Lyme Disease Testing

Lyme disease is a complex and multifactorial disease. It affects everyone differently and you can't just diagnose it based on symptoms alone. Lyme disease is the great imitator and can mimic so many different conditions. That is why it can be difficult to diagnose. Here's how we analyze Lyme disease at The West Clinic. 

The first thing is to look at if you have been exposed to the vector that causes Lyme disease. 60-70% of people don't remember a tick bite. After an exposure, you may get a bullseye rash, flu-like symptoms, or joint pain. 

Lyme disease attacks the immune system. 
There are different ways to treat Lyme. Sometimes antibiotics work for some people, but other times they don't. We believe in making the body and immune system healthy. When you do that there is a tendency for everything to improve. 

The timing for testing is very important. there can be a lot of confusion in testing. You can have a false negative if you test immediately after an exposure. 

The ELISA test looks for the antibodies against Lyme disease. If that is positive then you may get a western blot test. However, the CDC recognizes that you have to have 5 positive bands to be considered positive. 

The IGNX test is another common test for Lyme. 

Dark filed microscopy is a test that looks for spirochetes for Lyme in the blood. 

If you get a tick bite you should photograph and document the tick bite for 4 days after exposure. This will help your healthcare provider analyze the bite. 

Clinical judgement comes into play when analyzing Lyme- history, exposure, and presentation. 

Not all doctors are comfortable diagnosing Lyme disease because testing can be so inaccurate.

There is hope if you have Lyme. If you are diagnosed with Lyme it is not a death sentence. Check out our blog for success stories of how people overcame their illness and became the hero of their own story.

Stay tuned to learn even more about Lyme disease.