Progressively ill teen

Hello, My teen has been progressively ill for about 5 yrs.
Diagnosis received Chronic conjunctivitis, Chronic Blepharitis, Depression, Anxiety, Tourettes Syndrome, Chronic Constipation, IBS, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue along with a few other undiagnosed issues that wax and wane. Several specialists have ruled out auto immune systemic diseases. Blood work always great except low ferratin and slightly elevated CRP. Recently someone mentioned Lyme to me and and had Igenex done. IGM 31 IND, 39 IND, 41+ IGG 31+++, 41++. Currently waiting results of epitope. I would make appt with LLMD now to get a head start on wait time but don't want to tie up a spot and put teen through the long travel etc if this is not a reasonable path to take. In your well informed opinions, is Lyme and co's a plausible cause? The more I research the more confused I am. Thank you so much for your time.

I failed to include that he was bit by a tick when he was small, had a bulls eye rash and was treated with 10 days of ceftin. Thanks for your reply Pete, I'm sorry you are dealing with this

Yes, all of those symptoms can be caused by lyme or the coinfections, especially bartonella. Bartonella was the infection responsible for K's (now 14 year old daughter) anxiety attacks, depression, IBS symptoms, Tourette's, ADHD, and chronic fatigue symptoms. She is currently in remission.

Does gta stand for Greater Toronto Area? We are in Niagara.

Hi Gtamom!
Welcome! I'm so glad you joined our community!!

If you haven't ​yet​, it would be helpful for you to start with reading through the thread at the top of the forum titled,"New to Lyme?...Start here!!", as it is packed full of important information, symptom lists, helpful links and pdf's, how to detox when one has these infections, information on probiotics and much more.

gtamom said...
I failed to include that he was bit by a tick when he was small, had a bulls eye rash and was treated with 10 days of ceftin.

This alone is enough to say that he needs more treatment. Even with only a bull's eye rash, he should have received a minimum of 6 weeks of abx treatment, as the Lyme bacteria is more complex and replicates in the body much, much slower than most bacteria. Most bacteria replicated in minutes, hours, or in some cases days - but the Lyme bacteria takes weeks to replicate in the body.

You really do need to get him in to see an ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society) trained LLMD to get him the appropriate treatments so he can heal and get on with his life.

In case you need help in finding one, you will need to enable your email option in your profile in order to receive any recommendations, as we don't allow doctor's names and contact info to be posted on the forum for several reasons. You can enable your email option in your profile, under 'edit profile'. Be sure to click the submit button to actually save your preference.


​You can send me an email by clicking on my screen name or the small blue envelope under my screen name. I may have contact information for some LLMD's in your area as well.​ ​Please include your state(or province) and area that you would like to find a LLMD in and I will see how close I can get to your location.​


You can start a new thread titled something like "Looking for LLMD in the (insert the nearest larger city & state) area". Members can email you about the LLMD's that they see in that area if you have your email enabled. We don't allow doctors names to be posted though.


You can email the Tick-Borne Disease Alliance at
​[​​url]​[email protected]​ for LLMD referrals and you can go to ​tbdalliance.org​​ to learn more about these infections.


You can go to The Lyme Disease Association and search for LLMD's 3 times in a month. You have to register first. Here is the link:
www.lymediseaseassociation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=74​​


ILADS has their own referral system as well:
ilads.org/ilads_media/physician-referral/


​ You will want to find an ILADS trained doctor, not one that has self proclaimed themselves as a LLMD or an ID Doc (Infectious Disease Doctor), as ID docs believe Lyme is hard to catch and easy to treat, and don't believe in the reality of chronic Lyme. Go to the ILADS site to read the new (2014) Treatment guidelines to get you started on your healing journey:
http://www.ilads.org/lyme/treatment-guideline.php

Please be sure to let us know how we can be of help!!

So sorry gtamom. Glad you found us. I am new here too and this place has helped me in oh so many ways.