Question by BBfabfan: Has anyone heard of an association between chronic lyme disease and geographic tongue?
I have been diagnosed with chronic lyme disease, which I have had since childhood. I have also been experiencing geographic tongue since about the same time. Has anyone experienced this correlation, or know of a link between the two? Thanks.
Best answer:
Answer by sel
Yes – there absolutely is an association between those two conditions, but I fear that you may not want to hear what it is.
There is no way for me to tell you without sounding like a smart-ass (part of the reason is because I actually am one; part of the reason is because you actually stepped in it…)
All kidding aside: The association is that neither one of those are pathological conditions.
Geographic tongue is nothing more than a normal variant; if you’re having pain, problems with taste sensation, etc. then you have something other than, or something in addition to geographic tongue and should be evaluated by a medical professional – preferably someone different from whoever diagnosed you with chronic Lyme disease.
Yes. I know that there are doctors who diagnose and treat this condition: That’s a discussion for a different day. I will tell you that the Infectious disease specialists in my city’s academic health center will not even see patients who present with that history.
Yes – chronic Lyme is all over the internet and folks attribute a laundry list of symptoms to it. I’m not going to get into that at all – suffice to say that there are many conditions as yet unrecognized by medicine, and many conditions where the correct diagnosis may be frequently missed by a doctor. None of that makes a case for the existence of some special, magic variant of Lyme disease that will not be cured by a course of the usual antibiotics.
I would challenge my doctor to show me anything from the medical or scientific literature that established the existence of this condition.
If – and I say if you ever had Lyme disease at all then you were undoubtedly treated with 2 weeks of Doxy (unless you are allergic). That medication is known to cure everybody else with the infection – I’m saying you’d be foolish to believe that it wouldn’t cure you too.
Now – are there potential sequelae (lingering bad effects) from Lyme disease?
That is a very reasonable question. If you had the migratory polyarthralgia that some folks get (aching joints that seem to come and go but reappear in another joint) then you have evidence of a robust immune reaction to the bug.
Autoimmune diseases are among the most poorly understood by medicine. Things like Lupus, Rheumatoid arthritis, etc. have seemingly endless potential symptoms. They do tend to affect women disproportionately and I don’t think the reason for that is well-understood at all.
So – could there be lingering effects from Lyme, or is it conceivable that a case of Lyme might trigger some other quiescent autoimmune condition to flair-up? Those are certainly reasonable questions to discuss with your provider. But not with someone who’s trying to give you extended courses of antibiotics or who has established a diagnosis which most of the medical community believes is non-existent.
Anyway – that’s one opinion. Take it or leave it as you care to do.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
I have been diagnosed with Lyme disease, I have had since childhood. He was also experimenting with geographic tongue, from the same period. You experience any of this correlation, or know of a link between the two? Thank you.