Can lyme disease or Ehrlichiosis effect the liver?!
Question: effect the liver as in cause or contribute to focal nodular hyperplasia? (nodule of the liver)
Answers: effect the liver as in cause or contribute to focal nodular hyperplasia? (nodule of the liver)
If you have to explain what focal nodular hyperplasia is, you probably don't want that person to answer. As to your question, while Lyme dz and Erlichiosis affect the liver and cause mild abnormalities with elevated enzymes, they don't cause nodes. This is a common hepatic tumor (second most common) caused by a congenital AV defect.
Lyme disease affects many systems of the body, and trashes the immune system in general. And Ehrlichiosis is no picnic either. Antibiotic treatment can also be very hard on the liver, which has to detoxify all those medicines. In fact, ANY chronic disease can be hard on the liver, because it falls to the liver to try to cleanse the body of biotoxins and other fall-out from disease. (An expert I once heard speak on this subject said, "The body of a chronically ill person is like New York City during a garbage strike. Piles of garbage and debris, and no way to get rid of it.")
If you are dealing with Lyme and co-infections, I hope you are being seen by a Lyme-literate medical doctor (preferably one who follows the ILADS treatment guidelines) and is familiar with how Lyme and ehrlichiosis can affect the liver and other systems of your body.
Good sources of info about Lyme disease:
http://www.canlyme.com
http://www.lymenet.org
http://www.lymeinfo.net
http://www.lymediseaseassociation.org
http://www.ilads.org
http://www.betterhealthguy.com
http://www.publichealthalert.com
http://www.freewebs.com/teenswithlyme
http://www.lymetimes.org