Time of the year to bring up the awareness again... esp. for our children:
CHILDREN’S LYME SYMPTOMS
I have been doing some research regarding Lyme and signs/symptoms in small children.
For All Children
-dizziness
-neck pain and stiffness in almost 90%
-sore throats
-swollen lymph nodes
-excessive thirst,
-Chest pains in at least 70%, some have palpatations
-Sense of air hunger or shortness of breath, dry cough
-abdominal pain in about 50%, can mimic acute appendicitis
-sometimes vomiting, heartburn
-rashes that come and go, malar rashes, new psoriasis
-migratory arthralgias, joing pain in 50% to 100%
-myalgias in over 80%, back ache, morning stiffness, pain at rest, muscle weakness
-frequent illnesses, dark circles under their eyes
-intermittent red, hot pinnae of ears
-sleep disturbance in over 80%
-Neurological symptoms are protean and can appear AT ANY TIME during the course of infection
*hypersensitivity of skin, scalp and hair
*Hypersensitivity to noise, light, smell
*Alterations of taste
*poor balance and coordination
*Uncharacteristic behavior outbursts, mood disturbances, depression
*social withdrawal
*New onset phobias
*Oppositional behaviors
*Obsessive compulsive disorders
*Deterioration in school performance in over 90%
*Difficulty with concentration and attention in school with easily distractability as well as "brain fog" in over 80%
*New onset of ADD
*When measured with formal neuropsychiatric testing, children demonstrate defects in auditory and visual sequential processing
Less Commonly:
*Movement disorders-spaticity, ataxia, motor or vocal tics
*Cranial neuropathies, e.g. Bell's Palsy or optic nerve neuritis
*Peripheral neuropathies-numbness and tingling, distal parathesias, subtle weakness
Pre-Schoolers and toddlers
- Mood swings, sudden emotional outbursts
- Irritability
- Personality changes
- Regression of motor and social skills (developmental milestones)
- Changes in play behavior, tire easily, less active
- Trouble falling asleep, frequent awakenings
- Nightmares, new phobias, recurrence of separation anxiety
- Diaper rash unresponsive to normal treatment
- Frequent URI's, ear and throat infections, bronchitis, pneumonia
Congenital Lyme Disease
* Infants can be infected with Borrelia transplacentally in any stage of pregnancy and/or via mother's breast milk.
* The co-infections: Babesia, Bartonella, Mycoplasma and perhaps even the Ehrilichias can be transmitted transplacentally to the developing fetus.
* Gestational Borreliosis can be associated with repeated miscarriages, fetal death in utero, still births, hydrocephalus, cardiovascular anomalies,
intrauterine growth retardation, neonatal respiratory distress, and maternal toxemia of pregnancy.
* Infants either infected congenitally or from breast milk can have
- Floppiness with poor muscle tone
- Irritability
- Frequent fevers and illness early in life
- Joint sensitivities and body pain
- Skin sensitivity
- Gastro esophageal reflux
- Developmental delays
-Learning disabilities and psychiatric problems
Infants infected congentially can have
-Small windpipes (tracheomalacia)
- Eye problems (cataracts)
- Heart defects
* Infants bitten very early in life will have many of the same symptoms
- loss and decline in developmental milestones.
