Children with Lyme - what to know plus links to additional resources
- Dr. Jone's comprehensive list of common Lyme symptoms in children
- LymeDisease.org's Lyme Disease Symptom Checklist - answer questions, get results
- Children's Lyme Network Lyme Disease Symptoms - very comprehensive article
- LymeDisease.org Children with Lyme
- Neurologic Manifestations of Lyme Disease in Children - includes possible psychiatric symptoms
- Kids And Lyme Disease - How It Affects Their Learning - many children experience learning issues with tick borne diseases
- CDC - Children - Ticks and Lyme Disease Factsheet - shows official CDC recommended treatment
- LymePA.org's Children and Lyme Disease Reference Page, a website page of Pennsylvania's Lyme organization with many excellent links to research and relevant children's topics related to tick diseases
- LymeNet Flash thread of symptoms including lists for children
Links to Lyme stages and symptoms: Early and Late
Links to LLMD symptom checklists for Lyme and other tick co-infections
- Dr. Burrascano's Checklist - excellent resource that covers symptoms for many tick diseases
- Dr. Burrascano's Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease - full document, worth printing and reading carefully
- LymeNet Flash thread of symptoms including lists for children
- Caudwell Lyme Disease website has a detailed blog post on tick co-infections including symptoms
Some Common Symptoms
Late stage Lyme can be diagnosed clinically and sometimes with blood tests. Most patients will experience a constellation of symptoms from the list below that come and go over time interspersed with periods of feeling well, making diagnosis challenging. There are many symptoms and some are indicative of certain tick infections so be sure and look at the links above but meanwhile here's a list of the ones I saw mentioned most often while researching:
- generalized skin rashes or bullseye at tick bite site (not always, about 70%). Our son never had a bulls eye.
- dark circles under the eyes
- brain fog, confusion, forgetfulness, headaches
- joint swelling and/or pain, migrating joint pain
- knee arthritis and/or swelling, can affect other large joints like shoulders
- neck stiffness, cracking joints, especially neck, wrists, fingers, toes
- dizziness, losing balance, vertigo, lightheaded
- muscle weakness or pain, possibly falling down as legs give way
- tingling migrating through extremities
- sudden feelings of rage, irritability
- pain on the soles of the feet - can indicate co-infection bartonella
- shortness of breath, cough, "air hunger" can indicate co-infection babesia and/or mycoplasma
- sudden onset of anxiety and/or depression, suicidal thoughts out of the blue
- sudden onset of attention deficit or hyperactivity
- vision problems/eye pain, especially with reading, floaters in eyes. A visit to an opthamologist for a baseline is a good idea. See Dr. Cameron's blog post, Growing List of Lyme Problems in Lyme Disease
- facial tics or paralysis, upper body tics
- fevers, typically low-grade-below 101 or slightly above, can be cyclical every 20 days or around a female's menstrual cycle
- below normal temperature
- sweats, often at night but can be throughout the day as well as fevers cycle
- chills
- chronic fatigue, periods of extreme exhaustion where the body feels full of lead
- cardiac issues, skipping beats, feeling faint when standing up or fainting, diagnosis of POTS. A visit to a pediatric cardiologist to establish a baseline is a very good idea.
- irritable bowel, severe digestive problems, abdominal pain, especially common in pediatric patients
- development of a sudden food allergy - for our son it was dairy products
- sleep issues
- food aversions, signs of disordered eating or anorexia - days of no hunger, weight loss
