Anyone ever have or been tested for Lyme Disease?

[Zizzle]

The author of the Med Nauseam Blog, Alix, posted a video about her long struggle with chronic illnesses and symptoms, many that sound like the variety that MC'ers deal with - joint pain, fatigue, headaches, GI issues, etc, etc. She was misdiagnosed for decades until someone finally tested her for Lyme Disease. I wonder if folks here with fibromyalgia and related symptoms have ever been tested? Lyme and related tick-borne and vector-borne infections are on the rise, and it's no longer limited to the Northeast. Again, this goes back to my theory that MC has an infectious cause - one that the medical community fails to identify - a stealth bacterium or virus slowly wreaking havoc on our entire system and being labeled "autoimmune".

Anyway, I'm not sure I would have chosen the herbal remedy route over antibiotics, but she does employ a GF/DF/SF diet among other things.

http://www.mednauseam.com/2011/01/lyme- ... am+blog%29

[MaggieRedwings]

I have been and it was negative. Just due to a bad tick bite.

My friend has had Lyme numerous times and I have tried to tell her she just has never gotten rid of it. Went the specialist route with drips and pics and no relief. It has messed her up big time in both attitude, etc.

Maggie

[Rosie]

I had a what I now know was a classic case of Lyme's Disease when I was about 18 years old. I remember having a big itchy bite on my leg with the classic "bull's eye" rash. Then some time late, within months, I don't really remember the exact timing, my knees got very inflamed and swelled up. They would get better and then swell up again. My family never went to doctors, so I just lived with it. Then when I went to college and finally had the student health service, it got really bad and I had one of my knees drained and a cortisone injection. Over time the inflamation went away, and as far as I know, I haven't had any residual symptoms. My LC started about 6 years ago, and I can't attribute it to Lyme disease, at least directly. Maybe it somehow sensitized my immune system, but it's hard to say. Of course this was 45 years ago now, and Lyme Disease wasn't on the radar for any of the doctors, especially in Oregon at the time.

Rosie

[Robbie]

Rosie, my situation is similar to yours. I discovered a bullseye rash on my stomach about 31 years ago and thought nothing of it. At that time my ex and I were spending almost every weekend cutting fire wood. I had heard of Lyme disease but had no idea the rash might be from that. Not long after, I became too sick to work and had to quit my job. I remained very weak and fatigued for over five years (bedridden much of the time). I never had any swelling or anything else related to the rash -- that I know of. But I was so sick! The doctor I began seeing in 1995 believes I probably had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, because, even though I got better for a few years, I suddenly became ill with Fibromyalgia in 1991 (after hurting my back and coming down with the worst flu of my life). I guess it's not uncommon to have CFS that goes into remission and then comes back as FMS. I often wonder if the whole thing is related to that rash. Then again, I had a head injury a few years prior to the rash and EEG testing showed brain abnormalities, so maybe that's where it all began. Plus I had what the doctor diagnosed as a "mono like" illness about a year before (he stressed to me that it was just like mono, but was not mono - he said what it was but I could not pronounce it, let alone remember what he said). Regardless, I've had "poop attacks" since I was a child, as have my siblings (and their children) so that problem started way before the rash, too. The chronic D did not start till ten years ago, right after my first colonoscopy, and then got much worse after a case of E. coli four years ago. Maybe the LC is a result of all this stuff combined.

I answered the poll with the last option, since it was the best fit for me. I discussed it with my doctor 15 years ago and it seems like he said it had been too long since I had the rash for the test to show Lyme disease so I was not tested. Maybe the test is different now and would show one way or another, regardless of how much time has passed.