Re: Strange Illness For Over One Year, Please Help!

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ryancinman@xxxxxxx wrote: 
Hi Susan,

Lyme was one of the several tests ran by the infectious disease doctor.
Both ELISA and Western Blot performed by Mayo were negative (IGM, IGG).
No traces of current or prior infection.

Also tested for Babesia, negative.

Good thinking though.

Negative lab results are extremely common, even in fulminant, disseminated disease, for a variety of reasons. Even if you have quite a few bands specific for B.b on your western blot, Mayo won't report them.

Other tests that should be run any time there's a suspicion of TBD are for the ehrlichiae (HGE, HME), bartonella, and other rickettsia. None of these tests are highly reliable, clinically.

Clearly, this is only one of the possibilities in your case, but if no other cause is found and successfully treated in a case like yours, a trial of high dose oral doxycycline is often helpful, and it's inexpensive and safe.

I didn't test positive for HGE, HME until I'd been on abx for 4 months, but I'd been sick enough to be disabled for years. I'd had many positive WB bands for B.b while acutely ill, but due to the ridiculous 1994 criteria, my WB was called negative.

Susan
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