Treating me for Lyme?

So, today doc emailed me that my Western Blot that was negative in September is now positive. She called in 3 weeks of doxycycline. Does this mean I definitely have Lyme? I've read stuff online all day and I'm a bit confused. Frankly, I have so many things going on with my health, I don't Even care about the diagnosis anymore! I just want to get better. I will try to be concise, but I have felt like I've gone downhill for the last 10 years. What's up with that?! I have plenty of theories by the way, but I want to hear your thoughts.

I'm a pretty smart girl and "was" perfectly healthy until trying to juggle my unhappy marriage, full-time job, and breastfeeding a new baby apparently had an adverse affect on my body. I started feeling overly crappy. That was 7 mos postpartum from my oldest son, and my thyoid went kaput. Approximate timeline:

8-1/2 years ago diagnosed with Hashimotos (postpartum)
6-1/2 years ago started on anti-depressants (postpartum)
5 years ago divorced (5 years of stressful legal issues)
2-1/2 or 3 years ago, I got this terrible rash mainly on the sides of my thighs, elbows
2 years ago, I realized my thyroid was off again, increased synthroid, rash Finally ends
1-1/2 years ago, had to have my gallbladder removed.

I'm always under stress, have had extreme financial stress, am a full-time working mom of 2 young kids. But the last couple years, I have been strughling with fatigue, depression has been difficult to manage even with meds, mood is highly irritable and aggrevated most of the time, intermittent muscle aches that may lasts weeks or months then subside, low libido, dry skin.

New doc ran all kinds of tests. My progesterone was way low, Vitamin D was way low, 4x cortisol test was high throughout the day, B5 deficient, showed antibodies for EBV but said it looked to have been an old infection, microplasma pneumonocci in the middle range so supposedly inconclusive, September Western Blot showed positive for 41 but neither of the other two that CDC uses, December Western Blot shows positive for both IgM Ab 41 and 39.

Blood test done in December was because on the eve of my 40th, i thought i came down with the flu. Chills, headache, entire body ached horribly. I also started itching on my elbows, then ankles, now I'm almost bleeding from scratching. Just took my first Doxycycline. Any words of wisdom or advice?

Thanks!!!

Hi Glitchy Momma,

Welcome to the forum! So sorry you have been suffering so much.

Many of us have had equally difficult paths to getting diagnosed. I hope you get some relief soon.

Please have a look at our "New to Lyme?" thread at the top of the forum. There is a lot of information and resources to help you. It is very important that you do your research and become informed about the disease.

And yes, a positive result on your test does indicate that you have Lyme. The tests often do not detect Lyme, but false positives are not an issue.

As helpful as your doctor has been, they will not be able to take you through the full treatment that you will need for your Lyme disease. Three weeks of doxy would be enough for a new infection but will not begin to touch your long term infection.

You will need to find a Lyme Literate Doctor. They will be able to effectively and thoroughly treat your Lyme. Let us know if you need help finding one.

In the meantime: Stress is so, so bad for you. You are just going to to have to stop it!!! Easier said than done, I know. You need rest, you need calm, you need to take care of yourself and only you can do that.

Well, Glitchy,

That's hard to say because the different strains behave differently, and different people react differently. The tests don't really show that, although some people try to interpret them that way. It is also possible to have a long term infection overlaid by a new re-infection.

A Lyme Literate Doctor would assess your symptoms and your reaction to treatment to determine the length and type of treatment you should get.

Thanks Scarlet. Biggest thing right now that I'm experiencing is horrendous itching of my elbows and ankles. This happened a couple years ago, and I thought it was my thyroid going hypo, so my doc increased my synthroid and rash went away. Now with this Lyme thing a possibility, could it possibly be due to that?

I thought of something else. If you haven't already, start keeping a journal/timeline of your symptoms. Include any medications you add or change and any symptoms you have each day as well as anything else that might be significant (a stressful situation, staying up too late, PMS, ect.).

Take your journal along to your doctors appointments so you can better share what has been going on.

Hi Y'all. Since I have had a period of intense itchiness before about 2 years ago, I think it is thyroid or lyme related. Both started when it wasn't overly cold, so don't think that's it, and especially since the first time it happened, the itching completely stopped at the end of December. Also, this bout of itching was before the Doxy, before I even knew to start researching Lyme. However, since learning all the herxing stuff, it could be related because I had started taking a new liquid vitamin about a month before all this started. I was on the very minimum protocol for the vitamin (it has detox effects, so you ease into it slowly) and possibly that was ridding my body of toxins that I didn't even realize I had. Now after all of the research I was doing, I feel quite certain that I probably have lots of toxins that need to get out of my system. I'm still not sure what my next step will be as the only doc in Louisiana and Texas is no longer taking new patients, and neither is his physician's assistant. :( Having been on the doxy now for several days, I see an increase in certain symptoms, stomach aches, dull headache, thigh muscle was twitching yesterday for a few minutes, my heart palpatated once or twice, and I had a weird sensation in my teeth with what may have been a metal-ish taste in my mouth. I'm starting to journal all these odd random symptoms even though I've brushed them all off for years and years and years. By the way, don't know if I posted before but my TSH was relatively stable in the most recent labwork, so not changing synthroid dose at this time. Thanks for the advice!
GlitchyMomma

Yes, I have FT3 and Rev T3 and FT4. All these years I've thought my symptoms were related to the thyroid and the fact that docs treat with thyroxine and don't care about ALL the other problems that remain unresolved. In September, I came a step closer to health when my new doc did saliva testing and lots of other blood work. That's when I thought, oh these other symptoms look to match with the low progesterone, high cortisol, adrenal fatigue stuff. Now, it appears I might have chronic Lyme and it's muddled in major controversy! Crazy. My mother can barely understand what depression can do--she thinks my house is a mess because I like it that way! But I'm overwhelmed with everything, and when I have free time I turn into a zombie in front of the TV :(. Now no one is going to understand and will think I'm a nutcase. :(