My 14 year old sister for the past 3 months has been experiencing chest pains, tiredness, and headaches every now and then. Last week her chest pain was so bad she had to go to the ER for the first time. Of course, they sent her out for the ELISA. I told my mom to take her to her primary care and demand a western blot. My mom said band 41 IgG came back present.
My little sister has had no sexual contact so I don't believe it would be syphilis cross-reacting. Is this enough to start the process of Lyme treatment and start shelling out the $$$? Her primary care told her to take tylenol and that sports are giving her chest pains..... She has been healthy all of her life and has played sports for years. The doctor also told her Lyme doesnt cause chest pains or headaches. Oh my.
Posted by xrunnerx2012 (Member # 39306) on :
going once, going twice..?
Posted by DaveNJ (Member # 17362) on :
in my opinion where there is smoke there is fire....i started treatment without a single band...can lyme or coninfections cased headaches and chest pains? the answer is yes....
Dave
with 20/20 hindsight you have to assume the worst until someone who is qualifed can rule out Lyme. if someone had told me that 7 years ago i would be fine today.
Posted by surprise (Member # 34987) on :
If only p41 is showing, I might want to also rule out H. Pylori, since that is also a flagella.
Posted by Catgirl (Member # 31149) on :
Certain indeterminate bands are also considered positive by ILADS guidelines. What are the rest of her bands?
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Important Lyme questions aside, I wish they would quit handing out tylenol like candy.
You say that she was told " to take tylenol and that sports are giving her chest pains... ." (end quote)
Note: acetaminophen can make chest symptoms worse, as it blocks glutathione. It can also cause liver damage (espcially if she does have lyme as her liver may be stressed to begin with.)
See the relevant links, a ways down in this thread:
- Are they in the same city as you? If so, be sure they know that Johns Hopkins is a terrible place regarding their willingness to learn about lyme. -
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- For now, it's important for her to not do any aerobic exercise as, during active infection, this can cause damage to the heart.
Non-aerobic only until this is figured out. Explained here:
EXERCISE INTOLERANCE is (partially) explained in the article: "when exercise doesn't work out" (and what we can do about that) -
Posted by xrunnerx2012 (Member # 39306) on :
I live in Baltimore, MD and my sister lives in Maryland on the eastern shore in Talbot country. Its getting really bad here with ticks. My mom says there are a lot of people with Lyme near her and that her client referred her to an LLMD out there. I know its convenient but I would rather have her drive here to see my doc. She is getting an echocardiogram done. I have tried to explain to my mom that it will probably show up clear and that she needs to make an appointment asap. I even gave her my left over Doxy. Not sure if she started that yet to hold her over till the doctors.
Posted by t9im (Member # 25489) on :
Hi xrunner:
In the mid to late 80's Alan Steere wrote two research papers indicating band 41 is the first to show up and with symptoms confirms the presence of the Lyme bacteria.
This was before his 93 paper on the over diagnosis and over treatment of the disease or his 94 paper on diagnosing requiring 5 positive bands.
A LLMD should treat based on symptoms and use the WB to confirm.
If your giving your sister doxy remember to have her avoid the sun and take a probiotic.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- The echocardiogram should be done both lying down and standing up, not standard but very important.
He's not a LLMD, still see Cheney's article / video about that in the Cardiac Thread above.
Even if neither approach "shows" anything, it's a good test to rule out other things. Still, as you know, a normal "echo" does not mean there are no symptoms.
Beyond getting the basic ehco done now, a LLMD sounds like an excellent choice. I'm glad she's been referred. I hope she keeps that appointment.
I'm not too familiar with how far apart this or that place is and sort of assume anyone on the Maryland shore is not too far from Baltimore.
As for their coming there to your doctor. Not sure who you see but know there is at least one excellent LLMD in Baltimore (maybe more).
TF (another poster here) saw failure with two others, yet had great success and reached remission in one year's time after finally finding a LLMD there who was assertive enough with treatment.