what would your diagnosis be -ME /Lymes Disease/depression?

[hamma]

I'll summarise as follows -
15 year old dd had a cold in March, in bed for a week

from then on very little energy

had a bad bite in Italy in July - we presumed it was a mosquito bite, arm became swollen and she had track marks up her arm. Doctor in Italy gave her cream.

Ear infection all summer - went to the doctors three times, finally he gave her antibiotics.
around this time, unknown to me, she started to feel depressed; low mood and still little energy
Told me in August that she was feeling like this - I was completely taken aback , she has never shown any signs of this before. Never been the most confident outgoing child in the room, but holds her own .
We wen to the GP who said she is depressed and referred her to psychiatrist. He said she is having a crisis of confidence and referred her for CBT therapy

Meanwhile , I look into things that the bite could cause and start to think it could be lymes disease. The GP has given her antibiotics to treat this and meanwhile we are having CBT therapy to treat the depression .

Could lymes cause depression as quickly as this?
Does it sound like ME - she doesn't have sore muscles, just really tired and bad headaches and depression
I feel as if Im going round in circles and that she hasn't made any progress in weeks . Any observations/ input would be really welcome

[WorzselMummage]

Post Viral Fatigue ?

Sorry your DD I having a bad time :(

[mycatsaysach]

sorry to hear about yr dd

has she been going to school all this time - if so and she can lead a relatively normal life wd suspect it is not ME

hope its not lymes as think that its hard to treat after the event

[LackaDAISYcal]

AFAIK lymes can cause all sorts of psychological symptoms as well as the giredness and a myriad other symptoms. Has GP ruled it out? Other causes may be glandular fever, post viral fatigue as EM suggests or something auto-immune like lupus which can first strike during adolescence or coeliac disease (doesn't alwats present with gastro problems). Other food intolerances can cause similar symptoms as well.
Sorry To hear she is feeling so low and I hope you get an answer soon.

[CombineArvester]

Have you asked your GP about Lymes? To be honest it sounds like she could just be run down. Is she overloaded with school work or got a lot of activities on? I would make sure she is getting a lot of vitamins, a bit of exercise but not too much, lots of TLC. The only other thing I thought of for this age is anaemia, especially if she has heavy periods,might be worth asking GP to check as it can make you feel listless and depressed.

Has the GP done a blood count? If not I would rule out anaemia first, then try a good multivit and make sure she isn't doing too much.

[hamma]

Oh thanks so much for all these replies so quickly - she is going to school but only for some of the day , she can't seem to last the whole day . When she does stay all day she's usually off the next day or bursts into tears when she comes through the door- suggesting it's a depressive type thing but when she exercises she's not well the next day.
She's had blood tests done and isn't anaemic nor has an under active thyroid. The gP has given me the antibiotics for Lymes but I think is humouring me , as if I can't cope with depression , but I really can, I just want to rule out anything physical too. She is definitely depressed, ie has symptoms of depression, problem is the symptoms for all are very similar

[mycatsaysach]

well that def sounds more me/glandular fever - a blood test can confirm gf lots and lots of rest needed before she recovers.she will prob have to be off school for a good while.

once everything else has been excluded then they may call it pvf or cfs.the good news is that lots of teenagers make a good recovery so long as they have lots of rest and support.
the tearfulness can come from just sheer exhaustion not depression.

[CombineArvester]

Hamma could there be anything going on at school which has triggered her low mood?

[hamma]

I've been through all of that and I'm pretty sure not so but she has definitely lost confidence since all of this started and is isolating herself more - again, Im not sure if that's because she genuinely hasn't got the energy for her friends or if it's another symptom of low mood - thanks for input!

[CombineArvester]

I hope either the antibiotics or the CBT helps her, good diet and exercise are also v helpful for depression if its not caused by Lymes disease, also might be worth checking with GP if St Johns Wort can be taken by 15 year olds.

[post]

My 7 yr old dd has just had a positive diagnosis of Lyme, but it took me being very bolshie and insisting on a 2nd opinion to gent a blood test.
Her symptoms and the bite were atypical, she actually only ha the bite 3 weeks ago and it did look more like ringworm. And she got it in the UK. The reason I took her to the gp was actually that she had blurred vision, which isn't commonly reported, but I had a real 'feeling'.
I don't think a lot of gps are very familiar with it. Ours was clearly surprised that the test came back positive, I guess what I'm saying is, just because a doctor is doubtful, it might be worth pushing for the test.
Hope she's feeling better soon.

[Iamseeingstars]

You mentioned track marks? so this needs investigating as to which bug does this.

Doctors have general basic knowledge about lots of things but are specialists in nothing so if they come across something they dont know they fob you off with rubbish that doesnt resolve the problem.

If you have your suspicions you need to ask him to investigate these and if he wont, ask him to justify his reasons. Most of the conditions can be checked through blood tests.

THe fact that all this started from a bite is very suspicious.

You need to fully understand all the symptons that your DD has to give a clearer picture. She is obviously upset and hiding things from you, but for you to help her, you need her to explain everything that isnt quite right.
The more clear symptons, the easier for the doctors to diagnose

Hope she gets better soon

[hamma]

thanks for these responses- I was wondering about St Johns Wort but not sure if she's too young for it - will need to read a bit more about it .

[mycatsaysach]

has she had a test for glandular fever op??

[hamma]

yes and it was clear