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STD Or Lyme
So it has been 11 months since I had a protected sexual encounter with a stripper, ever since that night i've had nothing but issues. I've done all kinds of STD tests and seen many doctors. Everything has been coming back negative. I had all the herpes symptoms except for the typical lesions/blistors. My IgM test had come back Postive at 5 months after exposure, but my IgG has been negative twice. Once at 5 months and another at 6 months. Everyone tells me to ignore the IgM test. So I cannot figure out what it is that is going on with my body. I have constant headaches/pressure, leg and foot aches, muscle twitching, eye lid, legs, body jerks, memory loss and confusion, my gums have been swollen for about 4 months now, I get shaking in the hands, vision has not been the same. I dont know what else to do or think anymore but my body is not right. I'm 25 years old i'm healthy I dont smoke, I drink occasionaly but I dont even enjoy doing that anymore because of how my body reacts to alcohol. I'm considering getting tested for Lyme now and have no idea on who I should see. I'm probably going to just see my family doctor and go from there. Any advice would be appreciated.
PS and did I mention before that there are companion diseases the Lyme ticks carry that are completely different from Lyme, needing different tests and often different treatment. An LLMD knows to look for, test for, and treat for those. I personally have found nonLLMDs not up to speed on these issues.
Solodyn, acc. to the internet, is anti-bacterial, used for infections including in the brain area. So it sounds like your docs are taking your situation seriously. The next question would be whether (as your rightly ask) the Solodyn treats Lyme and therefore affects the Lyme tests. That, I don't know for sure, but it's not a reason not to take the meds. Any doc reading your test results would take into account the meds you are already on and the effect they might have on the tests.
Also there are two different kinds of Lyme blood tests: one measure the antibodies your body makes against Lyme bacteria, but those tests (the basic ones used by nonLLMDs) are not very precise; the other one, run by IGeneX labs, looks for bits of Lyme bacteria and doesn't rely on your immune system to signal an infection (nonLLMDs don't use this test for the most part).
Lyme is usually treated with relatively long term antibiotics. There are other supporting treatments, including nutrition, antifungals, etc., but antibiotics are where the action is. There are also less-used treatments like Rife machines, but they are often considered fringe and unproven. There is a guy named Bryan Rosner, not a scientist but a knowledgable Lyme patient, who has a whole publishing company based on his research and writing about Lyme, and there is one book called something like 'top 10 Lyme treatments' that pretty much covers the waterfront. It's on amazon and I think you can also buy direct from Rosner online.
NonLLMDs usually object to long term antibiotics, because of the risks. That objection is made from the nonLLMD point of view that Lyme is like an earache and can and is cured completely with 2-4 weeks of antibiotics. Others in the field (LLMDs) hold that Lyme bacteria are, for specific reasons, harder to kill (they hide inside 'biofilms' that keep the immune system from finding them) and they have much longer reproductive cycles than regular bacteria, and it is when dividing that bacteria are most vulnerable to being killed. I have read that leprosy and TB are two bacterial diseases that have the same long reproductive cycle issues, and standard treatment for leprosy and TB extends up to 18 months or so (tho some newer meds have shortened treatment for TB to maybe a year).
There is much that science and medicine are still learning about Lyme, and we have ringside seats, as much as we wish we didn't. But the good news is that progress is being made, and battling the bug is indeed worth doing. Hang in there.
Also there are two different kinds of Lyme blood tests: one measure the antibodies your body makes against Lyme bacteria, but those tests (the basic ones used by nonLLMDs) are not very precise; the other one, run by IGeneX labs, looks for bits of Lyme bacteria and doesn't rely on your immune system to signal an infection (nonLLMDs don't use this test for the most part).
Lyme is usually treated with relatively long term antibiotics. There are other supporting treatments, including nutrition, antifungals, etc., but antibiotics are where the action is. There are also less-used treatments like Rife machines, but they are often considered fringe and unproven. There is a guy named Bryan Rosner, not a scientist but a knowledgable Lyme patient, who has a whole publishing company based on his research and writing about Lyme, and there is one book called something like 'top 10 Lyme treatments' that pretty much covers the waterfront. It's on amazon and I think you can also buy direct from Rosner online.
NonLLMDs usually object to long term antibiotics, because of the risks. That objection is made from the nonLLMD point of view that Lyme is like an earache and can and is cured completely with 2-4 weeks of antibiotics. Others in the field (LLMDs) hold that Lyme bacteria are, for specific reasons, harder to kill (they hide inside 'biofilms' that keep the immune system from finding them) and they have much longer reproductive cycles than regular bacteria, and it is when dividing that bacteria are most vulnerable to being killed. I have read that leprosy and TB are two bacterial diseases that have the same long reproductive cycle issues, and standard treatment for leprosy and TB extends up to 18 months or so (tho some newer meds have shortened treatment for TB to maybe a year).
There is much that science and medicine are still learning about Lyme, and we have ringside seats, as much as we wish we didn't. But the good news is that progress is being made, and battling the bug is indeed worth doing. Hang in there.
Thanks Jackie I have couple of more questions, I am currently on an antibiotic called Solodyn would that effect any blood tests for Lyme? Also how is Lyme disease cured or controlled?
MRIs and CTs are not, to my understanding, well suited to detecting Lyme. There is another scan, called SPECT scan, that Lyme docs use sometimes because it shows areas of low blood flow [perfusion] in the brain, which is one of Lyme's tricks -- inflammation leads to swelling leads to low blood flow leads to memory problems and other things.
I've not had bumps like you have, not sure if you mean little tiny ones or large swellings. My first thought was that you mean the large swellings ... I haven't had those, but others here have reported in.
As a stop gap, you could try some magnesium supplements to see if it helps the twitching -- any magnesium ending in "-ate" is supposed to be easier to absorb ... magnesium malate, orotate, etc. Magnesium also helps sleep due the soothing effect. Any health food or drug store should have it.
I don't know about interaction between HSV and Lyme, but it would not surprise me that when your immune system is busy fighting one or the other, then they both start to act up because your immune system is working double time.
I would encourage you to find a Lyme doc and get a work up -- take all your old tests with you if you have copies -- it's never too late to start a personal medical file to tote with you to each dr appointment, but always get and keep your own copies. Never know when they might come in handy for historical analyses.
I don't know about Lyme docs in Michigan, if that's where you are. I just googled 'Lyme Michigan' and got over a million hits ... the first few were to a Michigan Lyme disease association. That's often a good kind of organization to glean the name of some Lyme docs (LLMDs: patient slang for docs who 'get' Lyme in the cosmic sense). If you don't hit it off with the first one, try another. Lyme is cutting edge medicine, so it's important to have good rapport with the doc.
You indeed sound like you've got something that needs eradicating, some bacterial infection ... so the sooner you find out what it is, the sooner you can obliterate it. Go for it! I know it's the last thing you feel like doing, but it's the only game in town. We've all been there, and it's worth the fight. Let us know how you do --
I've not had bumps like you have, not sure if you mean little tiny ones or large swellings. My first thought was that you mean the large swellings ... I haven't had those, but others here have reported in.
As a stop gap, you could try some magnesium supplements to see if it helps the twitching -- any magnesium ending in "-ate" is supposed to be easier to absorb ... magnesium malate, orotate, etc. Magnesium also helps sleep due the soothing effect. Any health food or drug store should have it.
I don't know about interaction between HSV and Lyme, but it would not surprise me that when your immune system is busy fighting one or the other, then they both start to act up because your immune system is working double time.
I would encourage you to find a Lyme doc and get a work up -- take all your old tests with you if you have copies -- it's never too late to start a personal medical file to tote with you to each dr appointment, but always get and keep your own copies. Never know when they might come in handy for historical analyses.
I don't know about Lyme docs in Michigan, if that's where you are. I just googled 'Lyme Michigan' and got over a million hits ... the first few were to a Michigan Lyme disease association. That's often a good kind of organization to glean the name of some Lyme docs (LLMDs: patient slang for docs who 'get' Lyme in the cosmic sense). If you don't hit it off with the first one, try another. Lyme is cutting edge medicine, so it's important to have good rapport with the doc.
You indeed sound like you've got something that needs eradicating, some bacterial infection ... so the sooner you find out what it is, the sooner you can obliterate it. Go for it! I know it's the last thing you feel like doing, but it's the only game in town. We've all been there, and it's worth the fight. Let us know how you do --
I would like help finding a lyme specialist, I have went so long with this virus or what ever it is, Its driving me nuts. I have terrible headaches that make me dizzy and effect my vision, its pressure like my brain is being expanded. I've had an MRI and CT Scan but everything has come back normal. I have been finding bumps on my head and some on my thighs, these bumps do not look anything like herpes even my derm has said so. When testing one by a biopsy it came back as a bacterial infection. I'm having cloudy memory, my vision has not been the same, bad twitching in my feet and legs. Please help.
I'm sorry when i said my IgM test was positive and my IgG test was negative at 5 months I was referring to HSV - 2. I have never tested for Lyme but I cannot figure out what it is thats wrong with me, and I've found that many of my symptoms are related to others who are thinking Lyme as well. Sometimes I have a hard time not believing its not herpes but everyone says to disregard the IgM test and believe my IgG. I have not had any blisters or sores or lesions.
Sorry to hear you're feeling so lousy.
IgG amd IgM are measurements of antibodies produced by your immune system against specific bacteria. I'd suggest you ask your doc what specifically you were tested for. After a while, your body quits making antibodies to whatever invader it was, so first the IgM and then the IgG antibodies will lessen and pretty much go away. That's a problem with Lyme, because Lyme isn't necessarily defeated at that point, so you could still be sick but not show a positive test result.
If you are getting worsening of symptoms on doxy, it may be that your are stirring up the bacteria and then your immune system reacts too -- making you feel lousy. All this is godo to report to your doc.
There are different things possible that your symptoms are indicating, but it will take an MD to know what they may be and to figure out which tests to order and what to suspect.
There is a company called IGeneX which puts out a test that looks not for antibodies to Lyme, but for bits of the Lyme bacteria instead. Most MDs don't use the test, but a Lyme specialist probably would. If you strike out with your regular doc, think about finding a Lyme specialist for a work up. If you need help finding one, let us know, okay?
Hope you feel better soon. --
IgG amd IgM are measurements of antibodies produced by your immune system against specific bacteria. I'd suggest you ask your doc what specifically you were tested for. After a while, your body quits making antibodies to whatever invader it was, so first the IgM and then the IgG antibodies will lessen and pretty much go away. That's a problem with Lyme, because Lyme isn't necessarily defeated at that point, so you could still be sick but not show a positive test result.
If you are getting worsening of symptoms on doxy, it may be that your are stirring up the bacteria and then your immune system reacts too -- making you feel lousy. All this is godo to report to your doc.
There are different things possible that your symptoms are indicating, but it will take an MD to know what they may be and to figure out which tests to order and what to suspect.
There is a company called IGeneX which puts out a test that looks not for antibodies to Lyme, but for bits of the Lyme bacteria instead. Most MDs don't use the test, but a Lyme specialist probably would. If you strike out with your regular doc, think about finding a Lyme specialist for a work up. If you need help finding one, let us know, okay?
Hope you feel better soon. --
I have also been on Doxy 100 Mg for about a month now because of bacterial follicilitus on my thighs which does not seem to be working. My derm has put me on Solodyn now, I'm just wondering what test I should take to test for Lyme and if I should stop taking my antibiotics to test for it. Please help.
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