Update on lyme

Thanks for asking LiliD!

This isn't really an update as we are still playing the waiting game. 

I went to the infectious disease specialist last week and talked to her about my options.  My blood work is showing a new infection and as I have NO symptoms and feel fine we decided to get another round of blood drawn.  The only reason I got the lyme test in the first place was because my history of iritis which can occasionally go hand in hand with a lyme diagnosis, so this has been kind of a rabbit hole for me as I never would have suspected a thing had I not been tested because of the eye isssues.

I went back to my family doctor on Wednesday and got more blood drawn, we'll do the lyme titer again and they are also looking for something called antinuclear antibodies (ANA) which is a kind of marker for a slew of autoimmune disorders.  I've been doing a bunch of research and have found that the lyme testing is kind of variable and not always completely accurate.  There are some things that can mimic the antibodies they are checking for with the lyme titer and I want to rule out any of those causes before submitting my body to needless antibiotics.  Especially IV ones, which this specialist seemed pretty adament about giving.  Which I am pretty adament about avoiding if I can, which made for a bit of a combative conversation, lol.  I don't care, it's MY BODY!!!!!   I hate antibiotics and I feel fine.

Other things that I found that can cause false positives- Ebstein Barr Virus, which is the virus that leads to mono, which I had as a teen and the virus never leaves your body, just stays dormant like many things.  Also cytomegalovirus, another insanely common human virus that most of the population has but most never exhibit any symptoms unless they are immunocomprimised.  So.  I want to rule out that stuff causing a false positive, you know?  I just don't trust the diagnosis.

There's a medical novel for you!  I'm waiting on the results of my second round of blood work now, it'll probably be another week or so.  Thanks for thinking of me!