Looking for answers, Lyme disease or ME/CFS?

Posted , 19 users are following.

 I am a 31yr old female. Me and my family are looking for help, we are getting desperate for answers and hoping you can point us in the right direction. My main questions are as follows but any advise is more than welcome!! 

1. Where can we find a lyme specialist in the UK? (we are in surrey)

2. and how can we be referred for testing? (We are willing to go private if needed)

3. Also I have read a lot about the unreliability of western blot tests especially those done in the uk (I believe they are processed at Southampton) and would like to know about how to get the test sent abroad to be processed? 

The reason we are asking is I have been increasing unwell since Easter 2013, and since May this year it has completely affected my life. I will try to be brief and chronological but it is a long story sorry.

 I have always been a very active person and have travelled to many weird and interesting places around the world and worked very hard along the way. I have been living in Norway since October 2010 doing a mixture of waitressing whilst I learnt the language and arty/photography stuff. Easter last year I was between jobs and ending up living in the mountains in a cabin outside of voss for about six weeks to work at a hotel. I got sick with something like a very bad cold and swollen tonsils so I jacked myself up on flu meds and struggled through it. I returned to Betgen to start my new job opening a brand new restaurant and hotel but was still unwell with a bad cold symptoms, and very stiff sore neck (at the time I just put it down to job related) and a cough that was awful and wouldn't go away. 

After some weeks I go so fed up that I went to the doctors (I wanted to be well for the demands of my new job) I ended up being sent to hospital and was admitted for 4 days as my blood pressure was very low but was discharged with no answers and told it was probably a virus (I think I had steroids or antibiotics IV but can't remember). I carried on working but was getting tired very easily and now had headaches along side the persistent neck pain. In October I lost my job as I wasn't performing well enough according to some of my colleagues. (I am a bit of a perfectionist and a high achiever - I have 2 first class degrees - so this was a first for me a came as quite a shock!) I was often very tired but plodded with life on anyway, I am not the type to give up. I spent Christmas with my boyfriends family and kept getting embarrassed by how tired I was (I'd fall deep asleep after dinner for at least two hours every evening) I carried on with part time work but it always seemed much more straining than I was used and would have to take pain killers to manage. By April I had had enough as I was so tired all the time. I hat to reduced my hours and was starting to struggle finically. The doctor took some blood tests and sent me straight to hospital as he explained I was anemic and my Hb was only 8. I have been too unwell to work ever since.

I was in hospital overnight, had an iron transfusion as my iron was very low too and then sent home. I went the GP to be followed up 3 weeks later but still felt crazy tired with headaches and neck pain and now lower back flank pain. I was told my b12 was very low and this was why I was not improving and that injections would help. They made NO difference. Now in June I was getting distraught my GP was planning to look into why I became anemic and b12 def in the first place (my boyfriend is a chef, I eat very well, am not a vegetarian and my periods had actually been getting very light) unfortunately the GP quit his job and I was fobed off by the clinics receptionist. I managed to see another doctor as I was still cornered about my back pain was getting worse and my period was being weird. He gave me a strong course of antibiotics for 10 days as thought maybe I had a kidney infection. He also did some hormone tests which showed very low progesterone. At this point my family intervened and made me come back to the UK as I was no longer able to properly look after myself. The antibiotics helped a bit but it didn't last. This was mid July.

Since my return to the UK I went straight to my GP (I am very lucky and she has been amazing I must say). She was quite concerned and wanted to get to the bottom of my seemingly unrelated symptoms and as my breathing had become shallow, and was now more like an old lady than my normal energetic 30 something self. she sent me to have a chest x-Ray and some bloods. My x-Ray was clear but my d-dimmer was slightly raised and my blood gas showed low CO2 so the doctor sent me for a VQ scan to rule out an embolism. This was clear. She then arranged for me to see a gastroendocronologist to see if this was to do with malabsorption. And a urologist as I had had a bout of renal colic that sent me to a &e and often had cloudy or oily urine. I have since had a endoscopy, colonoscopy with biopsies, more bloods and contrast CAT scan. I have even had a ultrasound on my womb and ovaries as my progesterone levels were tested again and came back very low. EVERYTHING else has come back clear... As I was getting bouts of very low blood pressure and postural hypotension and my b12 has dropped dramatically again after just 5 weeks of the injections. So she also organised for me to have a synancten test to rule out Addisons.  I meet with an endocrinologist on Monday and he said this was negative. He is organising more blood tests (all though I now believe I have had most of them already) and a brain MRI, if these come back normal (which I believe they will) I am looking at a diagnosis of ME/CFS and the life I have built in Norway which is majorly on hold will be thrown out the window. As you can imagine, my family, norwegian boyfriend and myself are getting quite despirate! 

I have been doing lots of research and come across people misdiagnosed with ME when they in fact had Lyme disease. Thinking back to when I first had problems I am wondering if this is a possibility. I want to be able to rule out everything as ME is a diagnosis of exclusion and wont be able to move on until I know I have looked at everything. 

Any help or advise will be greatly appreciated.

1 like, 46 replies

46 Replies

Prev
  • Posted

    Sorry, but I have to put it on the record, every english person I've met with Lyme disease said the TDC is useless and NOT lyme aware. They may accept a short term easy fixed infection, but not chronic long term Lyme that's hard to treat.  So don't expect any miracles from them.  That's the whole problem with Lyme the test is designed to show a negative and the specialists are designed to say patients don't have it.   Just remember to keep looking for answers if this track turns up nothing. Good luck.
  • Posted

    Hi Liz.  So sorry to hear about your illness.  It's hard, but try to be persistent and informed.  You may or may not have lymes, but usually only a well trained lymes literate doctor can help you sort it out. 

    I live in the US & was Dx'd with lymes, babesia, and anaplasmosis several years ago.  My initial Western Blot was negative.  After that, the doctor put me on several weeks of antibiotics, then had me stop, and he had me retested about 2 wks later.  I was then WB positive. (Allows the weskened imune system to start to fight the lymes more strongly once again, so more detectable levels of antibodies are produced.) 

    It's my understaning tests are very time-sensitive, and as such should only be sent out early in the week so they arrive and can be processed ASAP (don't want it to sit over the weekend).  That is an excellent lab, but there are still false negatives, so lymes diagnosis should never be ruled out based only on tests.  The same goes for co-infection tests.

    I have had both MD antibiotic and Naturopath herbal/homeopathic treatments, and for me I feel the combination has been the best approach. I have heard of successful tratment using just naturopathic treatments as well as just antibiotics.  Everyone is different.  People respond differently to the lymes organism as well as the treatments. I also use resonance testing to help guide my treatment.

    It has been a 3 yr struggle to find knowledgeable docs, and insurance has not covered much of the treatments.   I still have problems, but am doing much better.  (I'm not young, and probably had it for at least 30 years... so it can be harder to get rid of and some issues may be permanent.)

    It can be a long and crazy road to get properly diagnosed & treated. The controversy of if there is even such a thing as chronic lymes just makes everything harder for very sick people who simply want to get well, regardless of if they have lymes or not.

    I wish you strength & courage on this life journey that you would never wish on anyone.   Let your family help you when you need it, try to find a support group to keep you sane & steer you to knowledgeable practitioners.  Most of all, don't give up!

    Blessing to you and your family!

    Emis Moderator comment: I have removed the company name as we do not allow repeated posting of these in the forums. If users wish to exchange details please use the Private Message service .

    http://patient.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/398331-private-messages

  • Posted

    Looking for a Doc to see in Wales. Its for my Husband, his Docs are hopeless. He had a bite in the USA. He is ill and needs to see someone who knowns about Lymes. Thanks.

  • Posted

    Hi Lizzlizz

    you could pay to see Dr Dryden who is a microbiologist who works at the Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory. He does see pts privately, you can book appt online but need GP referral. I too have been unwell for over a year, my tests are neg for lyme but this could be due to antibiotics and steroids given throughout my illness.

    i also tested neg for lupus but they are treating me for seronegative lupus. There is a lot of ignorance about lyme amongst doctors and I have been told definitely can't have as 3 neg tests, yet can have lupus despite 3 neg tests!  Have you had any tests for autoimmune diseases?  Sending you best wishes, I hope someone helps you soon!

    • Posted

      just got my western blot back from his clinic and its negative. not sure what to think as i have been on steriods and antibiotics...
  • Posted

    Hi Lizzlizz

    i too got neg western blot back from RIPL but also had steroids and antibiotics which can affect results. Just booked to see Dr Dryden in January.

    • Posted

      I've cancelled my apt with him as need to spend my money wisely. See my comment below smile
  • Posted

    hi Lizzlizz. my sympathies are with you in this situation. pleased to hear you have a good GP & having all the necessary exclusionary tests done. the good GP is the gateway to getting to the bottom of things.

    1)firstly, can you say how low your b12 was @ the time of testing?

    2) did you have your Folate levels checked @ that time?

    3)what was the Folate result?

    4)how many b12 injections did you have?

    5)what was your b12 levels post the injections

    6)did you have tests to rule out Pernicous anemia such as 'Intrinsic Factor' test or Stomach Parietal Cell antibodies test?

    7) did you have your Thyroid levels screened i.e. 'Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) as well as T 3 & 4. TSH can come normal . all of these are involved when b12 is very low.

    Caitlin.

  • Posted

    Noone should tell me modern medicinal has improved rapidly. Why don't they improve specific cure for Lyme??? Please don't tell me they care humanizing... all they want your money the more you suffer the more they get rich... I've been suffering for 3 years with hardest symptoms of it and they still tell me the same story...
  • Posted

    Please don't feel im against your opinion and efforts to help others all I'm saying is that there's of course a real cure for Lyme disease but they are worse than this bacteria. Basically this bacteria caused Lyme disease doesn't work effectively in the body. It has lack of some abilities so it hides himself deep part of body because of t cells which are responsible for protection us.

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.