Lyme... an STD?

My Dr thinks that my husband has Lyme also. We are awaiting the test results. She believes that it IS sexually contagious. Also fleas and biting flies carry Lyme disease. It is all to scarey.I think that most Drs are living in the Stoneage when it comes to treating and diagnosing Lyme disease. They must crawl out from under the rocks that they are living under and those little text books that they refuse to look outside of!

My llmd believes it is as well.  She told me that if my husband starts exhibiting any signs to let her know ASAP!  He had been complaining about achey joints and extreme fatigue so he had his regular doctor run a western blot which was negative, but when we go to mine in the next few weeks we are going to talk to her about it.

L

Many Lyme Literate doctors strongly stand by the belief that Lyme is not sexually transmitted based on the fact they see many sexually active couples in which only one partner has Lyme. That said, there are also many that believe it is. Some people have suggested that only certain strains of Lyme may be sexually transmitted. When it comes down to it, Lyme is a very complicated disease and it really would be a great idea to play it on the safe side. You may want to start using protection with your partner if you have Lyme, because it truly is better to be safe than sorry. As soon as I heard that there was even a slight possibility that Lyme was sexually transmitted, I immediately decided to use protection with my partner at all times; I care about her too much to put her through this disease. Just my two cents.

I have never known this to be true, but that said, who really knows. I have been with my fiance for 8 years now and he doesn't have lyme. Prior to this I was with someone during my worst part of this illness. We were together for 6 years and he doesn't have lyme either. From what I was told when I was going through it, was that sometimes couples end up both with lyme because they tend to do things together and go to the same places and could both get lyme for this reason. I never had a tick bite or rash so I will never know where or when I got lyme and I think that is part of the reason why some of us try to figure out how and why, but I don't think a lot of us will ever really know.

It is always best to be on the safe side anyway, but I know for me, it isn't something I worry about happening.

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that might lead us to use the precautionary principle: until something is proven safe, assume it is not. In the bacterial world, Lyme's closest cousin is syphilis, which is an STD. And given how weak almost all research is on Lyme, I can't trust anything that says Lyme is not transmitted sexually.

Personally I've been very worried about a former partner who is experiencing headaches, neck pain, and fatigue, with no clear diagnosis. Unfortunately she lives overseas where testing is even harder to obtain.

As some have expressed, not all partners have symptoms of Lyme. For what it's worth, t should be noted that STDs are transmitted more easily from men to women or men to other men, than for women to transfer them to men. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but this is a rule of thumb learned from the HIV community, where I used to work. But I'd play it safe in any direction.