Just tested positive - Please help me understand since when I have Lyme

Hello everybody,

First of all thanks to all of you that this forum exists.

I have been detected positive on both Elisa and Western Blot last week and I really need to know since when I have been infected in order to know my chances to heal :( I have read many of your posts and didn't find one with how to interpret the bands.

Even if my doctor is telling me he doesn't think it's an old infection (as both IGG and IGM are positive), I cannot believe him until I will see a specialist, but this will be in a longer time (meanwhile he gave me Doxycyclin for 1 month, 200mg daily).
I have high positive IGG (>240) with bands OspC and VlsE and also positive IGM (but lower, it's 3.6 positive) and the bands they found in the IGM are P41 and OspC.

How can I know since when I have the infection? Please help me! :(

Until 3 months ago I didn't have any symptoms until I made a stress fracture (in the foot) that had difficulties to heal, that's when my doctor prescribed the Lyme test as I was beginning to become stressed and worried and he didn't understand why it was healing so slowly.
So my symptoms now are (after beginning the antibiotics, except the pain in the foot that I had even before, except that now also my left ankle is hurting a bit because I was using it more because of my hurting right foot): heart palpitations from time to time, sweating in the night, I cannot sleep properly during night (waking up) and my jaw is cracking for like 2 months (without pain).
I don't have other joints pain or anything.

I also think I got bitten by some insect 3 months ago but I am not sure (I was in Costa Rica) - I just remember waking up one day during our voyage with the ankle swallen a bit and my heel hurting (as I was having a quite tanned skin, I didn't see if it was red but I think so).

What do you all think? Since when I have it? How can I interpret the bands in Western Blot?

What if I have it for a longer time? How can I know that?

Thank you so much for your answers!!!

Judith

Post Edited (Judith80) : 11/2/2014 1:54:30 AM (GMT-7)

First, thank you very much for your answer,
but I have read the section "New to Lyme" and I didn't find any information regarding how old my Lyme disease could be :(
Is it really true that I cannot know since when I got it, approximately at least? if I'm in the first stage, second or third stage at least? :(
Aren't there some tests that can be done in order to see that? I have already done Western Blot as I said in the previous message.

I am in Europe, could anybody send me good Lyme specialists names in Europe by private message? I saw Germany has some good specialists. You know how important it is to be treated by a good specialist, this is why I am searching for answers as soon as possible.

Thank you very much for your answers.

Judith

achievinggrace said...
Hi Judith,
There is a section in the "New to Lyme?" thread at the top of the forum that has some interpretation information.

I don't think there is any way to know how long you have been infected. But it is important to get good and thorough treatment in the case of a long-held infection. And if you have a co-infection with one of the other tick borne diseases it is very important to get proper treatment.

I hope the Lyme specialist you are going to see is a Lyme Literate Doctor associated with ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Disease Society). They will treat you until all your symptoms are resolved. Infectious Disease Doctors do not do this.

Glad you found us!

Thanks for your message Rebbeckk24.

By reading different posts, I learned that the best treatment would be either:

• Tinidazole combined with Doxycycline or
  
• Samento TOA and Banderol
  

I'm currently on Doxycycline only (2X100mg per day) and it appears not enough according to the researches of Dr Sapi (and worst, it didn't kill the resistant bacteria)....

Dear friends, with your experience, what do you recommend? What dosage?

Thank you very much !!!

Thank you achievinggrace !

achievinggrace said...
No, I meant that interpretation for the bands of the Lyme test was in the "New to Lyme?" thread.

You really need to be under the care of a Lyme Literate Doctor. And yes, you need to be on 2 X 200mg of doxycycline per day.

To get help finding a doctor, start a new thread entitled "Looking for LLMD in (name the area you can travel).

Hope you get some good help soon.

I have a suggestion. Think back over the last few months and see if you justified away any other symptoms. I believe it's human nature to try and justify or rationalize what is happening to our bodies because we want to be healthy.
I did that with a lot of my symptoms. There were days I felt like I never really woke up. I assumed that the medicine I took at night for whatever reason didn't kick in for hours and was effecting me when I woke up.
I have quite a few other issues that I have been dealing with the last few years and one of the rx's I take at night is Zanaflex which used to put me to sleep.
My 23 year old son comes over and has dinner with me. The lights, TV, microwave etc would all go off for about 2 seconds and we would never break conversation. This happened pretty regularly. I didn't think anything of it until it was a question on the initial new patient forms for my LLMD.