thought I was going to die, my hubby talked me down with my breathing....I had just thrown my inhalers away from having pneumonia 2 years before. They call it air hunger because it's the best way to describe it, you are hungry , you just can't get enough air in those lungs, and it's scary. If you are worried of other possibilitites, there's no harm in getting some tests run just to ease your mind

Hi Tom,

Thank you for your reply. You gave me some valuable information. I went to see my doctor yesterday and she reasured me that my chest pain and shortness of breath are from the babesia and that once the babesia is treated I won't have those symptoms anymore. I will be starting treatment with Mepron, Zithromax and Artemisinin this week. I'll be treated for a month to start.

I'm glad to hear that babesia can be completely cured. That is a relief.

Thanks,

Mammabear