Hello, I’ve been ill for two years. It started with facial paralysis, a bad earache, parotitis and meningitis. Then later I was crossing the street wearing a heavy backpack and felt something weird in my neck and left hip. I had a painful neck and painful sacral area so severe that I went to the Er twice to make sure nothing was broken. Heavy sweating, tremors and spasms started along with blurred and double vision.

Turns out I have Lyme disease. Treating it has been really scary because the symptoms have not yet gone away, so I’ve been trying to figure out other answers while I continue to treat Lyme.

The symptom I am most concerned about is neck weakness and arm shaking. My head moves around on its own and when I bend my head I get either Lhermitte’s sign or my spine will twitch out of place. I also have tremor after movement, like an aftershock. I get this in small areas, like my forearm, or large areas; like when I move my leg my head will bounce around. For some part of every day I have tremors in most of my body including my trunk and legs. My neck gets very tired and my jaws also get tired if I talk, so I can’t do either for very long, maybe ten minutes or so. I have severe vertigo because of the head titubations and my face pulls to one side.

I’ve had numerous consults with neurologists who do neuro exams and pronounce that I’m fine and state that they can’t explain the other symptoms. One suggested I have a vestibular disorder.

My question is, is it possible that on top of the Lyme my symptoms could be caused by damage to my cervical or lumbar spine? Could my spine have twisted to give me tremor, vertigo, titubation etc? Or is it all caused by the Lyme? I’ve had MRIs of brain, cervical and lumbar regions and have disc bulges and herniations at every level. I did consult with a neurosurgeon who stated that the herniations were not a problem, but serious muscle twitches and radiculopathy started right after the event with my neck. I’m concerned that my condition is permanent or untreatable.