22 yr old male Lymes?

[hv2laf]

Hello all,
Im going to make this a very short version and include links to other posts ive made if you wish to further your reading.

I am a 22 yr old caucasian male in the military. I have had quite alot of testing done lately for worsening symptoms and arrival of new symptoms. None of the symptoms seem to be consistent with anything I eat, drink, use on my skin, breath, how stressed, or how much sleep i get.
Here is a short symptoms list:
Hypersensitivity of skin
neck ache/pains
neck pops/cracks
upper back pain (feels like inflammation all the time sometimes worsens more than others)
lower back pain left side (low as in sacral area)
pain in left hip joint
"plantar fascitis" in right foot
temporary loss of sensation to pain (outsides of arms and legs)
permanent decrease in sensation in left foot in small area
Inflammation in white area of eyes (pic in profile)
eye redness all the time / watery eyes
constipation and diarreha (stool past few weeks: dark, tarry, thick but soft consistency, very foul smell)
randomized muscle spasms
Orthostatic Intolerance (hypertension throughout the day sitting and standing, hypotension when laying down and when sleeping)
"Erectile Dysfunction" or so they call it

Im going to stop there

testing my doc has done has mostly ranged around the basics.. mostly has tried seeing if i have an STD and HIV, checking glucose levels,  checking for heart attacks lately because of "episodes" ive been having. Stress tests, 24 heart monitors, EKGs, injections in the back to numb pain nothing has worked. I asked him about testing for Lymes he did the ELISA test when alot of these problems started happening but it came up NEGATIVE.
the episodes started happening more and more frequently each week.

So I went ahead and made an appointment with a Lymes specialist.
Before testing after explaining all this. He says
"I believe I know whats happening here. You may have Lymes but with that have 2 possible co-infections causing a few of the other pains. 1 is called Bartonella the other is called Babesia. First I want to get 2 labs done first. (labs in album)
IGeneX Western Blot IgM, I hit 3 of 5 of the DOUBLE STARRED bands with IND (23-25, 39, 41) . So it still came out NEGATIVE.
                         the IgG, I hit very POSITIVE on 31, IND on 34, and POSTIVE on 41. So came out POSITIVE for IGeneX criteria but NEGATIVE for CDC criteria.
With this test he ordered  a bartonella microscopy test. Which came back showing "Few coccobacilli adherent to erythrocytes" which says "suggestive of hemobartonella or hemoplasma".

My primary care doctor is arguing these labs, saying he still doesnt think its it, started talking about the labs references and how they dont mean anything.

I just had a cd57 test done today so Ill be waiting on those results as well.

anyone have any input or better test suggestions to have this ruled out?

The Lymes specialist also ordered Babesia test and  put me on antibiotics and wants to run an IgeneX Western Blot IgM test again.

links to other posts for more reading

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Brain-Pituitary-Tumors/small-2mm-hyperintense/show/921546?personal_page_id=513007&post_id=post_4728586

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Gastroenterology/Stool-problems/show/1016766?personal_page_id=513007&post_id=post_4737616

im open for suggestions! thank you

[hv2laf]

What do they show if they come out LOW? Is it still possible liver problems or is it generalized in what it could be or more specific possibly showing something else?

When I was on Neurontin after the first week we upped the dose and it made ALL my symptoms much worse or so it seemed. so I stopped taking it.

[Hope75]

Ah, I am wrong.  Those are AST and ALT levels.  Mine were elevated b/c of the meds I am on:  neurontin and Pamelor.  They are showing liver function (usually).  I had them retested after going off the larger dose of neurontin and they were back to normal.  

[Hope75]

That's interesting, my only other lab that was off was alanine and aspartate.  I just found it in my records this week.  They didn't mention it as a problem at Johns Hopkins.  hmmm off to do some research.  keep us posted!

[hv2laf]

Yes and I definitely hit very POSITIVE in 31kDa on the IgG portion. That specialist believes I have co-infections of Bartonella and Babesia at the least. Bartonella test showed positive for a bacteria showing in the blood. Babesia test not done and Im not sure if they would be cross-reactive with 31kDa.
In April '09, my metabolic panel showed me LOW in Alanine and Asparate Aminotransferase. Also on that same panel was potassium and it came in at the borderline mark of 3.5 so inbetween LOW and Normal. Not sure what these test for Alanine and Asparate mean im just reading them off.
Since then Ive had more testing done but those came out normal, even on "bad" days where I would think something would show, nothing... Except on CBCs keep showing HIGH lymphs and last time had HIGH WBC.

Still trying to find a military doc that will ackknowledge or agree. I see an Endocinologist within the next week as well as doing a sleep study. Dont know if either of these may show something or not we will see.

*NOTE* Ive been on antibiotic treatment for over a week now. Going on 2 weeks tomorrow. Ive been "feeling" pretty good. Even with the feeling tired, back pains, abdominal pains. Hard to describe maybe like an increase of sense of well being. Feels like I have energy but at the same time my mind feels very fatigued. But I havent felt this "good" for awhile so I think they antibiotics might actually be doing something. or who knows maybe its a side effect?  I do get an upset stomach from taking it as well though.

Ill keep yall posted, if any of you find any useful info. Let me know, preferrably .gov sites. Or well known and trusted sites that hold the info. Would be useful for my end

[Hope75]

I'm a military spouse as well.  You will have difficulty in getting any doc, military or civilian, to believe in Lyme.  Period.  However, I'm told that the military is quite aware of Lyme disease and its prevalence, more than the civilian sector.  There is apparently a published military study from the Southeast US re: cases of Lyme in soldiers.  I haven't tried to look it up, but my Lyme support group spoke about it briefly in one meeting.  I do know of some PAs that believe in Lyme on my base, but others staunchly believe chronic Lyme does not exist.  See if you can find any "believers" at your base, they have to be there somewhere....

[JackieCalifornia]

Do your blood tests show any mineral deficiencies?  Lyme uses up magnesium (Mg) in its reproductive cycle, and that can make you feel tired and miserable, besides constipated.

Problem is, most Mg in the body is inside the cells, so if your bloodstream is carry Mg to the Lyme bugs to do their thing, the Mg levels inside the cells are getting lower and lower, but blood tests will often show normal levels of Mg IN YOUR BLOOD.  There is no commonly accepted test for Mg levels inside your cells, tho a fellow in the Pacific NW has invented one that I haven't been able to get an MD to order for me.

I just had a bunch of blood work done by an MD who doesn't believe in Lyme as anything serious, and the only thing I was low in was:  magnesium.  Which means the Lyme has probl. been using up what's inside the cells and the cells are running out.

So I now take Mg malate daily.  I've read that if you get diarrhea, back off on the dosage, but otherwise no serious side effects from Mg supplementation.  I take about 20% more than the RDA of Mg, and so far, no problems.  Helps with mood and well-being too.  Just a thought.  I'm not medically trained, this is just my personal experience.

Hang in there.  The trickiest part of the dance you are doing is going back and forth between the two drs and trying to herd them along to getting you well -- sounds like you are doing a very good job being proactive.