Co-Infections a given?

I've been wondering the same thing.

My signature tells my story as far as Lyme is concerned. I tested negative for the co-infections...however, there are no available tests that address every strain.

Just as with Lyme, diagnosing co-infections is a clinical diagnosis (based upon symptoms).

My theory about people who have had Lyme for longer than a year and probably have co-infections is that the co-infections were able to "take root" because those same people were not treated or were inadequately treated after they were infected.

A person who starts treatment soon after a tick bite is usually started on doxycycline which not only treats Lyme but, many of the co-infections.

As of right now, I only had/have signs of Lyme. However, when I had a hot flash in my LLMD's office last month (and reported 2 previous ones after starting treatment), he speculated Babesia.

I haven't had one since....and hot flashes can also be a Lyme symptom.

It is obviously very difficult to sort through everything and it seems that doctors treat one infection at a time while the patient reaps the possible benefit of treating a co-infection if the treatment for the co-infection happens to be the same for the infection being addressed at that particular moment.

It seems that some people might have some lingering symptoms after extended treatment that might point the LLMD towards a co-infection. It's at that point that LLMD's might start treating with the specific meds directed at the suspected co-infection.

Clear as mud - huh? ;)

I think that many of us have many of these infections in us already. However, I think that we don't notice them because our immune system keeps them under control. When Lyme invades the body, it weakens our immune system and the body defenses enough that it allows for other bacteria already in the body to grow and establish itself. EBV is a good example of this. It is in most of us but then when Lyme infects, the numbers skyrocket. Bartonella seems to be another one.

There there is my other theory; Lyme has been around for thousands of years. Over the years, it probably learned that teaming up with other bacteria would better its chance of survival than if it acted alone. So it learned to co-exist with other bacteria and so here we are....dealing with it.

What I don't get is why does it want to kill its host since killing it also kills itself.

Hi RunnerGirl,

I was asking the same question recently. All my labs show I have Lyme disease alone, which I was happy at first but am now seriously doubting. I'm trying to figure out if any labs can reliably diagnose the co-infections, or will I have to weed out the Lyme first, see what symptoms are left, treat those one by one, etc.

And how do you even KNOW the Lyme is gone when you may still have other symptoms that you've been associating with LD? Tricky little bugs, all of them!!!

Maui

This is a really intresting document, written by a German Lyme specialist. It's long, but worth reading.

www.praxis-berghoff.de/dokumente/infektiologische_differentialdiagnose-engl.pdf

Marie

Thanks for the great link, Marie! I've added it to my folder :)

You guys might have seen Dr. Horowitz's interview that was a segment of the Autoimmune Summit shared on here recently. Perhaps you've seen one (or more) of his ILADS presentations on YouTube.

He has a map he follows to aid with differential diagnosis that has enabled him to successfully treat over 12K patients with what he calls MCIDS (Multiple Chronic Infectious Disease Syndrome).

He shares the map, testing and treatment protocols in his book. I'm finding it very interesting and it could prove to be very helpful as I move forward with my treatment.

Much comes down to clinical diagnosis that can sometimes be confirmed with diagnostic testing.

You're welcome cd

Ok, this is my dr, he has a lot of patients and hires statisticians to interpret his data. I can not remember the exact number, but patients that have Bartonella mostly test positive for
LD (I think percentage was in the 90's).

I read here on the forum somewhere that statistics claim that 80% of Lyme patients have some kind of coinfection.

I first got tested positive for Bartonella, then Borrelia, then Chlamydia Pn., then systemic Yersinia Enterocolitica, and my dr tested me two weeks ago for Babesia, he strongly believes it's also present. He has proven to be right if it's about coinfections, despite my financial objections too get tested LOL

I think it was already mentioned (sorry, don't want to read all the responses again) but since it's likely that an infected tick that has more than one microbe would also infect us with more than one microbe, which would overwhelm your immune system (thus all the viral infections that are common with us)… and that your overwhelmed immune system would keep you sick longer and make treatment more complex and long-term.

But I think your question begs the question… why do the ticks carry more than one microbe?

-p