Has anyone considered Lyme?

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/lyme-disease/Pages/diagnosis.aspx

""" Lyme disease can be a difficult condition to diagnose """

Hey Jacquie. Currently looking into this. I believe lyme can be tricky and you need western blot IGG and IGM.

CDC website

You may have heard that the blood test for Lyme disease is correctly positive only 65% of the time or less. This is misleading information. As with serologic tests for other infectious diseases, the accuracy of the test depends upon the stage of disease. During the first few weeks of infection, such as when a patient has an erythema migraines rash, the test is expected to be negative.

I have been sick for a few years with joint and muscle pain, fatigue, and difficulty thinking. I was tested for Lyme disease using a Western Blot test. The “IgM” Western Blot test was positive but the “IgG” Western Blot test was negative. Is Lyme disease the cause of my symptoms?

Probably not. First, you should only have an immunoblot (such as an FDA-approved Western Blot or striped blot) test done if your blood has already been tested and found reactive with an EIA or IFA.

Second, the IgM Western Blot test result is only meaningful during the first 4 weeks of illness. If you have been infected for longer than 4-6 weeks and the IgG Western Blot is still negative, it is highly likely that the IgM result is incorrect (e.g., a false positive). This does not mean that you are not ill, but it does suggest that the cause of illness is something other than the Lyme disease bacterium. For more information, see the in-depth discussion regarding testing for Lyme disease.

Several weeks after infection, currently available ELISA, EIA and IFA tests and two-tier testing have very good sensitivity.

It is possible for someone who was infected with Lyme disease to test negative because:

1.Some people who receive antibiotics (e.g., doxycycline) early in disease (within the first few weeks after tick bite) may not develop antibodies or may only develop them at levels too low to be detected by the test.

2.Antibodies against Lyme disease bacteria usually take a few weeks to develop, so tests performed before this time may be negative even if the person is infected. In this case, if the person is retested a few weeks later, they should have a positive test if they have Lyme disease. It is not until 4-6 weeks have passed that the test is likely to be positive. This does not mean that the test is bad, only that it needs to be used correctly.

And just to say from my visit to the hospital last night the young doctor suggested I be tested for lupus.

David - how did you get your doctor to listen to get tested for lyme?

Do we have lyme here? Im in Berkshire and live in a foresty area - i have never seen the rash, im just not sure though

I havent even mentioned lyme to y doctor - i think after 14 months of tests, she would laugh at me....you mentioned genova diagnostics do it, but cant find this info?

Its a shame that docs dont rule all of these things out before diagnosing CFS

Oh, also from my hospital visit last night the doctor also suggested I be tested for hepatitis A, as well as lupus. Looking into hepatitis certainly looks plausible. Taking up to 6 months to clear with relapses in between.

HI, it is possible to get lyme living in a forest area as its due to tic bite. however, although it has a distinctive target shaped rash, you may not notice it, if its on a part of your body you don't normally look at eg. back of thigh etc. Its a blood test as david has said.

I was tested for that after a year or 2 of symptoms among many other things (inc. lupus and MS) !

Good luck JK