Lupus and a relationship to Lyme Disease

General
1

I want to share with you a discussion I had with my GP at my last appointment. First I need to share that I love my GP. He is always educating himself and discusses my treatment options with me instead of dictating to me as if I'm a lower life form, like many doctors do.

So he walks in, sits down and says "I want to test you for Lyme Disease". I about fell over, because I've been wanting to mention something to him for awhile but didn't want him to think I was a hypochondriac. I had been reading about the possibility of Lyme linked to Lupus, so I was very interested when he said this. He went on to say that he had just, in the last couple of months, spent time with the Head of Infectious Diseases somewhere and the head of a Lupus research group. He talked with each separately but each brought up the correlation between Lyme and Lupus and the high incidence of Lupus patients actually having Lyme Disease too. He said that, since those discussions, he has diagnosed more cases of Lyme Disease in the last month than he has in the whole rest of his career combined. He said we still don't have the greatest tests for it but they are much better than in the past.

That's when I told him: 20 years ago when I moved to this town, I was living in the country in a rickety old house. There were no mowed lawns, just lots of tall grass and I loved taking walks.

One morning I woke up to find my legs filled with bites with big rings around them. Back then we didn't know about the bullseye rashes associated with Lyme, so I thought they were spider bites. They looked just like this, all over my legs:

https://www.google.com/search?q=tick+bullseye+rash+images&rlz=1C1RNGL_enUS470US478&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=jCARUti5MMHXygGuh4E4&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAQ&biw=960&bih=477#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=YD9FfPVE9LYlsM%3A%3BA9qUCn-iGzTyRM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fweb.princeton.edu%252Fsites%252Fehs%252Fbullseye.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fweb.princeton.edu%252Fsites%252Fehs%252Fsummeradvisory.htm%3B576%3B782

The people in my office were fascinated! lol

Anyway, shortly after that was when I developed a bunch of weird allergies and lung infections, which we have been assuming all along was about when my Lupus started!

He was very interested in this and ordered a bunch of tests.

SO, they took a boatload of blood. Dracula would have been jealous! lol I'm anxiously waiting for the results. He said that yes, even after 20 years I could still test positive and may need treatment. He said at this point it might take between 2 months and a year of antibiotic treatment to get rid of it, but if I test positive we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Funny to think that a little bug could have caused all this. Ugh. I'll keep you posted.

2

I lived in OK many years ago and had a tick on the back of my knee I was in the hospital for a week I had no control over any thing and had high fevers. I was tested for Lyme dz and it was negative. I am so glad you have a caring doctor. A good doctor can make all the difference in our treatment.

3

Hi,

I was tested for Lyme through IgeneX Labs beginning of this year. Positive for late stage Lyme (Borrelia) and for a co-infection of Mycoplasma pheumoniae. The organisms can be in your system for many years(as in my case)and then become active, usually when your immune system is compromised in some way. This can set off a chain reaction of infections and autoimmune conditions. I spent fifteen years trying to figure out where all these sysmtpoms were coming from. Soooo.....pays to be tested, but IgeneX is one of few labs that tests properly for Lyme, at this time.

Ally

4

I was diagnosed with late stage Lyme Disease in the fall of 2003. My Lupus symptoms started the summer of 2004. I have always thought there is a correlation.