Can Hashimoto's Disease trigger a false positive Elisa & Western Blot?

I was looking at the lab results for all the blood tests that my LLNP ran and even though my thyroid is functioning normally, my thyroid antibodies were pretty crazy. My thyroglobulin antibody was a 41.8 (normal range is 0-0.9), and my thyroid peroxidase was 116 (normal range is 0-34).

I'm in this chicken and the egg conundrum. I know from wikipedia that Hashimoto's Disease can be triggered by Lyme Disease, but I also know that autoimmune diseases (which Hashimoto's Disease is) can also trigger false positive Lyme Disease tests from LabCorp (says it right on the test). I know people with thyroid issues can have the same symptoms as Lyme (joint pain, muscle weakness & aches, headaches, low grade fevers, etc), and one of my earliest symptoms in addition to my migrating joint pain was that I had a sore throat and that my throat felt tight (that feeling when you wanna cry). Both of those throat complaints are a sign of some kind of thyroid issue so my family doctor initially tested my thyroid function in addition to all the autoimmune tests he ran. Everything came back normal, but now I'm wondering whether my antibody levels would have also been crazy back then if he knew to test me for those.

Is there any way for me to know for sure whether I have Lyme Disease before I decide to continue treating it? Per my original thread I never saw a tick; all I really saw was a rash that could have been either a tick or mosquito bite. I also didn't see any improvement in my symptoms while I was on Doxy, so I'm wondering if I just didn't respond because I don't have Lyme.

I'm second guessing everything because I went to my PCP yesterday to discuss my lab results (didn't want to wait to see my LLNP to discuss them), and after he asked to see my treatment plan so he could have some context to all the lab work I had done, he kind of freaked out . He BEGGED me to not start the antibiotic regiment that my LLNP prescribed to me, and he BEGGED me to seek a second opinion at Duke or UNC Hospital.

To be very honest, his pleas left me pretty shaken and I left the office teary eyed. Not because he yelled at me or anything dramatic like that (he's a soft spoken guy), but because I could tell he was genuinely scared for me & my future. Like I'm so young, I don't want to face the possibility of MRSA/C. Diff. years down the road after taking all these antibiotics if it turns out I never really had Lyme to begin with.

In my opinion, Hashimoto's can not cause a false positive Lyme test. To me, it seems its just another one of our governments wonderful ways to keep the Lyme numbers down. The reason it can not cause a false positive is that the test looks for specific protein markers. Hashimoto's Disease does not cause these markers, but those markers can contribute to Hashi's. There are bands that are specific to borrelia and if they show up, you have had or have borrelia in your system regardless of your thyroid status.

I just took a peek at your thyroid labs, Gummo.

Sorry to tell you this but, your levels leave a LOT of room for improvement.

As astroman indicated, your doctor declared your thyroid "fine" most likely because the results fall within the normal range.

However, an estimated 20 million Americans are walking around with undiagnosed hypothyroidism.

And, since it's sick people who get their blood drawn most often, lab ranges are skewed towards unhealthy levels.

All of that said, studies have shown that healthy people have TSH 1.0 or lower. A thyroid-savvy doctor knows that TSH > 2 is suspect for hypothyroidism.

Healthy people also have Free T4 (T4, free (direct)) levels in the upper quarter of the range.

Based upon your lab's ranges, this means a healthy person will have a FreeT4 level above 1.5 and often closer to 1.77.

Those same healthy people have Free T3 (tri-iodothyronine, free, serum) levels in the upper quarter of the range.

Based upon your lab's ranges, this means a healthy person will have a Free T3 level of 3.8 up to 4.4.

For whatever it's worth, I've been dealing with thyroid disease since 2007.....long before Lyme. I suffered needlessly for two years under the care of a succession of clueless endos and a clueless GP.

Once I learned about thyroid, I was able to identify a doctor I could work with and I've been doing really well in that department.

If I had your levels, I'd be dealing with countless symptoms. In fact, my levels were "better" (higher in the range) than yours are when I started thyroid hormone replacement....and I had easily 30 symptoms at the time.

I feel best when my Free T4 level is around 1.8 (yes, slightly over-range which is not uncommon) and Free T3 around 4.0.

I would imagine that you are taking thyroid hormone replacement if you have Hashi's (unless the doctor is erroneously telling you to wait until things get worse).

No matter what, you need more thyroid hormone.

Thyroid hormone is required by every single cell in the body for proper function. Not having enough thyroid hormone impacts the immune system as well.

In fact, hypothyroidism is just as bad as Lyme as far as the number of symptoms it can cause:

hypothyroidmom.com/300-hypothyroidism-symptoms-yes-really/

I hope you can convince your doctor to address your sub-par levels with more thyroid hormone. It can make a world of a difference.

Ok, so you tested positive even on Labcorp IGM by CDC standards. I wouldn't doubt it and give real treatment a try. It looks like it was a good month after bite that you even started the doxy, so probably too late at that point to just use doxy. If you take a good probiotic you should be fine. I would say if you gave a 3 month treatment a try and it is Lyme, that you should see symptom improvement. That doesn't seem too long to be on antibiotics. You could also ask about a pulse method to have some days or even a week off. Or, like I said above, go herbal.

We absolutely must remember that there is a ton of misinformation out there. Don't believe what those that don't even believe in these infections say about them! The CDC & IDSA says that there is no such thing as Chronic Lyme, that those are just symptoms that we have to live with and that they will go away after a period of time. Really? Then why, 40 years later, I finally got rid of my infections when I had Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia treatments? I was treated for RMSF at the age of 7, but it left me with a chronic infection because it was not treated with the right abx for the right amount of time.

Looking to a lab that doesn't use the best testing methods for these infections for information on these infections is like asking a blind man (no offense) to describe the way a room looks without ever leaving the chair. They simply don't know what they are talking about if they answer.


For your thyroid issues, I would suggest that you go to this site: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/how-to-find-a-good-doc/ and if you can't find a doc any other way, then join their Yahoo group and ask there. That's what I had to do in order to find someone that would treat my thyroid and adrenal issues.

That's not a silly question, Gummo. Yes, many people go on to have healthy kids. Remember, it's a matter of what genes they get from BOTH parents. And, Lyme is known to mimic autoimmune issues, although once we heal from Lyme, those issues are gone.

And even if you have actual autoimmune thyroid issues, the answer is still yes on having a good chance at having very healthy kids. You may have to have your thyroid meds changed, but they need to be monitored anyway, especially while you are pregnant.

I don't know about others, but for me, I saw my doc every month for quite a while, but I was dealing with severe adrenal fatigue as well as hypothyroidism. Once we reached a level of thyroid function & adrenal stability that my doc was happy with, I went to seeing her every 3 months. Now I'm at every 6 months unless something changes for me. I suspect that once I attained yet another level of healing, my appt's will be only once a year to monitor things.