Hi All - I have recently received a probable Lyme diagnosis from my PCP. I live in an area with a high rate of Lyme - in fact, my sister, mother, and cousin have all tested positive for Lyme. Interestingly, like many of you, my test results are not considered Lyme positive based on the CDC guidelines, but my PCP said that she thinks the CDC guidelines are outdated and simply are not true. My ELISA test results are: Lyme IgG/IgM Ab - .91 and Lyme Disease Ab, Quant IgM 1.26. The Western Blot, however, only showed IgG P41 Ab as Present. She said that these results, along with my symptoms indicate positive Lyme to her. My symptoms began in October with stomach issues - mostly diarrhea. In November, I started getting night sweats and heart palpitations. Then, in early December, I started twitching body wide. It has started to decline, but is still present. The twitching freaked me out. I feared ALS! I saw two neurologists - one is a neuromuscular specialist. Both said that I don't have ALS. In fact, they didn't even think an EMG was warranted. Both said that I simply have benign fasciculation syndrome. By January, I was and continue to experience a lot of joint pain - especially in my knees and fingers. I also have foot pain. I therefore went to a rheumatologist. She ran A LOT of tests and said that everything was normal. However, when she sent test results to my PCP, my PCP called me and said that I was likely positive for Lyme. The rheumatologist does not agree, but my PCP said she does not care and that my results to her indicate probable Lyme. She has me on doxycycline for 90 days. I've now been on the medication for almost 3 weeks. After 72 hours of taking the medicine, I started to experience more severe joint pain and my twitching increased again (after having subsided mostly). I called my PCP and she said that this can be normal due to the toxins dying. I'm now starting to feel better on the medicine, but I still feel the joint pain and the twitching is still present at rest (especially at night), although not nearly as much as was originally present. I have a few questions for the forum:
1. Do you think my PCP's analysis of the test results makes sense? I want to trust her, but after experiencing these array of symptoms since October - I'm simply paranoid.
2. How long does it take doxycycline to work? (I'm on 100 mg. twice a day)
3. Is a positive ELISA and only IgG band 41 (Western Blot) really positive for Lyme? Could this be something else that doxycycline cannot treat?
3. I've scheduled an appointment with a doctor in our area who supposedly is an expert in Lyme - Dr. TS What questions do you recommend that I ask him? I want my life back!
Many thanks!
Post Edited By Moderator (Girlie) : 3/13/2021 9:56:59 AM (GMT-7)