posted
Anyone ever get a positive TB skin test? I just had a positive TB skin test (chest x-ray clear). Right around the time I had the skin test done I noticed a flare in my "Lyme" symptoms. I heard that the TB could have been a false positive, but the doctor perscribed meds for it just in case. I am just trying to figure out if it could be related to the Lyme in any way.
If anyone has had a similar experience please also mention your age in your response--and what you did. (I am 23).
Posts: 50 | From San Diego, CA, USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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dontlikeliver
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4749
posted
Hi NLP,
I had a positive TB test in 1993 and clear Chest X-ray.
I was rx'd 6 months Isoniazid.
During this time, and perhaps it's coincidence, is when I started to get REALLY really sick, and ended up in the hospital on IV abx. It could be I was reinfected with Lyme while on the Isoniazid also, who knows.
Anyway, a few years later, I discovered that I already had had a positive TB test when I was about three years old. Because I can't ask my mother (and my dad wouldn't know), it is either because I may have had a TB vaccine before I was three, or I was exposed to it before then. I'll never know, but essentially that meant the six months of Isoniazid was a waste of time.
So, if you can, check and make sure you haven't had a positive TB test from as far back as you can't remember before you start TB tx.
DLL
Posts: 2824 | From The Back of Beyond | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Hi newlymepatient. I'm also from san diego, 22, and always wondered about TB since we it seems we have people from all over the world, you'd think it might not be all that hard to get exposed. Anyhow my TB tests have always come back negative though so sorry to be of no help.
-------------------- "...reading the Meditations for long periods can be conducive of melancholy." --qtd. in intro to Meditations Posts: 122 | From San Diego, CA, California, United States | Registered: Mar 2005
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
i too showed POSITIVE FOR TB test BUT AS A NON-CARRIER! i was in 6th grade, age 11 !!
i had another tb test later in life; positive. then doc told me once you are POSITIVE REACTOR FOR TV, YOU WILL ALWAYS BE POSITIVE !
kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
My daughter had a positive TB test before she was diagnosed, as well!! She has always had clear chest x-rays even with active mycoplasma pneumonia tests.
She started on that TB medication, and after a couple of weeks has blood in her urine. I called the pharmacist, and she said given the choice for her daughter, she wouldn't give her that awful medication.
Anyway, we did find that the false positive may have been an allergic or hyper-reaction to the TB test (and her autoimmune problem). Her bump showed up immediately. To be a true positive, it takes 24-48 hours after the test. (This info from the ID/TB specialist who said my daughter's problems were probably a latex allergy)
But, now it makes sense, and my LLMD wasn't worried, so it must be true. Besides, Rifampin is the drug of choice for TB, so we are covered anyway.
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