The Lyme Saga continues...
Today I got test results back that had some very inconclusive and confusing results.
I took tests to look for the antibodies of Lyme's main culprit, Borrelia burgdorferi, and also a few other things that may have explained all my symptoms.
My tests indicate:
No antibodies for Borrelia burgdorferi
No antibodies for any co-infections of Lyme (Bartonella and Babesia)
No Mycoplasma
Positive for West Nile Virus
The funny thing is that because these tests are so infamously wrong so often, my doctor doesn't believe them to be true. I must say I agree with him in this case. He says it's unlikely that West Nile Virus is the cause of my chronic Lyme symptoms because, while it shares many symptoms with chronic Lyme, it is not a chronic problem. Usually, someone with West Nile has acute and severe symptoms, not chronic ones like mine. On the off chance I do have West Nile Virus, the way to recover is to sleep a lot, drink a lot of liquids, generally boost the immune system (possibly take anti-viral supplements), and wait for your body to neutralize the virus.
As far as the tests on Borrelia and Bartonella/Babesia, we don't trust those either. Testing for antibodies is notoriously inconclusive. You can get false positives and false negatives. So, we are going to run tests for the organisms themselves and see what comes back.
As of right now, I believe that I may have defeated the Borrelia, but I am still fighting off a co-infection that simply didn't show up on this set of tests.
For more on co-infections, there's an informative article called TOUCHED BY LYME: A close look at six Lyme-related infections.
For Other Posts about Lyme Disease see the following:
How to Find the Right Doctor for Lyme Disease
How can you be Certain you have LYME DISEASE?
Lyme Disease a List of Symptoms
Lyme Disease the Great Masquerader of Diseases
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