Blood tests are the main tests.
It is a great idea to contact the person you know who was just dx'ed if they live in your area.

In my state, Connecticut, your best bet for a doc is a rheumatologist, infectious disease or neurologist because if that doctor says you have Lyme Disease, even though your blood tests may be negative, your health insurance company, by law, has to pay for your treatments. Primary care docs are the worst for a Lyme dx because they blindly follow the very narrow current guidelines for diagnosis.
It is not a well understood illness that is dissed because there are not many fatalities from it. Sadly, it can affect the brain. The bacteria is a corkscrew like one, much like syphylis and it has similar symptoms, mental disturbances being a huge one. I met a psychiatrist at a seminar who said psychiatric hospitals are filled with patients who truly have Lyme Disease but the medical community, oddly, just won't acknowledge it.

My theory is that, when in the 1970's, all these Lyme Disease cases started to explode in Lyme, Connecticut, where the illness got its name, there was great concern in Connecticut. The actual census of CT dropped and people didn't want to move CT or take jobs here. Why would someone want to move to a state where you could get this terrible disease?
Hence, as it spread throughout the northeast, where very high incomes propel the tax base and the housing market ...slowly, it was made to look like a disease that was not a big deal and easily cured....a huge misrepresentation. I know so many people, like myself, who were permanently damaged because their dx was delayed for years. Also, 4 weeks is NOT long enough to treat but that is what most docs will tell you. I was treated initially for 6 solid months because it affected my brain and I had seizures, migraines, neuropathy that was so painful
I was bedridden. It was only after a months of IV antibiotics that my seizures stopped and I had some pain relief.

I am not trying to scare you, I simply want you to make sure it is investigated properly. I will get you the website that will steer you to the best doctors.


Lyme disease needs a clinical dx, meaning if all the symptoms are there and even if your tests say you don't have Lyme, if your doc thinks you have Lyme, then you get treated. I cannot emphasize enough that SO many folks who have Lyme are incorrectly dx'ed with arthritis, fibromyalgia, MS, neuropathy and are just treated for their pain or migraines etc and spend a lifetime suffering.

I truly hope it is not Lyme but if it is, quick and aggressive antibiotic treatment may stop it.

My best as you seek answers,
Diandra

p.s. just this month, a friend of mine who lives in Cape Cod, MA where Lyme
is very prevalent, got many symptoms. His wife bugged him to go to doc and his
tests were negative. He called me to ask advice. I said, keep track of your symptoms and if still having them, go back to doc for retesting. He went back 2 wks later and tested positive and he has a doc who is treating him very aggressively with antibiotics.