New to Lyme

Hey hey. I'm new to Lyme also so I won't be able to answer your questions but you should post your results with the lgg lgm and maybe someone can help you determine them! Good luck!

Hi Clementine,
Welcome to our community! I'm glad you found us.

So, in your reading, did you read through our "New to Lyme" thread? It's packed with helpful and important information, so we do like to encourage new members to read through it.

No, there really isn't a way for a doctor to tell by the test results that you are in the early stages - that's because any time the infection gets reactivated, by stress or whatever, the immune system produces the antibodies that many doctors interpret as an early infection (IgM) - no matter how long the person has been infected.

Take me for example - I had been having symptoms for literally 38 years and it took a year of treatment before I finally got a positive test result - and it was most reactive on the IgM markers, not the IgG markers. After 37 years of living with these infections, it should have been lit up like a Christmas tree for the IgG markers instead.

That's part of the problem with these tests that are currently used.

And no, the ELISA being negative doesn't indicate anything other than that the testing is that poor. The ELISA tests miss many people - up to 50% of those that actually have these infections.

Don't feel bad about trying to figure out when you got infected - I think most people do. I know I did, and I had to talk for a very long time with my Mom to see what I could pry out of her memory to try to figure out when I was infected. Finally figured it out though, I was no older than 7.

Keep reading and keep asking questions! The learning curve for these infections is really quite steep, but we are here to help as much as we can!

Can we ask what your treatment is at this point? We do like to be sure that you are on the right dosages of things.

That's what I was concerned about considering your doctor didn't understand what the testing actually means.

The minimum treatment - even for the earliest of cases - is 4 - 6 weeks of Doxy at 300- 400 mgs twice daily. This is by ILADS recommendations, and they are the ones up on the National Guidelines Clearinghouse, not the IDSA recommendations that your doctor is following.

You will need more treatment to not be left with an ongoing infection.

You have found yourself with us in the middle of a huge political fight. It's ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases) and IDSA (Infectious Disease Society of America) over testing, what defines Lyme/chronic Lyme, and how to treat these infections.

Here are some articles that may be of some help in understanding this:
ILADS vs IDSA:
www.clinicaladvisor.com/controversy-continues-to-fuel-the-lyme-war/article/117160/

archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=226373

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2901226/​


ILADS treatment guidelines now up on the National Guidelines Clearinghouse: www.ilads.org/ilads_news/2015/ilads-treatment-guidelines-are-now-summarized-on-the-national-guideline-clearinghouse-website/

And here is the treatment guidelines from ILADS, so you can see for yourself - and hopefully convince your doctor that the dose simply needs to be double that as well as for a longer period of time:
www.lymenet.org/BurrGuide200810.pdf


You may need to find a LLMD in order to get the treatment you need to get past these infections. If so, please do let us know, as we may be able to help you find one.

That's why we ask! We want you to get the best treatment possible and to heal!

Let us know what other questions or concerns you may have!