posted
I have posted before but want to recap here.
I was bitten by something twice. I don't know what it was. But there was a clear bite marks & then a blotchy rash that spread around the bite. No bullseye & it didn't look anything like what I have seen of the Lyme's rashes onlinr. It wasn't solid or raised or all red. A friend of mine had the same kind of bite & rash at the same time. It itched like mad, lasted about 2 weeks. I am sensitive to bites & right now have a little one that is driving me crazy.
I originally got tested because I was having labwork anyway & my doc & I decided to test for the Lyme's at the same time. On that test, the 23 & 41 bands were positive on both the IgG & IgM blots. The Elisa was positive.
Everything I have read about the Elisa including Joseph Burrascano's EXCELLENT long paper in Advanced Topics in Lyme's Disease, says that the Elisa is horribly inaccurate, gives false positives & negatives. Burrascano thinks it should not even be used at all.
Upon retest, I had the Western blot only & the result of that was positive reaction on the IgG 41 & 23 bands only. 0 on the IgM bands. Since neither of those bands are specific for Lyme ONLY, the report & my doctors said no reason to treat, especialy considering that I am just recovering from a year with Cdiff.
Much of what I have read also stipulates that treatment should only be begun IF treatment confirms clinical symptoms. I do not have those. I had a slight sore throat at the time of one of the rashes but I also have hay fever at this time of year. I had a slight fever at the time of the second rash but that was back in mid June & I have been fine since. There were no clinical symptoms at the time of testing & there haven't been since & are none now.
If it weren't for the Cdiff, I would probably go ahead & take a course of the Doxy as a precaution, but I do not want to relapse on the Cdiff & the doctors do not want me to either. If you haven't had Cdiff, then you can't imagine how bad it can be. Yes, I know Lymes's is bad too but most people know nothing of Cdiff & therefore discount it. Believe me, Cdiff should NOT be discounted anymore than Lyme's should! Anyway given my recent history of a year with Cdiff plus the results of the tests, especially the second, I guess I will go with the doctors' recommendations.
I would very much like to hear back from anyone here who has had Cdiff.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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lymebytes
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11830
posted
Hi, Dr. Burrascano means it is inaccurate because it is rarely positive. To be tested correctly using the western blot, the lab must report all bands, the standard test does not. You need to be tested through a tick borne specialty lab, Igenex for accurate testing for Lyme and all co-infections. This link explains the inacurate elisa screening and standard western blot (read both pages: http://www.ilads.org/basic.html
Rashes are never typical or necessarily in a bullseye, here are some pictures of how different the rash can look: http://www.canlyme.com/rash.html
Lyme can be a progressive very serious illness, not to mention the co-infections (other bacteria transmitted by ticks). I would not wait and see a Lyme literate Md asap.
posted
About c. diff--Having struggled with recurrent c. diff I know you're right--there's nothing quite like it
I've upped all my probiotics and so far (knock on wood!) I've been keeping c. diff at bay.
Here's my regime: I've named the specific brands I happen to take, but I'm sure there are other good options!
High potency saccharamyces boulardii w/ MOS (right now I use Jarrow Formulas). Since this is a beneficial yeast, take it away from any difulcan.
Theralac: 1 capsule, 2x/day, one, first thing in the morning and the other right before bed...away from antibiotics.
Culturelle: Lactobacillus GG (taken 1 capsule, 2x/day, same time as Theralac)
MegaFlora: 3 capsules per day, 2 first thing in the morning and one right before bed (again, same time as the above two)
Udo's Choice enzyme blend: plant-based digestive enzymes. I take one with every meal and snacks. This helps break down food for better digestion/absorbtion
Good luck! I know since c. diff makes spores, it's a nasty bugger to get rid of (I don't think we ever get rid of it entirely...we can just keep its numbers down!)
I hope this is helpful!
Posts: 136 | From North Carolina | Registered: Apr 2007
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merrygirl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12041
posted
I thought band 23 was specific to lyme????
Could someone explain your symptoms for c. diff?
I hear it is bad, and I have chronic diarrhea and just want to know w hat to look for.
If you google Cdiff, you can get a lot of information. The way it started with me was one night I got cold chills, extreme anxiety, & dreadful diarrhea. It continued all night long & into the next day & by early afternoon I was in the ER getting 2 bags of IV fluids. Cdiff is a nasty nasty bug. The lucky ones get rid of it in one or two rounds of antibiotics. It has taken me almost a year & others on the Cdiff forum that I am on have had it for years. I lost 30 pounds in 2 months.
If you have continuing diarrhea, it would be worth while getting tested. Chances are you do not have it since I can't imagine anyone going on with their life without being treated while having Cdiff.
posted
Have you had Cdiff or do you already have it? Or are the antibiotics a precaution against getting it?
What is Quest?
Did you know you had been bitten by a tick? Did you have a characteristic rash?
I am going to talk with Dr Harris with Igenex tomorrow. I called them today & told whoever answered the phone that I had tested first positive, then negative (altho my first WB was iffy, not positive) & that I wanted to talk to someone about it. She told me to talk to him but he's not in today so I'll call him tomorrow.
posted
I sent you a pm, but also wanted to add--for someone that has a c.diff problem--flagyl isn't always enough of a preventative...I had recurrent c.diff while on 250 mg. oral flagyl and 250 mg. IV flagyl daily! I've upped all my probiotics and gone to only IV antibiotics to try to survive Posts: 136 | From North Carolina | Registered: Apr 2007
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posted
Why haven't you gone to Vancomycin instead of staying with Flagy? Flagyl is very hard on the system & if you haven't gotten significantly better on it, it's definitely time to change to Vanco. Most people do when Flagyl doesn't do the job. And I should add that Flagyl makes you feel sick too so it's hard to tell what's making one feel miserable, the disease or the med.
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did you post also in mdjunction site too? i've read this story somewhere lately. ![[confused]](graemlins/confused.gif)
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