New Here

Hi Hobo,

It could be that you got lucky, and found a doctor that treats lyme (a lyme literate MD or LLMD), and that is why 60% of his patients have lyme. There is an associated for Lyme disease doctors called ILADs. If you email them, you can see if your doctor is a member. If he uses Igenex, I would suspect he is.

Getting a second opinion from a rheumatologist might not be very helpful- most of them know very little about Lyme disease, and mis-treat it. The truth is, Lyme disease can be very difficult to treat, and can become chronic (not if you catch it right away, though), and most of the doctors who aren't LLMDs don't treat for long enough, and tell their patients that any remaining symptoms are not Lyme, when really they are.

So, I'd start by asking your doctor questions. If he's a member of ILADs, you are extremely lucky, and in good hands!

Nicky

Hi Hobo,

Welcome to the forum!

Yes, from what I have read and researched, Lyme Disease can be passed to an unborn child and through sexual contact. It's better to be safe than sorry.

If you have a positive test, you have Lyme Disease. Most of us don't have enough antibodies show up in our blood so our test comes back negative. You are very lucky to have a positive test and get treated right away.

What antibiotics were you put on and what dosage?

Also, it is a good idea to get tested for co-infections as well. Please read the sticky at the top of the Lyme Forum titled, "New To Lyme?.....Start Here?" There is some valuable information in there plus a post explaining what co-infections are and what the symptoms are as well.

Here is a very informative site to get you educated about Lyme Disease:

www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/treatment_guidelines_clearing_ilads.html

Hobo,

It's not 100% proven yet that it can be transmitted sexually but it is possible since the bacteria do start out in the blood. If she starts having symptoms, I'd get her checked out too. The bacteria is better eradicated when caught early.

She should start taking supplements like Vitamin C and garlic to keep her immune system working. If the immune system is working right, she has a better chance of her own body taking care of the bacteria if she indeed gets it.

Okay, oxymycin is a tetracycline antibiotic. Is is used for Lyme Disease and many other bacteria.

Here is some very informative information about Oxcymycin:

Label warnings
Do not take iron preparations, milk or indigestion remedies at the same time of day as this medication.

Here is a very informative website:

www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100001976.html

Just wanted to pop in & say HI Hobo!!
Welcome to our forum! I am sorry to hear that you have Lyme Disease as well. At least here, we help each other get through & understand as much as possible about Lyme & co-infections. Of course we DO have to cut up now & again! =)

Welcome to the Hotel California, "...you can check you any time you like, but you can never leave."

Hobo -- Did your Dr give you a Western Blot? Like, does it show IgG and IgM? I believe there is a test interpretation in the Newbie section. I think that if you can post what your test says here, we can tell you what the bands mean. We are not LLMDs (we are smarter, ha ha....), so do not rely on us for diagnosis. But, depending on what your results say, I think we can give you a pretty firm opinion, based on what we know about the Western Blot.

If it was an Elisa, then, from what I have heard and read, yes, it can have false positive results. But most Drs do not rely on this test anymore because of its unreliability.

Not sure what a Western Blot is.

All I know is that this test was run by Igenex and my Dr. looked at them and said that I have Lyme disease. He has prescribed antibiotics and wants to see me in two weeks.

If I have Lyme disease then I definitely want to get treated but I don't want to start a treatment if I don't have it.
I have Ulcerative Colitis and got off of Prednisone back in August. Pain in my foot started a short time after that. I am a regular at the Healing Well Ulcerative Colitis forum and members there said that it is common to get joint pain after getting off of prednisone.


Here is a link to my test results. I don't know what I'm looking at but if anyone can shed some light on this it would be greatly appreciated.
www.communityofficesupply.com/images/Lyme.pdf

CajunGrl,

Thanks for the reply.

The reason I originally went to the Dr. was because of a pain in my left foot. Sometimes it's so bad that I can barely walk but it's only after I've been lying down.
First thing in the morning it hurts but after I walk around for a while the pain goes away.

During my checkup the Dr. commented on how cold my hands were. I told him I recently began having what seemed like creaky joints. Almost like door hinges that needed to be lubricated.
That's when he decided to run the test.

I've started doing some research on other symptoms and I notice that I've become very lethargic. My weekends used to be spent going out & doing things but for the last couple of months I spend the weekends on the couch. I seem to tired to do anything.
Can't seem to get enough sleep also. The last couple of Saturdays I think I slept about 14 hours.
A few Saturdays ago I actually slept 20 hours!

If I understand you correctly it looks pretty definite that I have Lyme disease.
If that's the case I'm getting my prescription filled tomorrow and will start taking the antibiotics.

One other thing. I am currently taking Humira for my Ulcerative Colitis which is an autoimmune disease. Could this give a false positive on my test?

Thank you very much for your help.

I don't know if the doc checked my thyroid yet or not. I'll ask him when I visit him in 10 days.

What should I look for when you say I'll start feeling worse on the antibiotics?

OK, started the antibiotics today.
I'll post updates as things progress.