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early diagnosis is great but what about the co-infections?

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Posted 6/22/2015 8:17 PM (GMT -5)
Early diagnosis is great and preventative treatment as well but what about the co-infections? I have read that almost all ticks that carry spirochetes also carry babesia, bartonella, etc.

I wonder what the real numbers are on how many people get infected each year.

This year in Canada we had a really cold winter so I hope that killed off a lot of ticks.
Posted 6/22/2015 8:29 PM (GMT -5)
Kayaklove - I'm thinking you live in a different part of the country - maybe Ontario.
Here in my region of B.C - it wasn't really cold.
So, our tick population will continue to grow out west.
Posted 6/22/2015 8:47 PM (GMT -5)
That is exactly what has been on my mind too! What happens when Lyme is treated early but there are coinfections involved? Will the Lyme treatment be successful and just coinfections to deal with later or due to coinfections, Lyme can't be killed off in 4-6 week early treatment?

The problem that Lyme is the infection always talked about when it comes to tick born infection in society. Of course, U.S. lymies know better but the thought process needs to be changed to tick born infections, whatever they might be, not Lyme disease. Schaller says Bartonella is the most common infection and Lyme is the coinfection. It's really tricky as to what to do soon after a tick bite or finding a rash when it's unknown what infections the person might have. Should they treat all at once with a bunch of antibiotics rather than just Doxy?
Posted 6/22/2015 8:54 PM (GMT -5)
That's an interesting question. Only one antibiotic is used when you get treated right away. I'm wondering if it's because it's when our immune system is compromised that we can't fight off the other stuff - like bartonella. So, if we treat lyme early, are we able to fight off the co's with our immune system?

Because when you look up bartonella - (google) - many sites say that often no treatment is necessary, the body handles it - but this is usually when you get it from your cat. - either from a bite or scratch or from fleas they are carrying.


I'm interested in what others will say about this...
Posted 6/22/2015 9:15 PM (GMT -5)
So my ND is correct then for thinking I DO NOT have Lyme because I'm negative for both Bart. Strains & an indeterminate on Lyme itself
Posted 6/22/2015 9:32 PM (GMT -5)
Knowing what I know about Lyme testing, I surely don't understand why a doctor that understands these infections would say that, Sweet pea. It just doesn't make sense.

Although the "big three" tick borne infections (Lyme, Bart, Babs) are each treated differently, Anaplasmosis and Ehrlichia at least are treated successfully with a "regular" course of Doxy. Maybe even RMSF, but I'm not sure of that one. So what is usually the regular treatment for Lyme (2 weeks of abx), is usually enough treatment for those others.

Why aren't more doctors looking for Bartonella and Babesia? Because then they would have to talk about Lyme and how the patient got the infection. This last part is solely my own opinion though.
Posted 6/22/2015 10:27 PM (GMT -5)
I sort of brought this up in the thread about what to test for.

I struggled with just testing for Lyme or adding any of the confections.

I know that Igenex is considered accurate for Lyme and not so accurate for Babs/Bart. In the end, I decided to test for all three. I figure since my symptoms for all three seem so strong, if one of the co-infections comes back stronger than Lyme the argument for Lyme would still be strong as they all came from the same source.

Am I completely off the wall here?

Kim
Posted 6/22/2015 11:54 PM (GMT -5)
You can also get false negatives for lyme with Igenex. It happens a lot.

If you are negative for lyme, but positive for the co's...I believe that you could be quite certain that you have lyme, too...yes same source.

I still sometimes think about testing for bart and babs. I know a negative could be false...but if I did get a positive...then I'd know for sure.
Posted 6/23/2015 10:57 AM (GMT -5)
I can tell you that I chose to not have any testing done when I got reinfected last summer. I knew that if I used the right treatment, I would know and sure enough, that's what happened!!

I used the same treatment for Lyme that worked on me last time, and my symptoms are gone. I believe that while my body was stressed with herxing/healing from Lyme, that had I had any co-infections, the symptoms would have come out - but no other symptoms manifested.
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