So what is the consenses? Can Lyme be passed sexually. If so that really stinks Posted by Need Lots of Help (Member # 18603) on :
I say yes, but I am not a doctor. Just a girl who thinks tooo many people have lyme......
Posted by seekhelp (Member # 15067) on :
Some say yes, some say no. Do a search here and you'll find ENDLESS posts on this topic.
Posted by sutherngrl (Member # 16270) on :
Its not "scientifically" proven; but hey neither is chronic lyme disease.
Makes you go... HMMM!
Posted by Blackstone (Member # 9453) on :
Neither I, nor the three LLMDs with whom I correspond have ever seen a case that would suggest sexual transmission.
The whole notion that it is possible is predicated on a single study in which infected mammals were added to a non-infected population and the previously non-infected at least had antibody exposure, if I remember correctly. This led some to the belief that it is sexually transmitted. This was paired with the notion that spirochetes were found in semen and/or vaginal fluid in a separate study.
However, aside from being a single, non-related study, antibody response doesn't necessarily mean infection. With a sensitive enough test, I could probably find black plague antibodies in around 20% of the population. In addition, if all it took to diagnose lyme was a semen or vaginal fluid sample, we wouldn't be going through this horrific necessity to prove we have lyme or relying on antibody-instead-of-antigen-using Western Blots. There is also the possibility that whatever bacteria that are transmitted in those fluids are not viable for infection, similar to how HIV has been found in the tears and saliva of AIDS patients, but to date there is not a single case of HIV (to my knowledge) transferred via this vector.
IF Lyme could possibly be transmitted then the following would most likely be true. 1. The rate of transmission must be very low, or else we'd have more of the population picking it up this way and the significant others of infected, who often don't know they're infected for years, would have a high rate of infection 2. Any sort of treatment minimizes or nullifies transmission. We all know that Lyme goes into "hiding" when under attack. If it doesn't even stay in the blood stream and retreats to deep tissue, then I find it hard to believe that it can just persist in semen in the face of any sort of antibiotic therapy.
There are people on this forum who have spouses with and without lyme and the problem of not easily being able to know when you were infected compounds the issue for most patients and leads to lots of scary theories with very little evidence.
I'll see if I can have someone run a semen analysis for my own curiosity, but I'll need to find a lab that can do a "custom" job like this to necessary specifications.
Posted by Veromia (Member # 22031) on :
Lyme is in your mouth, I mean we could even give it kissing.
It goes everywhere. No doubt to me that it is down there too and people are passing it everyday.
It just when its that way it presents so differently.
Like i didnt know i had it for 9 years and my boyfriend of 3 years is complaining of back pain and he sleeps for hours on end when he is not working he is sleeping.
He also cant remember crap.
I told him I think he has lyme, he said no thank you.
And he is begining to come around too the possibility the other day he just was forgeting everything
And he said "did i forget" to do this thing he was supposed to do,
I said yes your memory is no good, he said I have Lyme disease leave me alone,
He was joking, but I know inside he knows he has it and it was his way of telling me he knows.
And it my fault. I know i didnt know but is just stinks.
and I gave it to my daughter who is 23 months old she tested CDC pos.
It is in all of our bodily fluids.
Posted by sutherngrl (Member # 16270) on :
I agree with Blackstone, if it were in semen and vaginal fluid, then there wouldn't be a problem getting a positive test made to detect it.
Lyme is deep in the tissues, tendons and organs. It doesn't like fluidish places.
Not saying its not a possibility, but probably not that likely that it is sexually transmitted.
Veromia, your boyfriend probably just got it the same way you did, from a tick!
Posted by Veromia (Member # 22031) on :
There are many people who have no recollection of tick bite or rash, or that initial high period of flulike sickness you get when you have actually been bitten.
And there is a huge issue of the presentation of lyme in a specific individual.
Many people dont know they are infected so they are not in antibiotic treatment.
And they will be passing it at that time.
It also depends on how much you have sex.
We did very frequently at least once a day sometimes more, not so much now because i am sick, Hormones all over the place,
But im sure he has it, And i gave it to him sexually.
Posted by sutherngrl (Member # 16270) on :
Well I was sick for 2 years before treatment and my husband does not have it. Well as far as we know anyway. I also do not recall a tick bite or rash.
My LLMD does not believe it is sexually transmitted but I am sure he would be open to proof, as am I.
If you are so adamant that it is sexually transmitted, then how do you know, your boyfriend did not pass it to you? Many people think they harbored it in their bodies for years even decades before they presented as ill. So it is possible that he transmitted it, not you. Just something to think about!
I sure wouldn't go on a guilt trip about passing it to him, when you don't even have any proof that it is possible. If LD is such the epidemic that it seems to be, then he could have gotten it anywhere.
Posted by Veromia (Member # 22031) on :
I was sick after a camping trip 9 years ago and i had a butterfly rash after that. I know from all the evidence such as the memory loss over the years that I harbored as thinking i was a stupid person when it was lyme . I would drive past where i was going almost everyday. I was staring off into oblivion because it is it my brain.
I know from living in this body for all the years before i met him that i had it first.
My pregnancy was a state of imminosupression which allowed the lyme to get strong enough to really show itself.
I think people know it is transmitted sexually, but they dont want to believe it.
That is just what i know and believe you dont have to believe it.
It is just something to think about for you that your husband does not have it harboring in him.
And there is no proof that it does not pass, Just hopefull thinking
Which seems to be the running theme here with this disease,
To under estimate it!
Posted by Veromia (Member # 22031) on :
Lyme presents itself in some men as heart disorders. Or kidney stones.
There are people like this with no utterly symbolic signs of lyme who present completly differently. These are the ones who dont get diagnosed.
It is more than we really understand especially with the Biofilms.
And coinfections.
I'm not trieing to upset anyone. Just speaking for the other side,
I would hate for someone to be undiagnosed because they dont believe it is possible...
Posted by sutherngrl (Member # 16270) on :
I don't under estimate LD at all. Lyme is an awful, horrid, debilitating illness. It brings so much misery with it.
Also, I am not saying it is or isn't sexually transmitted. I have no idea and so far neither does anyone else. Is it possible.... well certainly.
And maybe it is wishful thinking on my part that my husband doesn't have it. I sure hope he doesn't; but he has been many places to get a tick bite; and if he does get it, it still doesn't prove that I gave it to him.
I am just saying the same thing with you. If your boyfriend gets it, there is no proof that he got it from you.
Posted by glm1111 (Member # 16556) on :
If syphilis is sexually transmitted than why wouldn't borrelia another spirochette be?
Just because someone isn't displaying symptoms it doesn't mean it is not lying dormant in the tissues.
My LLMD found it in semen and published the findings. It's really a no brainer,
Gael
Posted by hobokinite (Member # 6132) on :
My exwife did not get it and she was tested a few times.
But, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Use protection. Maybe gargle before and after any kissing -- which might be a good idea nayway.
Posted by IckyTicky (Member # 21466) on :
I believe so and so does my LLMD.
My husband of 11 years didn't have any symptoms until recently and tested positive. I don't always buy the "you might not always see the tick" theory. Because I think you can get it from things other than ticks, obviously
My two youngest have never had a tick bite either (that I've ever seen) and they both have Lyme. Oh, and my EX now has symptoms. Hmmmmmm.
Posted by Beautiful Disaster (Member # 21882) on :
Amen - there's TOO MANY PEOPLE that "just don't see the tick"....
Posted by Veromia (Member # 22031) on :
Love to everyone. Our hearts do wish for the best.
Our 6th sense remembers what our hearts try to forget.
Posted by gwb (Member # 7273) on :
Little off subject but my LLMD (original one) suspects I got lyme disease from a blood transfusion given to me during a botched surgery I had in 1994.
Interesting.
Posted by gwb (Member # 7273) on :
Interesting article at link below on the subject of lyme potentially being sexually transmitted.
I wonder how the IDSA will discredit this. I mean, they will have to, especially since THEY didn't come up with it.
James
Posted by JamesNYC (Member # 15793) on :
Beautiful Disaster,
I have been bitten as many as 4 times. ONLY ONCE did I find a tick, and only then it was by a very unlikely accident. I should have missed that one too.
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