Lyme disease (was re Mannatech)

June 16, 2001

<< has every one here been tested for lymes disease?

The doctor took my blood yesterday to rule it out, (a little late) I was bit

by a tick 3 years ago in Florida.

In the MS chats on AOL, there are several nearly-evangelical Lymies who are

convinced that MS doesn't exist, that it's actually Lyme disease. Several

are actually veterinarians, which is interesting. Lyme is a bitch to Dx and

treatable with massive doses of antibiotics in its earlier stages, and

advanced systemic LD looks a LOT like MS, including the lesions, which can be

nearly indistinguishable from MS brain lesions. However, and this is a

biggie, LD does not show oligiclonal bands in the CSF (spinal fluid), but it

will generally show Lyme spirochetes.

I took this info to my neuro and requested a Lyme test. The HMO didn't want

to pay for it at first, because my MS dx was " definitive, " but my neuro

talked them into because I grew up in prime Lyme territory. Came up

negative anyway. One of my best friends has very severe advanced LD, and I

convinced her to get her doc to test her for MS. She did have lesions, but

the spinal tap revealed that it is indeed Lyme, in her case, and not MS, no

oligiclonal bands. And yet, symptomatically, y'all would think " probable

MS " if you met her. When we hear hoofbeats, we should think horses, not

zebras, but still...

FWIW, these adamant Lymies have an interesting point: SOME dx'd MSers DO

respond to the same mega-doses of antibiotics that help most Lymies. Why?

Perhaps those are folks whose MS has its roots in bacterial conditions or

theirs is that HHV-6 virus thingie, or perhaps they have some untreated

bacterial condition that is keeping an exacerbation going and when that's

eradicated, they go into remission. I am as clueless as a neurologist as to

WHY, LOL!

I do think that it's sensible for neuros to routinely test for Lyme Disease

as part of the ruling out process involved in dx'ing MS. Lyme, at least in

its early and mid stages, is curable.

Rani

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