It has been 15 months since I stopped my 2nd round of Doxycycline. Here's the timeline of what has happened since.
Early September 2010 - finished 2nd round
Early September 2010 (week after ending Doxycycline) - developed a motor tic in my abdomen.
January 2011 - developed a motor tic in my legs. Asked the doctor to do another lyme test (through labcorp) which came back negative. Went to a neurologist and was diagnosed with a tic disorder.
February 2011 - Had 18 straight days of fever regulated by ibuprofen. Went to the doctor and asked for a coinfections test - came back negative.
Since then, I still have the motor tic in my abdomen, legs, feet, and toes, and sometimes my arms. I haven't had any other fevers or real join pain but I can't help but thinking if it's related to the Lyme I had last year.
I'm thinking about retesting and I've read that tests from iGeneX were the most reliable. Is that true? Which tests should I order that would be the most definitive but the most cost-effective?
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
* As a note, "doctor" above is not an LLMD.
Posted by Ralph (Member # 30266) on :
I forgot to mention that I had some facial tics as a kid so a diagnosis of a tic disorder isn't out of left field and could be possible. It just might be coincidental to have such a strong recurrence of tics after the Lyme. I'm not sure which it is.
Posted by joalo (Member # 12752) on :
Up for input.
Posted by TF (Member # 14183) on :
Ralph, if all you were ever given for your lyme disease was doxycycline, then you still have lyme disease.
This disease is not easily gotten rid of. Doxy alone will not do it.
That's why we have doctors who specialize in lyme disease. It is an extremely complex disease and treatment is complex.
Igenex tests are more reliable than Quest or Labcorp, but lyme cannot be diagnosed by a test. It can only be diagnosed by a physician looking at all the evidence. Here is a quote for you from the Burrascano Guidelines:
"DIAGNOSTIC HINTS
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. The entire clinical picture must be taken into account, including a search for concurrent conditions and alternate diagnoses, and other reasons for some of the presenting complaints. Often, much of the diagnostic process in late, disseminated Lyme involves ruling out other illnesses and defining the extent of damage that might require separate evaluation and treatment.
Consideration should be given to tick exposure, rashes (even atypical ones), evolution of typical symptoms in a previously asymptomatic individual, and results of tests for tick-borne pathogens. Another very important factor is response to treatment- presence or absence of Jarisch Herxheimer-like reactions, the classic four-week cycle of waxing and waning of symptoms, and improvement with therapy." (page 7)
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