What Causes Abdominal Bloating And High Fever When Diagnosed With Lyme Disease?

Posted on Tue, 16 Aug 2016

Question: My husband had lyme disease the end of September and was on dioxcillin antibiotic for 30 days. He has not felt well ever since. He is constantly tired, has aches, at times swollen joints, memory loss, vision change. Loss of appetitie. His blood work showed that he no longer has it but the beginning of July he came down with annaplasmosis with a high fever and was hospitalized for 2 days and on the same antibiotic for 14 days. He has all the above symptoms along with bloating and trouble sleeping. His last blood work shows that he is fine. I know that he is failing. He is scheduled for an echocardigram in August. He did have a 4way done 6yrs ago and an ablation in2014. His ekgs are fine. What should we do.

Answered by Dr. Tushar Kanti Biswas (2 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Lyme disease

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thank you for your query. I can understand your concerns.

Your husband is suffering from early infection or stage 2 (Disseminated Lyme infection) .He is having fatigue /tiredness which is often constant in such patient, though the early signs and symptoms of Lyme disease are often intermittent.
During this stage, musculoskeletal pain (having swollen joints) is also common.
Oral administration of doxycycline for 30 days is recommended for the initial treatment of Lyme disease and your husband has undergone one such course initially.
Although an occasional patient requires a second course of antibiotics there is no indication for multiple, repeated antibiotic courses in the treatment of Lyme disease.

Anaplasmosis is caused by a rickettsial parasite Anaplasma phagocytophilium and is transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected tick. Treatment usually involves a course of doxycycline (your husband hospitalized for 2 days and was on the same antibiotic for 14 days).
However his blood report presumably showed clearance of infection (His last blood work probably for anaplasmosis shows that he is fine).
~8% of patients develop cardiac involvement in Lyme’s disease. Kindly provide more information on ablation therapy he has undergone in 2014.
As his ECG is fine-it indicates that he does not have any degree of atrioventricular block (first-degree, Wenckebach,or complete heart block) which are common cardiac complication of Lyme disease. However 2_D Echocardiogram will give information on left ventricular dysfunction or cardiomegaly if any.

Regards

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Prasad