Does it sound like lyme?

Hi everyone. I am a 28 year old female living in nyc . Back in May I started to have intermittent joint paint which I originally attributed to running and old sneakers! ( I was a long distance runner). I went to an orthopedist and all X-rays were normal but my blood test showed a high Anti-streptococcus (Aso) of 400 ( Normal ranges for adults are less than 200). I was told by the orthopedist that I probably had strep within the last 6 months and not to worry.I hadn't recalled even having a sore throat . I also thought it was odd that these pains all started after I had two root canals.

Over the next few months my symptoms worsened . Extreme fatigue , swollen lymph nodes , extreme muscle pain, low grade fever , and reoccurrent white sores all over my tonsils. I've been to ENTs, infectious disease docs ,cardiologist rheumatologists , etc. Everything is normal except this aso titer.

I have been on 8 different types of antibiotics and nothing seems to help. My worse symptom by far are the muscle aches and throat sores. I recently went to a holistic doctor who told me to get my root canals pulled ASAP as he thought they were making me sick. So, being desperate and vulnerable I got them pulled by a leading biological dentist . Here I am 5 days later and the muscle aches are so extreme though my fever has lowered. I can't help but think perhaps this is a case of undiagnosed Lyme?

If anyone has any input I would greatly appreciate it? I am frightened beyond belief and don't know where to turn next.

Thank you so much!

darling-It's common when you have a properly functioning immune system and you are healthy to have Lyme be triggered by a stressful event. Very often that stressful event is some kind of evasive medical procedure like your dental work. If in fact you do have Lyme, having that procedure stirred the proverbial hornets nest.

Igenex will ship you a test kit. While you look for a LLMD and wait for an appt, you can see if your general practitioner will sign for the blood draw.

You are going to want to enable your email. Go to your profile and enable it so members can send you Dr's names.

Bump

Hi darling: You definitely have the right symptoms, but it still could be anything at this point. Do you recall being bitten by a tick, have you had any rashes or have you been tested for Lyme yet? Anyway, I did uncover some interesting bits of research for you and everyone:

"Dr. M. stated that if Strep is present, it must be treated first before the Lyme is treated because Borrelia feeds on strep." In other words, the strep stimulates the growth of Borrelia.

"If you have a high strep titer, you may not test positive for Lyme."

"Furthermore, it is impossible to culture Borrelia whenever strep is present because strep is a faster growing bacterium and it will overgrow the culture medium as a 'contaminate', obscuring the presence of Borrelia."

I'd say continue to get tested, but the consensus appears that you may need to nuke the Strep first?

Yep, depending on who you talk to, band 18 is specific to Lyme. You may also have a moderate Mycoplasma coinfection as well. I can now officially welcome to the forum! =-)

Anyway, my strep flairs with every relapse, especially when my immune system is weak, but I do test positive for strep when this happens. My LLMD just about took out my tonsils too, but they finally reduced in size and I still have them. I'd recommend you start rebuilding your immune system, especially after all those antibiotics (ABXs) you were on and target the mycoplasma which is one tough nut to crack. Are you taking any probiotics and have you been tested for any other coinfections yet?

darling -
The lab has to follow CDC protocol which claims at least 5 specific bands must be present in order to be "positive for lyme". But the general understanding among lyme specialists is that this is bogus. If the lyme DNA-specific bands are positive, you're positive for lyme. In other words, you can't be sorta pregnant. So, your LLMD is wisely looking past the lab's summary and knowingly diagnosing lyme.

As others here have shared, the recent step infection really stirred up the underlying lyme issues and co-infections and your immune system is struggling to keep up.

When I first started seeing my LLMD she tested me for various viruses and I had high titers for 4-5 of them. Also a high fungal load. We treated those first, then started on the lyme treatment (I likely contracted lyme over 16 yrs ago so "immediate abx" wasn't going to be impactful or safe for me.) Plus, I'm starting to read more and more very logical reasons why lyme treatment struggles significantly if there is also another type of (dominant) infection.

If I were you I might investigate a different probiotic - or do some reading on threelac. I've read it's not a good one, not broad enough and other issues - others here might weigh in on that.

Also... unless I'm misreading it sounds as if the abx are not knocking out the throat infection? Let me know if I have that wrong. But the symptoms you share sound a lot like a yeast/fungal infection too (they are insanely similar). Unfortunately, the vast majority of the medical profession is inexcusably ignorant about yeast/fungus issues--some even deny them. I was mistreated for 13 months w/ 8-9 different abx for what everyone kept telling me was a bacterial sinus infection that turned into bronchitis, which was in fact a FUNGAL infection yet no one bothered to culture. One dose of antifungals brought me relief that nothing else did and then I was able to knock out the entire infection with a few more doses. That's a whole other story but I strongly urge you to talk w/ your LLMD (not a regular MD) about yeast/fungal infection. If that's what it is--ask her to prescribe PURE Nystatin powder (not the pills. I can share more specific info about that if it's on the right track.)

hope this helps -
p