Dormant Lyme ?????

[OIFVET2003]

Hi Everyone. I was diagnosed with lyme in 1995, I was treated aggessively with IV antibiotics, and a bunch of other meds, In 1997 I had an abnormal MRI, In 1999 moved to montana and have a infectiouse disease doctor. We stoped the iv antibiotics, I then was on a hand full of meds, I was perfectly healthy in 2002. I had know signs of damage or was on any medication. I made one tour of duty in Iraq in 2003/2004. Still perfectly healthy, I just came back from another tour in Iraq and Have the same symptoms that I had before. I still see the same doctor. All Lyme tests came back negative along with CSF fluid taken were negative. I used to know more then my doc on this but stopped research. My question is can the bacteria stay dorment and under extreme stress become active. If so need refrences to show doc.  Thanks

[wonko]

As JackieCalifornia notes, the ILADS site has a lot of information.

There is content there devoted to the 2009 hearing regarding the IDSA guidelines.  Just skimming for the information you want, about Lyme being able to hide in the body even after treatment, see here:

http://www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/written_testimony/6%20Stricker-Challenge%20to%20Implausibility.pdf

***

Lists of letters, presentations, and videos can be found at the below:

http://www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/lyme_testimony.html

http://www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/lyme_slides.html

http://www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/lyme_idsavideo2.html

***

Based on my own personal experience, I believe that Lyme can be dormant, causing only minimal symptoms, until stress or other illness enables it to become active.


Good luck with your doctor & more good wishes.

[JackieCalifornia]

Greetings, and welcome home.  Sorry to hear your symptoms have returned.  It's possible you picked up something in Iraq, not necessarily Lyme but some other bug, or exposure to an environmental toxin.

In my reading, CSF does not usually show evidence of Lyme, even if you have Lyme.  

Which Lyme tests did you take recently?  Which labs were they sent to?  Igenex seems to be a favorite of the LLMDs these days.  (LLMD = Lyme Literate MD, that is, one who takes a broader view of Lyme and its coinfections.)

Were you tested for co-infections?  Babesiosis, bartonella, ehrlichiosis, etc.

I understand that taking a short course of antibiotics can cause negative Lyme tests to convert to positive, by stimulating your immune system to produce detectable antibodies and thus a positive Lyme test.

You might check ILADS [dot] org, website of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, which is the best known LLMD organization.  They have much good information on current trends in diagnosis and treatment posted on their website.  That can bring you up to date on recent developments in diagnosis and treatment.

I am beginning to understand that Lyme can simply lie dormant, even after treatment, due to its habit of hiding in cysts in the body when the environment is adverse (e.g., when antibiotics are present.)  There is a recent book which outlines some of this in the process of telling a good story, called 'Cure Unknown' by Pamela Weintraub, now in paperback.  Even if you're not up for a lot of reading, it's a riveting tale of the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and of real people dealing with it as we are too.

To answer your specific question, yes, the bacteria can lie dormant, and when your immune system is down, rise up again.  I am not medically trained, so this information is simply what I have learned from reading here and there.  I think you are wise to consider the possibility.

Thank you for your service to our country.  Best wishes for your return to health -- let us know if we can help here.