posted
My dizziness & knee pain symptoms began this month, how do I know if I contracted LD years ago & this is just a flare up? I have never noticed a deer tick on me or a bull's eye rash, but I really feel like I have LD.
Since the treatment is different dependin on how long you've had it/ what stage it is, how do you figure out how long you've had it? Does the western blot show that?
-------------------- ~Erin Posts: 58 | From SE PA | Registered: May 2006
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Carol B
Unregistered
posted
Hello there- in my case my LLMD told me my positive CDC indicatd I had lyme for over a year-actually it was two years since that's when I was first dignosed with my bullseye rashes(thinking they were spider bits).
posted
No test can tell for sure you how long you have had it. THere are two Western Blot tests. The current belief is that IgM is a better test if you have recently contracted Lyme. The IgG is more of an indicator if you have had active Lyme for a while.
The treatment really isn't too much different in the different stages. You treat until the symptoms are gone and then some. If there are serious neurological symptoms IV abx would be used. Unless you know for sure that you just contracted it (with a visible rash, etc.) then the view by most LLMD's for treatment is abx for atleast 6 weeks.
MOst people don't remember the tick or even have a rash. A lot of people carry Lyme asymptomatic for months or years until something triggers it to come out in full force. When looking back most Lyme patients can remember Lyme symptoms for months or years that they just wrote off as old age, etc. More importantly the doctors did too.
Posts: 649 | From United States | Registered: Dec 2003
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TheCrimeOfLyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4019
posted
It's really hard to say, unless you saw the tick or the bite mark or rash.
I had only *assumed* I was bitten just four months before I got GRAVELY ill because I had minor symptoms for those months. But over the course of treating my lyme, symptoms started going away that I had FOR TEN YEARS but had never thought were lyme disease ( stomach pain and hyperhydrosis)
-------------------- You want your life back? Take it. Posts: 3169 | From Greensburg, Pennsylvania | Registered: Jun 2003
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