Bugg
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8095
posted
Can anyone please e-mail me the best place to send a tick for testing? Do you have to tell the lab what coinfections to test for?
My sister was bitten by a tick about a month and 1/2 ago. She didn't have a rash or flu-like symptoms at that time. She did, however, feel slightly achey about two weeks later. Now, a month and 1/2 later she is experiencing panic attacks, muscle weakness, and muscle soreness. Luckily, she kept the tick. The doctor wants it sent for testing ASAP and has prescribed doxycyclene.
Anyone else have these initial symptoms (panic attacks, muscle weakness, soreness???) Also, where do I send the tick and what tests do I ask for???? How long will it take to receive the results back???
Thanks so much...I'm sooooooooo worried....(i'm a veteran lymenet member so I know about the disease just not the testing of ticks)....
TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
The best place is Igenex, a tick-borne disease speciality lab in California.
Their website is Igenex.com
You will have to call the lab for the price of the test. You send your payment with the tick. So, you can discuss the exact test to order also.
It seems to me if you study their website that they will test the tick for lyme disease. I don't know about coinfection testing.
The lyme test--that's what I had done a number of years ago. It cost me about $50. It took about 30 days to get the test results.
There is a LymeNet member who has posted here a number of times that the test is not 100% accurate. Her tick test came back negative, but the tick actually had given her lyme disease.
My initial lyme symtom was muscle weakness. It came for a number of months, and then it left for a number of months. It did this for a number of years. I never knew when I would get another "attack." No doctor could figure out what was wrong with me.
I think she is fortunate that her doctor will give her doxy immediately. That med will help with lyme, bartonella, and ehrlichiosis.
It will not, however, kill babesiosis. Babesiosis is a very common coinfection of lyme disease. Burrascano says that 67% of lymies also have babesiosis.
I would advise your sister to find a good lyme doctor who will ensure she gets adequate treatment and testing.
I had lyme, babesiosis, and bartonella. In fact, everyone I know with lyme disease in Maryland has these 3. So, it is best to go to a doc who specializes in all this. She can post in "Seeking a Doctor."
Tell her to read the Dr. Burrascano lyme treatment guidelines so that she has a better understanding of this disease and its coinfections, and so she can see what good lyme disease treatment looks like.
"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." (p. 7)
To summarize, none of the lyme and coinfection tests are reliable enough to base the diagnosis on. It takes seeing a lyme specialist to get the proper diagnosis.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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Bugg
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8095
posted
TF-
Wow...Thanks for all of the information....I'm a veteran lymenet member myself (sorry, I need to edit my post) but I didn't know anything about testing of ticks...Thanks so much...
Posts: 1155 | From Southeast | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Igenex for sure... but don't expect it to be any more accurate than human testing. I had a tick tested and it came back OK for Lyme and babesia and yet I got Lyme from the tick.
This was a tick bite I got about one yr after going off initial Lyme treatment. I got sick all over again.
It's about $55 per test.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96220 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
Heard recently about a lab in MD that tests ticks quickly. Below is their contact info:
Clongen Laboratories in Germantown. The contact information is: 877-256-6436. Their website is www.clongen.comPosts: 126 | From MD | Registered: Mar 2009
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treepatrol
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 4117
posted
a its $65.00 as of last october 08. $325.00 to test for everything they test for.
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96220 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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treepatrol
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 4117
posted
quote:Originally posted by Lymetoo: GAG on the price!!!!!!
Sure does save you money in the long run though sweety
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
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