(No Subject)

I was bit Friday evening 10/31. I didn't see it, but from what I hear they are usually less than 2mm. This picture is from the next morning Saturday morning- 11/1. We were out at our land doing s'mores which does have a lot of deer.

I had fever...for about a week, achey body, extreme fatigue, and some weird heart beats. I went in to the dr. on Monday 11/3. Dr. Didn't really think it was Lyme due to lack of diagnosis in this area. Did not put me on an antibiotic. He said that he wanted to do a test that would show if I recently contracted it and this test was only viable in the early stages. (He noted that if he did another test that it could be misread as I could have be preciously affected years ago etc). He stated that the tests name was an IGM. I was called on Thursday 11/6 and told that my test came back positive and that I have Lyme disease and that anything over a 1.10 was positive and my results were 1.49. He put me on doxycycline for a 2 week RX. He asked the lab if they could run a "western blot" from the same sample and the lab said that they didn't think they even ran that test anymore acting like it was a pretty outdated test. I went in on Thursday afternoon and they did another blood sample. (Note- I still had a fever at this time- about 100- never dangerously high, but my normal is low usually 97.1 max...and usually in the 96. Range.) I began the antibiotic Thursday evening. Today I was called and told that this second test came out negative. And that THIS test was actually the IGM test and that the previous test was just an antibody test. They mentioned three strands and the results were read in a higher result form such as 20s 30s 40s...and that each of the strands came back negative. I have read that at this early in the case that some tests could come back negative due to the lack of time for the antibodies to build and depending on the persons immune system etc. I feel my immune system is pretty strong. People were diagnosed in this area last year according to the health department, but not any this year. The dr. Relayed to the nurse that he said to go off the antibiotics and that I do not have it. I still am very fatigued. I was told that it takes about a week on the antibiotic to really start feeling better. So. After reading all of the negative complications that can result from a case not being diagnosed early enough I am reluctant to go off of the antibiotic. And I am weary due to the fact that he specifically told me he was running an IGM initially and now that seemed to have changed.

This is a copy from a message I sent to a friend whose brother is a doctor and their sister has chronic Lyme disease.

Since this my doctor told me that the test he performed initially was a total Lyme antibody test. Like a combination of IGM and IGA? My western blot IGM was negative.

Hi Abidiana,
Welcome to our community!

If you haven't yet, I would greatly encourage you to read through our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread that sits at the top of the forum. It's packed with important and helpful information, like symptoms lists, detoxing suggestions, and so much more.

Well, it's obvious that the doctor you are dealing with doesn't even understand what test he is ordering and the lab has no clue what they are talking about either - this is actually quite common. The Western Blot has two sections - IgM and IgG. It is an antibody test, which means that they aren't looking for the bacteria, but your bodies response to the bacteria - it should (in theory) produce antibodies to the bacteria, but in the case of Lyme and Bartonella, the bacteria suppress this, so the tests quite often (50% of the time) miss those that have these infections.

Can you get a copy of your test and post it here? We have a lot of experience helping people understand their test results and can likely help you as well.

I would encourage you to stay on the abx (antibiotics) even though it's not enough to take care of the infection, it will stop them from replicating if you are taking at least 200 mgs of Doxy a day. But you need to find a doctor that understands these infections - a LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor) that has been trained by ILADS or at least knows what's going on! We can help with that.

For information on finding a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor(LLMD) in your area, you can start a new thread titled something like:"Looking for LLMD/LLND in the _______ area." Although 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 envelop under my screen name. I may have contact information for some LLMD's in your area as well.​ ​Please include your state and area that you would like to find a LLMD in and I will see how close I can get.​


You can email Stephanie at: [email protected] You can also go to: www.turnthecorner.org/ if you want to learn a little bit more about Lyme Disease.

You can also 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

​ You can also now email TBDA (Tick Borne Disease Alliance) at [email protected]​
​ and ask for LLMD referrals also.
​
You will want to find an ILADS (International Lyme And Associated Diseases Society) trained doctor, as ID Docs (Infectious Disease Doctors) 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 Lyme journey.www.ilads.org/lyme/ILADS_Guidelines.pdf