Posted by bleauberry on December 12, 2009, at 19:14:12
In reply to Re: Why side effects?! » bleauberry, posted by Bob on December 11, 2009, at 23:08:59
>
> What if you've had the Lyme's panel 2 or 3 times and it comes up completely negative? What if you have exhaustive general blood panels and there is no sign of infection and no inflammation indicators?
>
> - Bob
>It depends on which "panels" you are talking about, which lab did the work, what specific immune markers were studied, but more importantly the clinical picture, history, symptoms, and presentation. Lyme or Lyme spectrum diseases are first and foremost a clinical diagnosis, not a lab diagnosis. Since Lyme or Lyme-like can mimic just about any major disease you can name, it is possible to not have inflammation as part of the clinical picture. My LLMD said a few of his Lyme patients had only depression/anxiety as their only symptom.
It's fairly tricky stuff. I think the one biggest thing that keeps people sick permanently is over-reliance on lab test interpretations, at the expense of the overall clinical picture. That, in combination with overbooked physicians who don't have the time to keep up with the latest news on every disease.
poster:bleauberry
thread:928426
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20091206/msgs/929037.html