posted
Was bit by a deer tick on Memorial day. About 1 week and 1/2 later bullseye rash. Went to gen prac who took blood and gave me 2 weeks doxy. Blood test results indicate + Rocky mountainspotted fever with no mention of lyme. Completed two weeks antibiotics and due to give blood next tuesday. Was looking online about RMSF and am confused. If I got the bulleseye, am I + lyme?? Or can rash appear without lyme? Also, RMSF--aka lyme or no???? or am i co-infected?????
Posts: 3 | From Richmond VA | Registered: Jun 2010
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
It is too early for a lyme test for you. The lyme test looks for lyme antibodies in your blood. It does not look directly for the lyme bacteria.
So, think of this: if you body has not yet made antibodies to the lyme bacteria, your test will be negative.
From my reading of the Burrascano lyme treatment guidelines, it says that it takes several weeks for the body to make antibodies to lyme disease. So, your doctor tested you TOO EARLY. It was guaranteed to be negative result.
What if it takes 6 weeks for your body to make the antibodies? Nobody can say how quickly a person will make antibodies to any germ. But, some people take that long. So, Burrascano says to treat every rash as if you have lyme and not even bother to test for the disease when it is this early.
Not only that, but none of the lyme tests for antibodies are totally reliable. So, again, you are to treat every bullseye rash as lyme disease, period.
From page 7:
"Lyme Borreliosis (LB) is diagnosed clinically, as no currently available test, no matter the source or type, is definitive in ruling in or ruling out infection with these pathogens, or whether these infections are responsible for the patient's symptoms."
And:
"After a tick bite, serologic tests (ELISA. IFA, western blots, etc.) are not expected to become positive until several weeks have passed. Therefore, if EM is present, treatment must begin immediately, and one should not wait for results of Borrelia tests. You should not miss the chance to treat early disease, for this is when the success rate is the highest. Indeed, many knowledgeable clinicians will not even order a Borrelia test in this circumstance."
Only a doc who specializes in lyme disease knows these things. You can see by how your doc has behaved already that he doesn't understand lyme. Please contact the lyme support groups in your state (see left side of page, Support Groups) to find a good lyme doctor, or at least any doctor who understands how to treat a new tick bite. This is your best chance of getting rid of this disease--now.
You can also post in "Seeking a Doctor" on this site.
Good for you for finding this site!
This is what Burrascano says regarding length of treatment at this stage of the disease:
EARLY LOCALIZED - Single erythema migrans with no constitutional symptoms:
1) Adults: oral therapy- must continue until symptom and sign free for at least one month, with a 6 week minimum. 2) Pregnancy: 1st and 2nd trimesters: I.V. X 30 days then oral X 6 weeks 3rd trimester: Oral therapy X 6+ weeks as above. Any trimester- test for Babesia and Ehrlichia 3) Children: oral therapy for 6+ weeks.
(quote from p. 19)
The bulls eye rash is called erythema migrans.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Also, RMSF is a separate disease, different from lyme disease. So, you at least have 2 diseases, and most likely more than two.
In Maryland, all the people I know with lyme disease also have babesiosis and bartonella. These are common co-infections--they travel with the lyme disease.
So, the ticks in this area seem to all carry lyme, babs, and bart. In addition, your tick had RMSF.
These are all the reasons that you need a doc who has treated hundreds if not thousands of lyme cases--a lyme specialist.
Lyme is a very complex disease. It is generally many diseases given to you by that one tick bite. You will see this in the Burrascano guidelines. Suggest you read them thoroughly.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
For acute LD you will need more than 2 weeks of antibiotics. I would want at least 4 to 6 weeks.
If you under treat now you can end up like most of us who end up very ill and treating for years.
Do not give blood!
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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I too was diagnosed with 2005 given 2 weeks of doxy....no other testing done at that time......little did i know that in 2009 I would crash and burn with subsequent diagnosis of lyme, babs and bart..........with multiple symptoms..........my life is a mess........so i encourage you at this point to seek out the best dr and be treated appropriatley ........otherwise you will be battling this for years like many on here.........good luck
-------------------- Oct 09 Positive CDC Western Blot Jan 10 Positive Babesia Duncani Jan 10 Cd57 28 Mar 10 EBV, IgM, IgG HHV-6 IgG Posts: 739 | From NC | Registered: Oct 2009
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steve1906
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Member # 16206
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