possible symptoms?

[juju709]

How long after first noticing your tick bite until symptoms develop and if administered antibiotics immediately could it be possible that they didn't work?  When I was 19 years old I had developed the typical rash of lyme disease and put on a dose of antibiotics.  I am now a 34 year old mother of three suffering from biliary dyskinsia and severe fatigue and random urticaria.  Also debilitating joint pain in my knee that comes and goes.  I also suffer from severe shoulder pain and sometimes jaw pain.  Sometimes my feet tingle and sometimes I can barely walk.  Occasional migraines and persistant eye twitches lasting up to two weeks.  I am healthy weight and feel like I am falling apart.  I have cut out dairy, eggs, and fat from my diet and still must have a bowel movement every time I am eating. My ANA was normal as with all other labs except my sed rate was border line and my HIDA scan revealed an ejection fraction of 12%.  My doctor doesn't reccomened having my gallbladder removed because she thinks I have something autoimmune going on but she doesn't specify what.  Ugh, I am so frustrated!  Should I insist on a specific test or what?

[Imajerk]

What sort of tests would an LLMD order that a non LLMD would not?

The standard I see is ELISA and Western Blot.

[juliva]

I can PM you a awesome LLDO who isn't to far from you if you'd like? Also Linda at MLDA is a great source of info for MI.  

[JackieCalifornia]

PS to answer your specific question about whether you should request a specific test, yes, there are tests that your MD should run, but nonLLMDs order different Lyme tests than LLMDs do (that is, they order them from different labs), and when the results come back, a non LLMD will likely interpret the test quite differently from an LLMD.

The tests are not terribly precise, and must be read in light of your symptoms.  Unfortunately non LLMDs dont' know how to do that, so whatever they tell you may well be incorrect.  That's why I focussed on finding an LLMD.  

Seeing a non LLMD would be like taking a racing Ferrari to a moped shop:  yeah, Ferraris and mopeds both have wheels and engines, but that's about as far as the similarity goes.

[JackieCalifornia]

Sorry to hear how you are feeling -- wow, mothering 3 kids and feeling lousy!  I don't know how you do it, but good for you for carrying on.

I would suggest that you find an LLMD, which is shorthand for "Lyme Literate MD", meaning an MD (or naturopath or DO or whatever you prefer) who takes an enlightened view of Lyme disease and the co-infections sometimes carried by the same ticks.

I see you are in Michigan, which is a bit of a hot spot for Lyme, even 14 years ago.  I know someone who has had Lyme for at least 25 years and got it in the midwest.  It's only in recent years tho that it has become more recognized, but that doesn't mean the medical profession overall has caught up with the times.  

That's why seeing a mainstream MD may get you nowhere, because mainstream docs are taught that Lyme is hard to get and easy to cure.  Uhh, no.  LLMDs are sometimes harrassed by local medical boards, who are controlled by nonLLMDs, so the LLMDs have to be cautious about not advertising much.  But there are ways to find an LLMD, often online.  If you google "LLMD Detroit" you'll find a list of posts, comments, etc., that may lead you where you want to go.  Also try ILADS [dot] org and truthaboutlymedisease [dot] com (at that website, click 'resources' and go to the bottom of the page).  If you can't locate anyone in your area, post back and let us know.

I'm not medically trained, but personally I wouldn't be taking out my gallbladder till I knew why.  Lyme messes with the body in very strange ways, and I went through 20+ highly trained MDs before finally getting a diagnosis that made sense.  

Let us know how you do.  Best wishes!