Passing lyme to a significant other

This is subpar helpful...I am a male with lyme disease, my understanding is that in no way shape or form can you pass it to another person through sex, blood, etc..........However I DO NOT believe the blood thing at all and would not bleed on anyone just to be safe especially with co-infections....But i could be wrong? Like I said my knowledge is subpar ....With sexual intercourse, I know some people I have had sex with over a year ago and they do not have lyme and are still completely fine so i think in that sense you cant give it to others...Regardless i would just be considerate of others in any situation and always use protection and dont bleed on anyone. Yeah like i said this may not be very helpful...Good Luck!

The household argument doesn't grip me. I think if you live in a high-risk area, it is highly likely that many people will be bitten at some point. If your family has camping trips or even lounges in the back yard together, all are equally exposed.

I'm not denying the fact that the bacteria can be found in all bodily fluids, but that does not mean if your family has it, that you gave it to them (or vice versa). If I was shown dozens of cases of someone in a very low-risk area's entire family having it, and they don't travel/camp, that would be more compelling. But there could still be other explanations. It's one of those tough causal relationships that can't really be drawn at this point with the evidence we currently have.

Also, since Lyme affects everyone differently, past sexual partners may not appear to have lyme if they are ignoring symptoms or being misdiagnosed, or only showing "common" problems such as depression. So that is an argument against "my ex didn't get it." I stand somewhat in the middle of the argument, just waiting for more compelling evidence to sway me one way or the other.

i am almost positive i got Lyme sexually.

i slept with a girl from Connecticut... my symptoms began the very next day. i was so sure i had picked up an STD i got tested and retested 3 times but all came back negative. it was Lyme all along and im telling yall i never found a tick or a rash. doctors can go to school, read their books, follow the rules, but if theyre not thinking outside the box then why would this concept ever change? they have to tip toe a fine line and base their opinions on proven studies rather than actual logic to avoid any trouble. ill post an example of some real logic below for those looking to expand their knowledge beyond the conventional. take a minute to read and shape your own mind.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/05/19/977411/-What-do-Lyme-Disease-and-Syphilis-Have-in-Common,-What-is-Different

Post Edited By Moderator (borderlyme) : 1/10/2012 7:12:23 PM (GMT-7)

having been undiagnosed and unaware of the risks months ago, i did not use protection with my boyfriend. he has no symptoms, its been a year since i started having symptoms. if it is possible to transmit it, would i already have given it to him or is it just as possible that he hasnt gotten it all these times but could in the future?

Perhaps this will help.
Here is a couple of links that show that Lyme has been found in semen:
http://www.anapsid.org/lyme/bach.html

www.canlyme.com/sex.html

This link will take you to an article that explains that the spirochetes that cause Lyme disease have been detected in breast milk, umbilical cords, the uterus, semen, urine, blood, the cervix, tears, the brain, and other body fluids and tissues.

http://sites.google.com/site/drjoneskids/growing-epidemic

There is soooo much controversy with the tick-borne infections that it doesn't surprise me a bit that this bit of info is being pushed 'under the rug' as well. We can't even get decent testing to determine who has these infections because of the controversies.

The basic answer to your questions is we just don't know yet.

As far as I know, there haven't been any studies to find out just how often this really occurs, much less studies to find out how long someone needs to be in treatment before they can feel safe from possibly infecting others.

I explained that I could pass it to my hubby before we got together 12 years ago, and he decided it was worth the risk. He hasn't shown any signs of infection yet -and there has been more than enough exposure- and he's not the only one I've heard about that has lived with a spouse who is infected and not gotten ill themselves.

It's just that we need to allow the people that we could be putting at risk to make the decision of whether or not they want to take the risk of getting these infections.

I just believe that we have a responsibility to tell others that they could be infected if they have close, intimate contact with us.

I sure wouldn't want to find out after the fact that someone I was involved with infected me with something that they knew they had before hand.

This is a very scary topic indeed! Hopefully in time there will be enough information out there to answer these questions once and for all!

I think WWJD is onto something - the immune system functioning at 100% can (at least hypothetically) cure itself of any illness, so maybe that might explain why some people exhibit symptoms after intimate contact with an infected person, and others don't - maybe it's "just" a difference of how well each person's immune system is functioning.

This all points to the importance of a healthy lifestyle - for everyone! Until we know more information, I think the best defense anyone has is to support a healthy immune system to prevent becoming ill in the first place (sounds so simple, doesn't it?).

You will always test positive for Lyme so does this mean even when you are cured you can still pass it on?

Don't forget that it's so wide spread at this point in time that it's not just ticks that carry these infections anymore either. Fleas, biting flies, mosquitoes, horse flies and deer flies - most any insect that bites can now pass these infections too!

So the girl I have been seeing has been feeling Ill and sore. Haven't had sex, only kissing. Should we be concerned?

Thanks for your opinion, Twentyseventicks! Of course we don't want anyone to panic thinking their lives are over just because they have Lyme or other tick-borne infections, although informed patients usually don't want to risk the chance of infecting a loved one either.

Most of this is just my opinion as well, based on the many years I have been reading both non-scientific and scientific articles on tick-borne infections. If there's any questions about where I found the case reports - they can easily be found on the internet or by using 'Google Scholar'.

There is no scientific evidence that if exposed to the flu, a person will for sure get the flu - but the chance remains. That's why we take precautions and that's all I'm suggesting - take precautions and inform those that you are in close intimate relationships with that it's possible that transmission can occur.

It's quite possible that without many more years of research we most likely won't have scientific evidence of sexual transmission of Lyme, but that doesn't mean that we should ignore the signs that are there that suggest this. It's like Babesia - we only just found out in 2010 that our entire blood supply here in the US is infected with it! So -looking back - those in charge should have been screening blood donors for this, so that others weren't infected with Babesia & Lyme just because they got blood products or an organ transplant - but that still leaves a whole lot of people that have been infected with these diseases because we had to wait until it was proven.

The research on these infections is so very far behind what is really going on! I, for one, don't want to look back and wish I had told someone that it was thought to be possible to pass Lyme to another person by sexual contact or through the placenta and/or breast milk.

So -from what I can determine - most of this just comes down to choices. How do you want to look back on your actions if they do finally do a scientific study to find out if these infections can be passed by sexual contact - and they find out that it's quite possible? I for one, don't want those kinds of regrets.

It's up to each individual to make this kind of decision for themselves. I just want those of us that are already infected to know the possibility exists.