We talk about Lyme all the time, thinking that if we are tested, we're covered. This simply isn't true. We now know that some people with Lyme, but not diagnosed with MS, have been successfully tested and treated for CCSVI. The fight for correct testing continues. They often won't listen to us about CCSVI, but Lyme should be easier to get action .

Keep an eye on the Lyme component.

Best tests:

Western Blot; PCR (blood, urine, cerebral spinal fluid); urine antigen; DOT assay.

Other tests:

• Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing detects the genetic material (DNA) of the Lyme disease bacteria. PCR testing may be used to identify a current (active) infection if you have symptoms of Lyme disease that have not gotten better with antibiotic treatment. PCR testing is not done as often as antibody testing because it requires technical skill and expensive equipment. Also, standards have not yet been developed for PCR testing and there is a risk of false-positive test results.


• Skin culture. A skin culture checks a tissue sample for the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. It may take several weeks for test results to come back. For this reason, antibody testing is done more often than a tissue culture.

Worthless Tests:

ELISA and EIA. Many county health and other labs will only do an ELISA and refuse to do any other testing if the ELISA is negative. Since the ELISA is practically always negative, even when the WB, PCR, etc., tests are positive, patients whose doctors only use the ELISA who don't fight for the WB and other testing are not getting diagnosed properly. Patients not diagnosed properly are most likely to end up with chronic Lyme which is much more difficult to treat, taking much longer and far more drugs to treat, and may never be fully resolved.

In other words, by not testing properly and jumping on immediate treatment of the length of time and doses needed to stop Borrelia in its tracks, the public health departments, AMA, CDC, and the doctors and insurance companies that follow their recommendations, have doomed these patients to a life of permanently impaired health, most of whom will be permanently disabled as a result.

http://www.anapsid.org/lyme/wb.html

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/health-advice/2010/01/07/is-there-a-definitive-test-for-lyme-disease

http://www.medicinenet.com/lyme_disease/article.htm