Anyway, through google, I came across the below at this website:
http://database.azstarnet.com/html/mda/transcripts/20030806ALS-Clinic-Research.html

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QUESTION -- Can ALS be confused with Lyme disease? Is it worth getting tested for Lyme disease? What about taking a course of antibiotics to see what happens?

DR. BRADLEY -- ALS can rarely be confused with Lyme disease, and many patients have taken multiple courses of antibiotics without benefit. Mostly the explanation is that the patient with ALS also had exposure to Lyme disease in the past, not that the infection causes the ALS.
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What do you think? I have found SO MANY different stories, articles and research saying the TOTAL OPPOSITE!!!!!!!!! That LYME is MIS-diagnosed AS ALS all the time.

I truly hope noone read that and decided against getting tested for Lyme.

They have an email address to give comments:

[email protected]

I wonder if it would be worth emailing them concerning this...

It just ticked me off so much I had to share...

Google ALS and Lyme keywords, there is a whole site dedicated to ALS/Lyme. I am on my work computer and not my home one, or I would send it to you.

Anywho, um I forgot what I way saying.

Just that yes it is possible

OH and ALS ( if it WERE ALS for TEN years? nah, sounds like lyme)

Google has greater resources, many times it's greater than any information found here. But, you can click the search key here and use the keywords, ALS, Lyme and get some great results also.

In Oregon of 61 CDC positive lyme cases (that I know of), over half of them were initially diagonsed with ALS, and of that half , about 1/4 were diagnosed with either ALS or MS, or both.

There is a wonderful doctor in Springfield Mo who will tell you the same thing....So often Lyme is mis diagnosed as ALS and sometimes its too late

that WAS ME!!!

Duck had the "I'm POSITIVE it's ALS and your sx are progressing so quickly you probally have only two years left, one that will be usefull, so go be with you family and make the most of it. Now we are going to do one last test, a spinal tap to just rule out any fungal things I may have missed, but don't get your hopes up, I have to do this to satisify the insurance before I can give you a definate dx of ALS."

They had already "checked my blood for lyme" using the grand old ELISA test and of course it was negitve so of course I didn't have lyme.

I waited two weeks for the tap to come back beliveing God that I didn't have ALS that is was something that the doc missed. Sure enough part of his tap was a Western Blot for Lyme. It came back very postitive for lyme. He couldn't believe it, said that it wasn't part of his normal protocal and didn't know why the lab added that test.

I know somone was watching over me

I can only immagine what hell I would be in if he would have found leisions that indicated MS, because he was sure that is what it was at first, I would be loaded up on steriods and quite possibly dead by now. I certainly wouldn't be getting better.

Anyhow that is my story on the subject.

Nic is also diagnosed with ALS. When you do a search for ALS you will found his story as a post by Martijn.

The 'ducks' still think it is PSMA (a brother of ALS) and not Lyme. They know there can be Lyme in the Netherlands, but they believe in easy cure (max. 30 days abx; no cure = no Lyme). Even our Lyme-specialist (super duck) send somebody home with a differant diagnose after four times positif tested for LD, he said it must be false positif (4x ).

For Nic it doesn't matter anymore. As long as his physician wants to treat him.

Good luck,

Ingeborg and Nic

Here is another scary Q&A about Lyme and ALS.

SUBJ (11/02): TESTING FOR LYME DISEASE
I have heard that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) motor neuron disease symptoms can be caused by Lyme disease and that the tests for Lyme disease are often false negatives. What type of confirming test can be done to rule Lyme either disease in or out? How should someone proceed with making sure they are getting the most accurate tests and treatments?

REPLY from MDA:

An ALS-like disorder may be mimicked by Lyme infection, but in my experience the two can be differentiated with some laboratory help. ALS can occur in individuals who are infected with the "bug" that causes Lyme disease (borrelia burgdorferi). Lyme disease antibodies may be found in the blood of ALS patients who come from so-called endemic areas where Lyme disease has an increased prevalence in the population (such as the northern United States). ALS patients who have positive Lyme antibodies in their blood have generally not responded favorably to treatment with antibiotics.