Hello ladies and gentlemen! I had been thinking a bit and was curious about something, I figured asking is the best way to ease my curious mind. I've been reading quite a bit, and I try to look at facts more than anything. Having that said, I tend to look at medical studies, tests and things of the like. It seems while I am learning about Lyme - MS, ALS and Parkinsons Disease are mentioned quite frequently. Some studies suggest a link, some studies suggest no link, others state they have no clue.
It seems that essentially in the end of it all, both MS and Lyme are clinical diagnoses. I've heard from many Lyme patients that a lot of them were tested for and in some cases diagnosed with MS. It does appear to me the symptoms have an outstanding similarity, and even when brain scans come into play both can produce abnormal results (lesions, 'patches', etc.).
I was wondering if before you were diagnosed, if you were tested for Lyme or any of the associated co-infections? Like, the "Lymies" are tested for all kinds of random things (I even got tested for that one toxosomething you get from cat poo
).
I must admit it's the first time I was diagnosed with something I am completely fascinated by. Not only do I learn about one disease, but I get to learn about several others, as in many studies I observe, they seem to 'sometimes' have 'links'.
Anywho, sorry for babling. I was just curious and I hope you don't mind my asking. I personally wasn't tested for much as I consider myself fortunate enough to have had the 'bulls eye rash'. I did have to get a total of 72 other tests though due to how progressive it has been (I didn't know it was possible for my knee to swell so large).
Maybe I'm just weird when I read all of this stuff, but I love learning about new things. My mom always worries I'll end up terrified of the disease, but I'd be terrified if I knew nothing.
Anyway, here's just one example of the things I read:
Quote:
Department of Occupational Biohazards, Institute of Agricultural Medicine, Jaczewskiego 2, 20-090 Lublin, Poland.
A total of 769 adult neurological patients hospitalised in clinics and hospitals situated in the Lublin region (eastern Poland) were examined during the years 1997-2000 with ELISA test for the presence of anti-Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato antibodies. A statististically significant (p=0.0422) relationship was found between the clinically confirmed diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and the positive serologic reaction with Borrelia antigen. Ten out 26 patients with multiple sclerosis (38.5%) showed positive serologic reaction to Borrelia, whereas among the total number of examined neurological patients the frequency of positive findings was twice as low (19.4%). The result suggests that multiple sclerosis may be often associated with Borrelia infection
PMID: 11153045 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Source:
Lyme borreliosis and multiple sclerosis: any connection? A seroepidemic study.
Some other links:
Multiple Sclerosis clusters follow lyme worldwide
Lyme misdiagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis for 20 years
Multiple sclerosis or Lyme disease? a diagnosis problem of exclusion
Have a good day!
