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Lyme diease affect hiv test window?
I know this is a silly question: but basically I've always suspected that I've had lyme diease for the past seven years but I never took a test to confirm it. My gp thinks I'm crazy to even consider that I have it. Anyway I recently tested negative for hiv four months out of a unprotected sexual encounter with a girl I met at a party. Was wondering if lyme diease could affect the hiv test window or the test in general?
Thanks
Thanks
Most of us have been there, docs who think we are crazy and just don't listen. I had Lyme in my system for over 20 years and it had already done a lot of damage. All my blood tests (just regular ones) were abnormal and in Tx where I was, they just don't believe in Lyme.
It's not until I moved to FL and started treatment last year that I felt sane. The igenex tests came back positive.
It's a bad part of getting Lyme, there are not enough doctors who even believe in it never mind treating it. You have to be your own advocate and keep fighting until you find an LLMD like Jackie suggests. The longer its in your system, the more damage it can do.
Keep us posted!
It's not until I moved to FL and started treatment last year that I felt sane. The igenex tests came back positive.
It's a bad part of getting Lyme, there are not enough doctors who even believe in it never mind treating it. You have to be your own advocate and keep fighting until you find an LLMD like Jackie suggests. The longer its in your system, the more damage it can do.
Keep us posted!
and PS about the thick-headed doc who said her Lyme patients were "all near death" -- don't be alarmed. Lyme is a misery, but generally not deadly ... just ... miserable.... till cured!
[Sorry, I think I repeat below some of what I said above ... it's late and I'm too foggy to go back and edit. So fwiw.]
You're quite welcome. Lyme is a misery in two ways: the infection, and the thick-headed docs.
I went through 20 highly trained and experienced MDs before one of them -- in true desperation, knowing I was very ill -- ran a Lyme test, which amazingly came back positive. But the doc gently informed me that I 'could not possibly have Lyme' because she had patients with Lyme, and 'they are all near death.'
There appears also to be an epidemic of willful blindness going around, huh.
ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society) is the main voluntary group for Lyme docs who think progressive thoughts. Their website is at ILADS [dot] org, and it's a confusingly rambling place, but chock full of information. It's aimed at docs, not patients, so gets pretty deep sometimes, but you might look there for Burrascano's treatment guidelines, which walk through the diagnostic part as well, iirc.
You can also view a documentary called 'Under Our Skin', I think available online somewhere, tho it may cost to view. It was written to be inflammatory at a certain level, and alternates Lyme docs talking about Lyme and its coinfections (bonus diseases carried by the same ticks) with vignettes of actual Lyme patients. Don't be alarmed by the movie tho, because the patients interviewed in it were selected to show a worst-case-scenario view. It's optional viewing, but if you're interested, it's there.
The important thing is to find a doc who won't dismiss Lyme out of hand, and then you will know if you've got it or not, and then decide with the doc the best treatment approach. And not all Lyme docs make sense to me ... some are really out there on the fringe, but if they set off alarm bells when you see them, listen to your instincts and find another one. Some of the oddballs push their own personal brand of vitamins etc., and that's a bridge too far for me personally.
The Wblot/ELISA tests are not very accurate, but nonLyme docs treat them as the last and final word on the subject. Lyme docs also may use the test, but they know to allow for a significant number of false negatives. A nonLyme doc will almost never order IGeneX testing, saying it is unnecessary, since they consider the Wblot/ELISA tests to be just fine, but my doc ran both IGeneX and Wblot/ELISA -- he's well known in the Lyme community, so if even he will expand the data set by running both kinds of tests, then it's data worth having. Always keep your own set of test results in a binder you keep. Getting copies of test results later is difficult sometimes and you never know if got everything that could be useful to a future doc ... and sometime it is necessary to change LLMDs during treatment if you find it's not a fit for you.
Infectious disease docs, who should be 'cutting edge' on Lyme, are among the worst 'Lyme deniers', because it is the official position of the Infectious Disease Society of America that Lyme is hard to get and easy to cure. Bah humbug.
Lyme is curable, it just takes a wise doc to diagnose it and its coinfections and to treat properly, as in months rather than days of specific antibiotics due to specific characteristics of the Lyme bacteria.
Sorry to ramble, but the bottom line is: listen to your instincts. Let us know what you do and how it goes, okay? We've all been where you are now, one way or another.
You're quite welcome. Lyme is a misery in two ways: the infection, and the thick-headed docs.
I went through 20 highly trained and experienced MDs before one of them -- in true desperation, knowing I was very ill -- ran a Lyme test, which amazingly came back positive. But the doc gently informed me that I 'could not possibly have Lyme' because she had patients with Lyme, and 'they are all near death.'
There appears also to be an epidemic of willful blindness going around, huh.
ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society) is the main voluntary group for Lyme docs who think progressive thoughts. Their website is at ILADS [dot] org, and it's a confusingly rambling place, but chock full of information. It's aimed at docs, not patients, so gets pretty deep sometimes, but you might look there for Burrascano's treatment guidelines, which walk through the diagnostic part as well, iirc.
You can also view a documentary called 'Under Our Skin', I think available online somewhere, tho it may cost to view. It was written to be inflammatory at a certain level, and alternates Lyme docs talking about Lyme and its coinfections (bonus diseases carried by the same ticks) with vignettes of actual Lyme patients. Don't be alarmed by the movie tho, because the patients interviewed in it were selected to show a worst-case-scenario view. It's optional viewing, but if you're interested, it's there.
The important thing is to find a doc who won't dismiss Lyme out of hand, and then you will know if you've got it or not, and then decide with the doc the best treatment approach. And not all Lyme docs make sense to me ... some are really out there on the fringe, but if they set off alarm bells when you see them, listen to your instincts and find another one. Some of the oddballs push their own personal brand of vitamins etc., and that's a bridge too far for me personally.
The Wblot/ELISA tests are not very accurate, but nonLyme docs treat them as the last and final word on the subject. Lyme docs also may use the test, but they know to allow for a significant number of false negatives. A nonLyme doc will almost never order IGeneX testing, saying it is unnecessary, since they consider the Wblot/ELISA tests to be just fine, but my doc ran both IGeneX and Wblot/ELISA -- he's well known in the Lyme community, so if even he will expand the data set by running both kinds of tests, then it's data worth having. Always keep your own set of test results in a binder you keep. Getting copies of test results later is difficult sometimes and you never know if got everything that could be useful to a future doc ... and sometime it is necessary to change LLMDs during treatment if you find it's not a fit for you.
Infectious disease docs, who should be 'cutting edge' on Lyme, are among the worst 'Lyme deniers', because it is the official position of the Infectious Disease Society of America that Lyme is hard to get and easy to cure. Bah humbug.
Lyme is curable, it just takes a wise doc to diagnose it and its coinfections and to treat properly, as in months rather than days of specific antibiotics due to specific characteristics of the Lyme bacteria.
Sorry to ramble, but the bottom line is: listen to your instincts. Let us know what you do and how it goes, okay? We've all been where you are now, one way or another.
Yeah. i feel crazy even brining it up to my doc or even my psychiatrist. was just going to go to lab corp and just get an elisa and wb test. He wouldn't even sign off on igenex lab work last summer because blood work came back great.
That's a question for your doc about the HIV, and a good one to ask. A wild guess from me is that the HIV and Lyme tests aren't affected by the presence of the other infection, but it's strictly a guess. Do call the doc who did the HIV test and ask the question, or ask your current doc (even if he thinks you couldn't possibly have Lyme). Always better to know than to wonder.
Similar test methods may be used for both Lyme and HIV, called Western blot and ELISA tests, but I would think that the tests cannot confuse an HIV infection with a Lyme infection ... the test structure may be the same, but they look for different things. However that's just a guess on my part. Not medically trained here.
About your GP thinking you couldn't have Lyme, that's a common reaction from docs who aren't deeply into Lyme and its mysteries.
If you've been infected for 7 years, the W.blot/ELISA tests for Lyme may well show negative (meaning you don't have Lyme), but the problem is that a fairly short time after infection with Lyme, the immune system figures it has killed the infection and stops reacting. Unfortunately, the W.blot/ELISA tests look not for the Lyme bacteria themselves, but for your immune system's reaction to the Lyme bacteria.
Therefore the test result can well be a false negative: the test says you don't have Lyme, when actually you could.
Lyme specialists may use the W.blot/ELISA tests, but often also do a different test from IGeneX labs which looks not for the immune system reaction to Lyme, but also for the DNA of the Lyme bacteria (which is direct evidence of infection).
Most non-Lyme specialist docs do not use the IGeneX tests, and put no importance or usefulness on them. Your GP sounds like he may fit into that group.
In your situation, I would find a Lyme specialist for a work up, so that you know whether you have Lyme and/or co-infections, and if you do, then you can be adequately treated.
Hope this answers your question -- even long term Lyme can be treated, and it's well worth doing. If you search online for
chicago lyme
it will lead you to patient advocacy groups who can probably help you find a local LLMD (= patient slang for a 'Lyme-literate MD', meaning a doc who thinks progressive thoughts about Lyme). An LLMD will also know to test for co-infections, based on your symptoms and history.
You can also email to
contact [at] ILADS [dot] org
and ask for referral to an LLMD in your area. Let us know how you do, okay? Best wishes --
Similar test methods may be used for both Lyme and HIV, called Western blot and ELISA tests, but I would think that the tests cannot confuse an HIV infection with a Lyme infection ... the test structure may be the same, but they look for different things. However that's just a guess on my part. Not medically trained here.
About your GP thinking you couldn't have Lyme, that's a common reaction from docs who aren't deeply into Lyme and its mysteries.
If you've been infected for 7 years, the W.blot/ELISA tests for Lyme may well show negative (meaning you don't have Lyme), but the problem is that a fairly short time after infection with Lyme, the immune system figures it has killed the infection and stops reacting. Unfortunately, the W.blot/ELISA tests look not for the Lyme bacteria themselves, but for your immune system's reaction to the Lyme bacteria.
Therefore the test result can well be a false negative: the test says you don't have Lyme, when actually you could.
Lyme specialists may use the W.blot/ELISA tests, but often also do a different test from IGeneX labs which looks not for the immune system reaction to Lyme, but also for the DNA of the Lyme bacteria (which is direct evidence of infection).
Most non-Lyme specialist docs do not use the IGeneX tests, and put no importance or usefulness on them. Your GP sounds like he may fit into that group.
In your situation, I would find a Lyme specialist for a work up, so that you know whether you have Lyme and/or co-infections, and if you do, then you can be adequately treated.
Hope this answers your question -- even long term Lyme can be treated, and it's well worth doing. If you search online for
chicago lyme
it will lead you to patient advocacy groups who can probably help you find a local LLMD (= patient slang for a 'Lyme-literate MD', meaning a doc who thinks progressive thoughts about Lyme). An LLMD will also know to test for co-infections, based on your symptoms and history.
You can also email to
contact [at] ILADS [dot] org
and ask for referral to an LLMD in your area. Let us know how you do, okay? Best wishes --
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