Hello! I am new to this forum and do not know much about
Lyme or its co-infections unfortunately. Please bear with me for a slightly long post.
I had routine lab work in the beginning of February and my doctor always tests for Lyme since I live on Long Island and frequently visit upstate NY... both places I have had ticks crawling on me, but never saw one embedded. I have 2 dogs who I have had to pull ticks off many times. So the exposure is definitely there, I just never saw any indication of a bite.
The lab work showed that I had a Babesia microti IgG titer of 1:40, but was negative for Lyme with only 2 bands present on the western blot, 41 and 66. My doctor brushed it off and said it could have been a lab error and that we would retest in a month. At that point, I had only been feeling really tired which is nothing new and I blamed that on battling depression which always spikes in the winter. I had been having a lot of tummy troubles, but attributed that to ongoing IBS with stress. I also had been having night sweats, but attributed that to all the hot yoga I was doing.
However, in the beginning of last week more symptoms popped up in addition to the night sweats and upset stomach. I began feeling flu-like symptoms without the congestion - feverish and flushed, body aches, some nausea, and crazy fatigue. I also began to have intense joint pain in my knees - I have never had problems with my knees before even after working out. Having the first results in my head and feeling this way, I made an appointment with the doctor and we re-tested everything slightly earlier than planned along with several other tests just to rule everything out.
These second test results were similar - I still had the 2 bands on the western blot present and the Babesia microti IgG titer went up to 1:80. I also tested positive for Antinuclear Antibodies, IFA with a Speckled Pattern of 1:640. My doctor referred me to a rheumatologist whom I have an appointment with next week. I am definitely willing to see what the rheumatologist says of course, but after doing a little research I am nervous about
letting this go too long without a proper diagnosis if it is in fact Babesia.
Does anyone have advice on what the next step should be? Can you have Babesia without Lyme? Is it common to catch this that early on where I have only had symptoms for 2 weeks? My doctor doesn't seem worried about
it, but I feel like I haven't been given much information.
Thank you in advance for your help. Any little tips would be awesome!
Kris