Jules, I'm glad you are feeling much better and that you went for that second opinion. Yikes. Lyme and MS is just not fair, right? You would think one would be enough!

When I first got diagnosed with MS I was running low grade fevers and had optic neuritis and dizziness. They kept saying the fevers weren't part of MS and they were confused. Oh yeah, and I had been in Washington DC and had a strange rash for a couple of weeks. I swear something bit me. So the docs thought it could be lyme because the bacteria can actually get into your neurological system and cause eye issues and dizziness. I don't know how much reading you have done about lyme but there is a big controversy in the field between several groups of doctors and the reliability of tests. The lab they used in the hospital (when I was admitted for IV steroids) said no lyme. But on my own I sent my blood to IgeneX in San Francisco and it came back positive for lyme by CDC standards! In other words, I had all the right bands that count for a lyme diagnosis according to the CDC. I found a doctor who agreed with me. I went on doxycycline and what do you know--the fevers went away! With neurological lyme issues the lyme literate doctors also recommend a month of IV antibiotics. So I did that too. Not fun--I had to have a PICC line put into my arm for a month. But it made me feel even better than doxy. I was quite proactive and aggressive about getting the correct treatment. I figured if I really did have lyme I wanted to knock it out for good before I began MS treatments. Lyme symptoms can definitely wax and wane.

Anyhow, I think I had lyme and MS together. The spinal tap, the visual evoked potentials, and classic Dawson's finger lesions screamed MS. But the antibiotics definitely made me feel so much better. And now the Tysabri is giving me the rest of my energy back.

I'm glad you got this straightened out. Those fevers are just the worst!!!!

And stay away from those tics!!