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does Lyme ever go away???

I was diagnosed and treated with intravenous antibiotics 2 years ago.  Recently found 2 ticks on my body, but no rash.  Have had osteoarthritis for years (or LD) and symstems have gotten worse.  Also, a western blot showed 3 of 5 criteria postive for Lyme.  Are these results because I still have antibodies of the disease in my blood, or could this be a whole new bout of LD?
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428506 tn?1296557399
If I was in your shoes, then the factor I would weigh most in decided whether or not to seek further treatment would be the severity of the symptoms, and their impact on your daily life.

You are right that it's hard to tell if the tests are just showing evidence of your previous bout or if it is a sign of active infection.  If your symptoms are very mild you may have a choice of whether or not to treat.  If your symptoms interfere with life, or if they are worsening, then it might be more prudent to seek treatment.

I'm not medically trained, so my opinion should be taken with a grain of salt.

I'm a long term antibiotic patient, and I really hope that I can stop all meds some day.  But if I ever feel my symptoms making a comeback, I would certainly seek more treatment.

Take care.
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1715916 tn?1308783966
I was born with Lyme Disease 24 years ago. I went through the medical system getting test after test done because of the odd symptoms I was having, until I was finally diagnosed at the age of 20. My whole family has Lyme. A mother with Lyme can pass the bacteria onto her child in the womb.
Lyme cause me to have digestive disturbances, pain in my knees and back, poor memory, bouts of paranoia, constant drowsiness, and depression. I honestly thought I was insane until I was finally diagnosed.
I usually try to stay away from modern medicine, because I know how harmful long term, and short term, usage can be to the body. For the last 4 years I have looked into other means of beating my Lyme, such as with the Rife Machine, Infrared Sauna, and changing my diet (no gluten, which benefits Lyme).
Three months ago I met a practitioner who uses kinesiology aka muscle testing in order to find out what herbs my body needed to heal from this bacteria. Honestly I was uncertain at first... but the outcome was amazing. I dutifully took the herbs and the amounts that he told me to, and I saw differences after about 5 days. I had more energy, and most significantly I was happy! I am really excited and I wanted to share this info with everyone in order to help you all successfully heal from this horrible nasty bacteria!
If you found what I said interesting and you would like to hear more about my story and the man that helped me kick Lymes butt please email me; I would love to talk more about my experiences and hopefully help you onto the road of recovery! =) ***@****
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Avatar universal
Gracie,

Welcome to MedHelp Lyme -- sorry to hear about your tick bites and illness.

No one here is medically trained, but happy to share our thoughts with you --

My understanding is that Lyme is a tricky character, and sometimes is not eradicated by treatment, but is driven into a low state that the body can keep under control sometimes with few if any symptoms ... but an illness or a re-infection can re-ignite the symptoms.

Your comment about having "osteoarthritis (or LD)" makes perfect sense.  Even the docs can't tell what causes what.

I would think the antibodies in your blood would fade over time, because after a while, the immune system (so I read) gets tired of fighting an infection that [if it were anything but Lyme] must have been wiped out after a period of time.  If this is a recent Western blot you had done, your doc would have to be the one to say, but because you had two recent ticks attached, to be on the safe side, I'd lean toward getting treated.

Although some docs require a rash to prove that you are infected, I have read that maybe half of all people with Lyme never saw the tick or had a rash -- count me in that group!

It is indeed possible to be re-infected, so you're wise to be thinking about gettign treated again.  My Lyme doc, who is very experienced, used only oral antiobiotics, so your doc might take that route too.  He/she would also need to be alert for any co-infections, other diseases the recent tick might have carried.

Best wishes -- let us know how you do, okay?  
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