I looked thru the old posts on RA but had a couple questions, if you guys will humor me.
Is RA a standard differential diagnosis for Lyme?
Is RA usually ruled out or does it not matter which is ruled out/ruled in first?
Is there evidence that Lyme causes RA or that they often are seen together?
Differences between Lyme arthritis and RA?
I noticed that some of the old RA posters said they were "misdiagnosed" with RA. How did you (or your doc) determine it was a misdiagnosis?
Thanks! Have an appt with rheumatologist later this month and am trying to make sense of things beforehand.
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
I'm sorry but I don't even know what a Differential Diagnosis is.
That said, I did have a positive RA test, which I understand is fairly common for Lyme Patients.
Unless your Rheumotologist is Lyme Literate, I seriously doubt that he/she would understand any connection with Lyme.
Cathy
Posted by monkey1 (Member # 24823) on :
I will say that I have tested positive for RF as well as a positive ANA with a TITER. The Rhuemy doc wants to lean towards LUPUS but cannot explain why my SED or CRP rate is not elevated? Do you have a elevated SED OR CRP rate with your positive RF? These would be elevated with RF or LUPUS and mine are not. Until discovering and putting together all my symptoms I never thought about Lyme Disease and now before we start any steroids or LUPUS meds I want to be tested for LYMES. Hope this helps, I'm just learning..
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
monkey1, you are right to get tested before steroids. If you have been on them-I would wait a
month before testing. Are you going to test with Igenex? I would. Ana is common in lyme with low
titers usually speckled and smooth. Sed rates and CRP's are often deceiving in Lyme because Lyme
sometimes hides in the immune system. And sometimes we have to kill some before the test will see the antibodies on the antigen tests.
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