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arthrirtis in the 1st year

just tested positive for lymes on elisa...no confirmatory test done yet.
i have a bad right knee since the flu like illness last sep...x ray shows arthritis in that knee...can arthritis occur in the 1st year of lymes?
thanks for your help..

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Avatar universal
How are you doing now tina? Have been to europe or us before? Doxycycline may not be enough, it usually takes long term antibiotic treatment.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Glad you are doing better!  Sometimes response to medication is quicker than you'd think.

I just re-read your earlier messages, and about the knees -- everyone is different that way -- I get the clicking in my ankles sometimes, and sometimes my knees are puffy and sore after I've had a little flare up of the infection.

Perhaps your MD, since it sounds like he is trying to be helpful and has an open mind, would be interested in reading 'Treatment Guidelines' written by Joseph Burrascano MD.  He is a member of ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society) and is an authority on the topic.  He has revised the Guidelines over time, to reflect developments in research and understanding of Lyme and other diseases that the ticks sometimes carry.  The Guidelines are written for medical personnel, but if you are interested, you may wish to read them also -- I go there every so often to refresh my memory or check on a change in my symptoms, since understanding what is going on (or at least trying to) is crucial to my peace of mind.

If you go to the ILADS [dot] org website, click on the tab 'About Lyme' and you will find the Guidelines there.  As mentioned in a previous message, there are many many strains of Lyme (B. burgdorferi), and tests only pick up some of them, so that what is what is really important is a thoughtful approach to your symptoms.  Tests for other coinfections are more precise, but if your symptoms don't fit those other diseases, then in my experience, MDs don't usually test for those.  LLMDs commonly use IGeneX Labs in Palo Alto, California, which is more precise than the other tests, tho still not perfect.  The Guidelines cover this subject, as I recall.  I believe you might be able to fedex/other courier a blood sample to IGeneX, but the tests may not pick up a strain that you have -- may depend on where you were infected.  (We are now past the limits of my understanding on this topic.)  [PS, ELISA followed by Western blot is helpful, but not definitive -- diagnosis should, I am told, be made as a clinical diagnosis, not despite your signs and symptoms.]

I would suggest that you read the Guidelines and send them to your MD as well, so that you can together devise a diagnostic and treatment plan.  Whether a month of doxy is the right drug and/or enough of it is something to determine.  Doxy may not be effective on certain coinfections, and a month's treatment may or may not be long enough, because of the very long reproductive cycle I understand Lyme bacteria have, making them less susceptible to a course of antibiotics that would be ridiculously long for other, more usual bacteria.  There is also the Lyme bacteria's ability to shield itself from treatment by hiding in a cyst-like structure, in effect going dormant in an adverse environment.  That can require different antibiotics.  The Guidelines cover all this.

Best wishes, let us know how you do!

Best wishes
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Avatar universal
thanks so much Jackie <3

There  are no a lymes specialists here in india..as lymes is so rare or maybe underreported  here..

i do have a POSITIVE  elisa though i havent had the w blot done yet...

my current doctor, an MD in medicine has put me on doxycycline 100 mg twice a day for a month along with vitamin b12, and  vitamin e. i am also on a supplement of glucosamine, chondrotin sulphate and MSM.

ive been on doxy only for a week now.. but feeling a difference in symptoms already :-) that surprise me a bit though...as i read somewhere that symptoms take some weeks to subside..
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Avatar universal
There are many different strains of Lyme bacteria, and the current tests do not detect them all.  I have read that there are some 100 strains in the US, and the European strains are often different from the US strains.  I can only imagine the same applies to other geographic areas.

The tests are also not very precise, so the MD is supposed to use them tests only as one factor in making a diagnosis, along with your symptoms and history.

Also, it is my understanding that after infection, the immune system can tire of producing antibodies against the bacteria, and because the commonly used ELISA and Western blot tests measure antibodies and not the actual bacteria, then those tests may come back negative a while after an infection, although there is an infection present.  Sometimes an MD will give a short course of antibiotics and re-test, because the antibiotics may indirectly reactivate the immune system to produce antibodies and thus show a positive result.  There are also 'PCR' tests which do not rely on the presence of antibodies, but non-Lyme specialists do not tend to use those tests.

If you are not seeing a Lyme specialist, you may wish to consider doing so.  In your situation, I think I would.

Best wishes --
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Avatar universal
i had terrible joint pains when the fever came but no visible swelling... my knees were wonderful before the fever, they just keep clicking n hurting all the time now...

how much would you rely on the antibody test? My result one year after the fever is IgG- 1.4 (cut off 1,1) and IgM- 0.7 (cut off 1.1)...
one doc didnt seem too impressed..she said lymes very rare in india...im from india
Helpful - 0
428506 tn?1296557399
It is my understanding that the arthritis associated with Lyme is often inflammatory but rarely destructive.  That is, while Lyme may cause swelling in the joints, it does not erode the joints nor does it cause mechanical joint problems.  However if you have underlying arthritis of any kind then Lyme can surely aggregate it.

In terms of how long it can take for Lyme to cause certain symptoms I think that varies person to person and is impossible to predict.
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