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Quality of Lyme testing as UCSF (University of CA at San Francisco)?

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Posted 6/8/2015 3:54 AM (GMT 0)
Hi, there!

I see that the Infectious Disease Department at UCSF diagnoses and treats Lyme, and I am wondering if anyone on this site has sought help from UCSF for testing and treatment. If so, did you feel confident in their testing?

I know that the gold standard of testing is through IGeneX labs, so I'm wondering if pursuing testing at UCSF would even be worthwhile.

Any thoughts or experiences would be extremely appreciated.

Thank you!
Zebra
Posted 6/8/2015 6:41 PM (GMT 0)
No, but I wouldn't trust any Infectious Disease Department in a major hospital.

Infectious Disease doctors are notorious for being dismissive of Lyme.

Margaret
Posted 6/8/2015 7:09 PM (GMT 0)
I wouldn't do it, no. Never heard of Infectious Disease Department at UCSF
Posted 6/8/2015 9:06 PM (GMT 0)
I'm in the Bay Area and I saw the same thing. After a bit of research I was told that the head of the Infectious Disease Dept at UCSF is one of the most vigorous anti chronic Lyme Docs there is. I would heavily advise against going there for Lyme.

There are 4 good LLMD-LLND's in the San Francisco area.
Posted 6/9/2015 3:19 AM (GMT 0)
Oh my goodness. I am soooooo grateful to you all for steering me away from UCSF! Thank you for saving me time and energy that I don't have! I have been going from fancy specialist to fancy specialist for over a year now. I really can't bear to go through that again if I don't have to.

The Bay Area Lyme Foundation sent me the names of 8 LLMDs and LLNDs (mostly NDs), and the rub is that NONE of them accept insurance. Not even the MDs.

Both will supply you with a "super bill" that you can submit to your insurance company, but it's out-of-network reimbursement, which is highly cost prohibitive. I was thinking that I would need to save my limited funds to have the blood work done at IGeneX.
Of course, if I don't have any other choice, then I'll just have to pay out of pocket for one of the LLMDs or LLNDs.

I don't think we are allowed to share the names of individual doctors on this site. If anyone has a doctor they would recommend, would you be willing to connect with me via email? Not sure if there's a "chat" function on this site that would enable us to communicate privately.

Thanks again, all! You've really spared me from additional heartache.
Posted 6/9/2015 5:00 AM (GMT 0)
An LLND or LLMD who takes insurance is virtually unheard of. Insurance companies don't recognize Chronic Lyme (and sometimes they don't recognize Lyme, period).

You can use doctor initials, or you can activate your email, or email anyone on the forum. You can also email one of the moderators.

I would suggest creating a separate post, in which you ask, "Can someone recommend a good LLMD or LLND in San Francisco?"

Maybe you could try emailing jrpsf?

I'm so glad you answered.

Actually, I think one LLMD is coming to my mind. I will google him, and see if I can find him. He is in the Bay area.

Margaret
Posted 6/9/2015 5:08 AM (GMT 0)
Ok, the ones I'm thinking of are in Oregon and Washington, but I found a Dr. R.S., who I think is in the Bay area.

Margaret
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