« October 2004 | Main | December 2004 »

November 18, 2004

My Search for a Treatment

I spent another 3 years - from mid 2001 until May 20, 2004 - plodding along - from one test to another, from one idea to the next. I never really got better and we never really found an answer to my persistent ill health. I recently found in my great stack of medical test results, a Lyme test done by the Sonoma County Health Department, January 2001 - negative.

Given my atypical patterns leading nowhere, my doctor decided we'd try an Igenex Western Blot Lyme test just 5 months ago. Igenex is the leading lab in the U.S. for Lyme testing. It came back positive...

Honestly - I have learned not to be too hopeful - I wonder if this is really the problem. I hardly dare to believe it. After all the doctors and all the searching and all the diagnoses that I thought were finally the end of the search. Could this be a false finding? Is this "IT"? Am I finally there? Can I stop searching for an answer? Do I have something to fight? Pinch me. Am I dreaming? A chronic infection? just what Dr. G. had guessed from my first visit with him. We just didn't know which one - especially with all the tests coming back negative. An infection - caused by a bacteria and spread by ticks, mites, fleas and mosquitoes. I've only been sick a few times in my life before being clobbered by Lyme, and I really never imagined I'd spend years of my life battling a mysterious illness.

No more mystery? I'm still not convinced. There is one test - not approved by the FDA (who cares?). But they look directly at the cells and if they find Lyme, they take a picture of it . My doctor doesn't have 100% faith in its accuracy but I'm sort of tantalized but that picture idea. Of course I just want to know - is it - or is not Lyme?

Posted by Laureen at 1:20 PM | Comments (3)