Lyme Disease and the digestive tract

[Dr Googlittle]

Dig Dis Sci. 2002 Dec;47(12):2664-8.
Inflammatory causes of gastroparesis: report of five cases.
Pande H, Lacy BE, Crowell MD.

Gastroparesis is a disorder of delayed gastric emptying. It can be defined as the impaired transit of
intraluminal contents from the stomach to the duodenum in the absence of mechanical obstruction. The
etiologies of gastroparesis are multiple and diverse. Common known causes include long-standing diabetes
mellitus, prior gastric surgery with or without vagotomy, collagen vascular disorders, pseudoobstruction,
medications, and viral infections. Idiopathic gastroparesis still accounts for one third of all cases
(1), although some of these patients may have had a preceding, albeit unrecognized, viral illness. Symptoms of gastroparesis are nonspecific and include early satiety, nausea, anorexia, abdominal pain, bloating, and weight loss. Two additional symptoms that correlate well with the presence of gastroparesis are vomiting and postprandial fullness (2). In this report we describe a series of five cases of gastroparesis, three of which developed after vaccination and two of which occurred after the development of Lyme disease. We believe these are the first such reported cases in the medical literature. These cases raise the possibility that inflammatory conditions may produce gastroparesis.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/q59068h56t765001/

[Dr Googlittle]

Oops!

I'm sorry it wasn't my intention to spam the thread.

[Yvonne]

Dr. Googlittle some of the articles you posted are already in this topic.

For example the last one : http://www.lymeneteurope.org/forum/view ... 2629#p2629

[precious007]

I have been reading quite a lot of material lately on Lyme can affect the digestive system and also came up to this forum -

I've found that a lot of patients on forums claim that they're suffering from Chron's disease for many years and they've been tested for lyme as well, and 90% of them received a positive diagnose.

So basically, IMO, all Chron's and IBS patients should be tested for Lyme bacterium (without an omission).

[Cobwebby]

Timely discussion for me. I am currently in the hospital having some tests done. Nuclear stress test today indicated my heart was all right (inspite of SVT and prior MI) So tomorrow's tests involve endoscopy and possibly colonoscopy. Waiting for GI doctor to arrive.
I have already been diagnosed with IBS just prior to confirmed diagnosis of Lyme Disease. Certainly all has seemed well until the last couple of weeks when symptoms are acting up again. My last GI doc cared less about the possibility of Lyme Disease effecting my gut. I do hope this GI doc is more openminded. Maybe I won't have to wait until i die to contribute to the mystery of Lyme Disease.

[Cobwebby]

Timely discussion for me. I am currently in the hospital having some tests done. Nuclear stress test today indicated my heart was all right (inspite of SVT and prior MI) So tomorrow's tests involve endoscopy and possibly colonoscopy. Waiting for GI doctor to arrive.
I have already been diagnosed with IBS just prior to confirmed diagnosis of Lyme Disease. Certainly all has seemed well until the last couple of weeks when symptoms are acting up again. My last GI doc cared less about the possibility of Lyme Disease effecting my gut. I do hope this GI doc is more openminded. Maybe I won't have to wait until i die to contribute to the mystery of Lyme Disease.

I should have known-inspite of a confirmed diagnosis of chronic gastritis and esophagial ulcers- the GI doc turned away and gave me a back handed wave, verbally dismissing any connection to Lyme Disease. Although biopsies were obtained they will not be tested for Lyme Disease. I wish I knew how to be more assertive.

[Margherita]

Gastrointestinal manifestations of Lyme disease and co-infections to be observed - a literature review.

Author: Dr. Wolfgang Klemann - Pforzheim Germany

http://www.dr-w-klemann.de/htmldocs/en_ ... eliose.htm

Bacteria tails implicated in gut inflammation

Source: Cornell Chronicle, Dec. 10th. 2013

http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/201 ... flammation

Also see:
http://lymerick.net/Gastrointestinal-spirochetosis.htm

[X-member]

http://www.lymeneteurope.org/forum/view ... =20#p38598

From the post above:

Has borrelia ever been found in the intestines? Surely in animal like dogs, or at the very least, mice? But has it been found in human intestines?

So I activate this thread.

[duncan]

Thanks, X-member! Geez, that was quick. And boy, do I feel ignorant: all this data right here and I'm to busy posting foolish questions to have even thought to check.

[Camp Other]

A lot of this makes total sense to me. In animal studies on Borrelia burgdorferi, liver and spleen are often tissues to be sampled for presence of infection. Cholesterol is made in the liver - for Borrelia, being there may be like sitting by the water fountain. Patients with Lyme disease often report elevated ALT/AST, too.