Re: possible misdiagnosis: MS vs. Lyme's disease

Hi Jennifer,
Finding a lyme literate physician is your best bet in the beginning. Most doctors for some sad reason don't ever think of Lyme disease before diagnosing MS. Lyme disease tests are very
inaccurate and below I am listing why. Trying to convince some doctors your MS could be Lyme is like Columbus trying to convince everyone the world was round when they all thought it was flat. When looking for a Lyme specialist in your area the Lyme Disease Foundation would be a good start.

Good Luck
Janis

Here are nine reasons for false negative Lyme disease tests results:

The Lyme Disease Foundation (LDF), in their brochure entitled "LDF
Frequently Asked Questions About Lyme Disease" lists the following
nine reasons for false negative Lyme disease tests results:



a. Antibodies against Bb are present, but the laboratory is unable to
detect them. [Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) is the Lyme disease bacteria.]

b. Antibodies against Bb may not be present in detectable levels in
patients with Lyme disease. Reasons are listed below.

1. The patient is currently on, or has recently taken, Antibiotics .
The antibacterial effect of Antibiotics can reduce the body's production
of antibodies.
2. The patient is currently on or has previously taken
anti-inflammatory steroidal drugs (such as those taken to treat
Rheumatoid Arthritis ) or certain anticancer drugs. These can suppress a
person's immune system, thus reducing or preventing an antibody
response.
3. The patient's antibodies may be bound with the bacteria with not
enough free antibodies available for testing. [I think this reason is
very important and prevalent. For this reason, some of the worst cases
of Lyme disease test negative - too much bacteria for the immune system
to handle.]
4. The patient could be immunosuppressed for a number of other
reasons and the immune system is not reacting to the bacterium.
5. The bacterium has changed its makeup (antigenic shift) limiting
recognition by the patient's immune system.
6. The patient's immune response has not been stimulated to produce
antibodies, i.e., the blood test is taken too soon after the tick-bite
(2-6 weeks). Please do not interpret this statement as implying that
you should wait for a positive test to begin treatment.
7. The laboratory has raised its cutoff so high that a patient's
previously positive test is now borderline or negative.
8. The patient is reacting to the Lyme bacterium, but is not
producing the "right" bands to be considered positive.

Lyme Disease Foundation
1 Financial Plaza
Hartford, CT 06103
(860)525-2000
fax (860)525-TICK
Lyme Disease National Hotline (800)886-LYME
email: mailto:lymefnd@aol.com
web page: http://www.lyme.org/index2.html

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