When Symptoms Come and Go, Life Feels Unstable

When he first came into my office, he looked exhausted — not just from feeling sick, but from years of uncertainty. His story began quietly. He would feel perfectly fine, and then, without warning, he’d be hit with a wave of fatigue, chills, body aches, and flu-like illness that took him out for four days.

Then the symptoms would disappear. He’d wake up almost normal again, confused but relieved. Weeks passed. Then the next crash came.

These cycles repeated for months. And because Lyme symptoms come and go, no one around him recognized the pattern. His employer saw inconsistency instead of illness, and before Lyme was ever considered, he lost his job.

He told me, “I couldn’t even tell what normal was anymore.” His body wasn’t sending mixed messages — his clinicians were reading them incorrectly.

Why Lyme Symptoms Fluctuate

When he described the pattern, it was immediately familiar. Lyme disease is not a steady, predictable illness. It moves in cycles.

Borrelia grows in waves. The immune system reacts in waves. Symptoms flare when inflammation spikes and fade when the body briefly regains control. Even mild exertion, poor sleep, or stress can trigger another crash.

Neuroinflammation complicates things further. When the autonomic nervous system is disrupted, normal physiologic shifts — heart rate, temperature, blood pressure — can feel amplified and chaotic.

The Diagnostic Clue of Lyme Disease

By the time he reached me, the symptoms were only part of the story. What weighed on him more was the unpredictability — and the fear that no one believed him.

He’d been told it was stress. He’d been told it was anxiety. He’d been told it was viral, burnout, “just fatigue,” or a functional disorder.

No one had connected the dots. No one had considered that symptoms which come and go can be one of the clearest diagnostic clues for Lyme disease.

Once we identified Lyme disease and began appropriate treatment, the pattern started to settle. The crashes became less severe. The good days became more frequent. And for the first time in years, he could imagine getting his life back.

Why Doctors Miss This Warning Sign

Doctors are trained to look for infections that follow a steady path — symptoms that start, build, and progress in a predictable line. Lyme disease rarely behaves that way, and that’s where so many patients get lost. When symptoms appear suddenly, then vanish as if nothing happened, only to return days or weeks later, the pattern is easy for clinicians to misinterpret.

Instead of recognizing a cyclical infection, many assume stress, anxiety, or a benign viral illness. And as the unpredictability continues — symptoms rising, falling, then returning again — patients are often dismissed rather than diagnosed.

I’ve watched people lose months, even years, while this pattern is overlooked. I’ve seen careers disrupted, relationships strained, and patients lose trust in their own bodies. All because an infection that refuses to behave predictably slips past the very people meant to recognize it.

Symptoms that come and go aren’t a minor detail — they’re a warning sign that it may be Lyme disease.

FAQ

Are fluctuating Lyme symptoms common?

• Yes. Many patients experience Lyme symptoms that come and go for months or years before diagnosis.

Can Lyme symptoms vary day to day?

• Absolutely. Neuroinflammation and autonomic instability can create dramatic daily swings.

Do waxing-and-waning symptoms mean Lyme is less serious?

• No. Fluctuation has no relationship to severity. In many cases, it indicates persistent infection.

Resources

1. CDC. Signs and Symptoms of Untreated Lyme Disease
2. Columbia University. The Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Research Center
3. Dr. Daniel Cameron: Lyme Science Blog. Lyme disease and working sick
4. Dr. Daniel Cameron: Lyme Science Blog. Lyme Disease Symptoms