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Have your docs told you when you got Lyme (if you didn't know you had a bite)?

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Lyme Disease
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Posted 10/5/2012 1:32 AM (GMT 0)
Just curious. My blood work came back positive for Lyme a couple days ago, but I've been very sick for a year and a half, but haven't felt like myself in about 8 years or more. So my question is, if you didn't know about the tick bite, was your doctor able to tell you how long your been infected? I'm waiting on more blood work results and very curious. I have no recollection of the "bulls eye rash". Thanks for your input!

Btw I hope my writing isn't too confusing, I have trouble wording things lately...ironically, as I used to be an English major :-/
Posted 10/5/2012 1:53 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Rori,

I also never got a bull's eye rash...and I have heard only 30% get the rash. No doc has told me for certain when I got it. I had a specific onset of cfs when I got a flu bug. But I had weird symptoms before, including smelling ammonia in the shower and was kind of a sick kid. So who knows?

And the lyme can remain dormant for a long time...even forever, if conditions are not right for it in the body. (stress, toxins, etc.) My understanding is many people may have been bitten by the tick or other insect, injected with the lyme bacteria, but their immune systems keep in check as long as they are healthy.

Good luck! I think it is positive to get the diagnosis so you know what you are dealing with!

N
Posted 10/5/2012 2:17 AM (GMT 0)
nan777,

Thank you so much for the reply. That really makes sense, I've had vague symptoms for years, but after my c section in May 2010 the symptoms came out with a vengeance and they haven't stopped since. I was told I was suffering post-partum depression, then Fibromyalgia, then mild Lupus, and now it seems that Lyme Disease is the culprit. I'm waiting on more try results before ican begin treatment. I've just been wondering how long I've had this, because I noticed a change in my energy level in my mid twenties (I'm 32 now). I guess that might always be a mystery! How are you feeling these days? Did you have a specific event that led to the diagnosis of Lyme? Best of luck to you as well. I hope there is relief for all of us inflicted with this terrible disease.
Posted 10/5/2012 2:18 AM (GMT 0)
I'm sorry, the c section was in May 2011, a.k.a. my only child's birthday. How do I forget that? Ugh. My brain is mush! :)
Posted 10/5/2012 9:28 PM (GMT 0)
I think it is quite common for onsets to be triggered by surgeries, accidents or other stressor. I'm so sorry it came on after a birth!

The specific event for me was getting a flu bug that was going around..I just got fatigued and never got the energy back! It got worse after a round of ABX for a UTI about a month after the "flu". I also had a surgery 6 months prior..it was 4 hours. Just to look at what turned out to be non-cancerous spot under my cheek :) So I think this weakened my system, along with life stressor (new job, boyfriend break-up) and flu...body just couldn't deal anymore and the lyme took over.

I am at the Hansa clinic now for two weeks...just got done with the first week! I am feeling better and very encouraged.


I initially got sick 17 years ago..as described above. Went to Mayo clinic that found nothing. Used alternative therapies..acupuncture and others and got a lot better, but would still go up and down with severe fatigue. Three years ago really crashed and then found a CFS ND who found the lyme. I have been treated with functional medicine..holistic and western blend..mostly holistic for the past three years.

But crashed again in August and felt I needed something else. I found out about Hansa and here I am! That is the story in a nutshell :) I posted about the clinic here under a thread called "Hansa Update". You can go there to see about what they do..or google it.

Take care!!
N
Posted 10/6/2012 12:20 AM (GMT 0)
It would be very difficult and rather foolish for a doctor to try to tell someone that they definitely got the infection at a certain time, other than saying "a recent infection" or a "long standing infection", which can be indicated by showing of an IgG or IgM reaction on a Western Blot.

Truth be told, you have a much better idea by looking at your symptoms and when they started, although even that has the potential to be way off, since the infection(s) can lay dormant for days, weeks, months, years and even decades.
Posted 10/6/2012 6:50 PM (GMT 0)
My doctor said it could have happened any time, given that I live in tick country central. However, he said it was also possible that I've had it as long as 30 years, which is when I know I had many tick bites - like more than 20 bites.

He said it's possible for your immune system to keep it at bay for a very long time, until some kind of stress or trauma makes your body unable to keep up with it.
Posted 10/7/2012 12:30 PM (GMT 0)
I too have never had a bullseye rash. I don't ever remember pulling a tick off either.

I live in the middle of tick country and grew up outside playing and have always liked it better outside then in.

So I'm not sure when I got Lyme. It's been over two years now that I tested positive for Lyme and co-infection. I really think that I've had Lyme for years but it hasn't reared it's ugly head until just lately.

May never know for sure.
Posted 10/7/2012 12:38 PM (GMT 0)
I have had so many bites every single year of my life. I've had several severe flu-like illnesses over the years which came after tick bites. I never thought anything of it. I had joint pain and fatigue for years, but the illnesses went away and I assumed if I was getting Lyme that my body had handled it.

Last year was by far the worst flu-like episode after a tick and I never recovered from it. I actually did get several atypical rashes, one of which was diagnosed as cellulitis right before I got very sick.

My doctor would not pinpoint a date, but he did say that by the time I saw him (several months after the severe illness) that there was no way that was the first time that I had contracted Lyme. It was likely that I had kept getting re-infected over the years. He based that on a very low CD57 as well as both an IgG and IgM response.
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