Lyme and MS disgnosis

[Ufrustrated2]

can Lyme disease cause the classical MS brain lesion pattern known as "Dawsons fingers" and the MS CFS inflammation from positive O-bands? i have these plus history and so diagnosed with MS.

i have MS and bloods tests show tested for Lyme disease that was neg.

a new doctor said my symptoms may be Lyme though i showed him the test results that were neg for Lyme. i can see symptoms of these diseases overlapping. but would like to know if the above test results could be from Lyme too?

[Ufrustrated2]

best of success with it!! thanks for your replies.

[mojogal]

I never had a spinal related to that however I was told I had those O bands.

Lyme is called the great imitator, I came back positive for Lupus, Hashimotos and many other things besides MS.

I know several Neuro lymies that are cured so I am hoping for the same outcome.

[Ufrustrated2]

this is all so weird as you can imagine. i have no idea what veterans dept use for antibody tests and various antibiotics over the years for other things. i see a new neuro soon. i'll ask him about this igenex test.

is neuro lyme curable?

[Ricobord]

I had a number of MS-like symptoms and ended up at a major hospital's MS dept where I had a full work up.  I had a whole lotta little white brain lesions, but I didn't have the "Dawson's fingers."

Quite a few people show positive O-bands, even when they don't have MS. Some people with Lyme will also show some positive O-bands. This is not a definitive diagnostic test for MS, just one piece of information to assist in a clincical diagnosis.

You might Google "Dawson's fingers Lyme" to see what comes up.  I did find one example of a patient with Dawson's fingers who was positive on a Lyme test. False positive antibody tests for Lyme are very rare indeed, in spite of what some doctors have been told.  

And Lyme can do a frighteningly good job of looking just like MS.  You can Google "Lyme mimics MS" and see what comes up.  Lymenet has a page with a list of links to papers and studies discussing how Lyme can look like MS. There are case studies and doctor's reports that are very eye opening.

Mainstream doctors rarely use IGeneX, so I suspect your antibody test was with a lab that uses the mass produced test kits that ignore several important antibodies. False negatives are common on these tests.  If you'd like to put the Lyme question to bed, then I encourage you to get a Western Blot done at IGeneX to see what it shows.  If there's no sign of Lyme, then you can be fairly confident the MS diagnosis is correct.  

But if you have Lyme specific antibodies, you could indeed have neuro Lyme.  If you have Lyme, MS medications will make you worse and will make Lyme more difficult to treat.

Best of luck!

[Ufrustrated2]

did your spinal cfs test return those o-banding things too?

[Ufrustrated2]

i'll have to check and see if the lab was igenex.

what happens if one takes medrol infusion when they have lyme?

i don't recall anything odd taking it a few times except the metal taste and increased energy for  short time

thanks

[mojogal]

I was first misdiagnosed with MS due to my brain lesions. Unless you see a Lyme literate Dr and have your blood tested through the lab IgeneX, which is much more sensitive than standard labs, you may be doing yourself more harm.

I was told to take steroids for my "MS and Lupus" and I wound up in the hospital from it because if you have lyme then steroids are one of the worst things to take.

So yes, it could very well be lyme.

[cave76]

I don't know about lesion pattern but I do have a question about what lab did your Lyme test. If it wasn't Igenex then it can be a test that is frightfully ineffective.