Hi and welcome to Lymenet!!I'm so sorry you're facing these challenges. It takes a lot of energy and we have to be our own advocate and each others advocates. This is a great place to get the info and support needed in a situation like yours.
If there is a possibility of MS then there is a very strong possibility of Lyme. Good news.....there IS treatment for the cause of Lyme! With MS, there is no definitive test or known cause. The only treatment is treatment of symptoms for. MS is a cluster of symptoms which could better be called a syndrome.
I was not faced with your dilemma but I will take a diagnosis of Lyme over MS......just because there is treatment for a cause with Lyme.
Yes, Lyme can be dormant and as the others have said can be kept at bay by the immune system for many many rears. It was true in my case. That's what makes a diagnosis so misleading. Often the tick bite or bites are long forgotten. Life goes on and out of the blue, bang....strange and unrelated symptoms start to crop up. Or for some of us.....the symptoms crept up on us gradually. Bottom line....there are lots of different presentations for Lyme.
My only concern in reading your post is, who is doing the Lyme testing, what lab???. It's important to be completely evaluated by an LLMD (Lyme Literate MD). Lyme is first and foremost a clinical diagnosis. That's why I said if presenting as possible "MS".....there is a strong possibility of Lyme.
If you haven't already seen the links for new members, here ya' go..... http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/029917.html
You can read about testing, LLMD's, misdiagnosis and much more with the link above.
Good luck and keep asking questions and reading, reading, reading!
Healing thoughts.....lightfoot
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[This message has been edited by lightfoot (edited 16 May 2005).]