Borreliatesti kolme kertaa negatiivinen

[soijuv]

"Tommy Darsey alkoi sairastella metsästysretken jälkeen maaliskuussa 2003. Hänellä todettiin korkea verenpaine ja diabetes. Hoidoista huolimatta hän tunsi olonsa aina vain huonommmaksi. Hänelle tehtiin useita testejä; EKG, EEG, MRI ja verikokeita. Kaikki testit olivat normaaleja. Heinäkuussa Tommy ei kyennyt seisomaan kaatumatta pitkään.

Tommyn vaimo, Molly, vei hänet ensiapuun. Siellä Tommylle annettiin fysioterapiaa koordinaatio-ongelmiin. Eräänä iltana Molly pyysi leikillään fysioterapeutti Ruthie Pfuelleria löytämään syyn miehensä oireisiin. Seuraavana päivänä Ruthie toi runsaasti Internetistä hakemaansa tietoa. Hänellä oli tietoa mm. Borrrelioosista ja sen oireista. Artikkelissa mainituista kahdeksasta oireesta Tommylla oli jokainen.

Silloin he muistivat metsästysretken jälkeiset oireet ja ihomuutoksen. He olivat maininneet asiasta perhelääkärilleen mutta asiaa ei huomioitu. Ruthien mainittua Borrelioosin mahdollisuudesta, he vaativat borreliatestiä. Testi oli negatiivinen ja perhelääkäri ilmoitti ettei Tommylla ole Borrelioosia. Molly kyseenalaisti tuloksen. Toinen lääkäri, neurologi, aloitti antibioottikuurin (doksisykliini) testituloksesta huolimatta.

Hoidon alussa Tommylla oli jatkuva päänsärky, hän ei kyennyt puhumaan lauseita loppuun ja hän oli lähes toimintakyvytön. Vaihdoimme neurologia, mutta oireiden syystä ei saatu täyttä varmuutta vieläkään. Tommy alkoi voida paremmin lokakuun lopulla ja antibiootti lopetettiin. Tammikuussa oireet kuitenkin palasivat. Tommy joutui sairaalaan ja uusia testejä tehtiin. Borreliatesti oli jälleen negatiivinen. Silloin hänen kerrottiin kärsivän kemiallisesta epätasapainosta - eräänlaisesta masennuksesta. Paikalle kutsuttiin psykologi. Tommy katsoi minua ja sanoi, että hän ei ole hullu.

Samoihin aikoihin naapurin tytär joka sairasti kroonista väsymysoireyhtymää, meni tapaamaan Houstonilaista lääkäriä. Tytön todettiin sairastavan Borrelioosia. Tauti oli ollut hänellä jo 10v. Maaliskuussa Tommy meni tapaamaan samaa lääkäriä. Tämä sanoi että negatiiviset borreliatestit eivät kerro mitään siitä onko elimistössä borrelia-bakteereita vai ei.Tommylle tehtiin jälleen uusi testi ja se oli tälläkin kerralla negatiivinen. Testi lähetettiin samaan aikaan myös Palo Alton laboratorioon. Siellä tulos oli positiivinen.

Tommylle laitettiin keskuslaskimokatetri ja hänelle aloitettiin suonensisäinen antibiootti Rocephalin. Hoitoa jatketaan 8 - 12 kk. Tommyn tila alkoi paranemaan hitaasti. Molly ja Tommy ovat iloisia siitä että viimeinkin tietävät mikä oireet aiheuttaa. Elämämme on ollut yhtämittaista vuoristorataa."

Man copes with Lyme disease (diabetes, depression, high blood pressure)


http://www.corsicanadailysun.com/articl ... news08.txt

http://tinyurl.com/yutlz

5/19

Man copes with Lyme disease

By DEANNA PAWLOWSKI/Daily Sun Staff

Tommy Darsey has been sick for over a year.

Right after a deer hunting trip to Hico with his son, Darsey began to feel
ill in March 2003. Darsey and wife Molly had moved to Richland Chambers
Reservoir about four years ago from Fort Worth, but continued to operate
their Dallas-based business from home.

When Tommy began experiencing flu-like symptoms, Molly took him to his
family practitioner, who did a blood work-up.

"They knew he had high blood pressure," Molly said. "But they didn't find
out until May about his diabetes."
While his high blood pressure and diabetes were being treated with
medication, Darsey continued to feel worse.


"The last Monday in June, he was so sick -- it was like someone had slipped
him a drug," Molly said.

The family practitioner then sent Darsey to a neurologist, who ordered a
battery of tests, which included an EEG, EKG, MRI and blood work. None of
the tests showed anything out of the ordinary.

"Tommy couldn't function through July," Molly said. "He would stand up and
fall down -- I couldn't leave him at all."

Molly took Tommy to the emergency room in Duncanville, and they prescribed a
physical therapist to come to their home and help Tommy with his walking.

That's when they met Ruthie Pfueller.


A physical therapist at that time with Vital Signs, Pfueller asked many
questions about Tommy's symptoms, and wondered why he had strength, but no
coordination.

"I popped off one night and told Ruthie to go home that evening and find out
what was wrong with him," Molly said. "I was just kidding -- but the next
day, Ruthie came in with tons of stuff from the Internet. She had
information about Lyme disease, and they listed eight symptoms. Tommy had
every one."

Looking back, they recalled the hunting trip in Hico, where Darsey noticed a
tick on his thigh while cleaning a deer. When the bull's-eye rash appeared,
he was not alarmed. And though they told the doctors about the tick and the
rash -- none of them reacted.

After Ruthie mentioned Lyme disease, the Darseys contacted their family
practitioner again, requesting a Lyme test. They were told by the doctor
that there are "tons of tests" for Lyme disease, and that many produce false
negative results.

The neurologist sent Tommy to an infectious disease specialist, who read the
test. When the doctor reported that Darsey did not have Lyme disease, Molly
questioned whether they should run another test.

"At that time, the neurologist put him on doxycycline -- even though he
didn't have a positive test result," Molly said. "It is a medication used to
treat Lyme disease."

At this time, Tommy had constant headaches, was acting "goofy," had
difficulty finishing a sentence or keeping a train of thought, and was
generally unable to function.

"We switched neurologists at that point, had all the reports faxed to the
new guy, and still couldn't find anything," she said.

Darsey began to improve in late October, and finished his round of
doxycycline about the same time. In late January, Darsey began acting
strangely again, as well as falling down a lot. He was then put in a
hospital in Fort Worth for two days, where more tests were run. Once again,
an infectious disease doctor was requested, along with a Lyme disease test.
The test still came back negative.

"That is when they said it must be a chemical imbalance -- a form of
depression," Molly said. "And they ordered a psychologist to evaluate him in
May of this year. We got in the car, Tommy looked at me, and swore he was
not crazy."

During this time, their neighbor's daughter, who suffered from chronic
fatigue syndrome for years, went to a doctor in Houston. There, it was
determined that she had Lyme disease, and that she had had it for 10 years.
Another acquaintance of the Darsey's went to the same doctor in Houston as
the neighbor's daughter.

"I got him in March 12 with the doctor in Houston," Molly said. "She looked
at all the test results from Fort Worth, but said the Lyme test done there
wouldn't show anything."

Grasping at straws, Molly had a friend on a trip to Mexico, where they met
someone with Lyme disease who had been successfully treated. Molly was
advised to contact a pharmacist named "Mitch" in California, who told Molly
they needed a specific test -- Western Blot IgG/IgM at IGeneX Labs in Palo
Alto, CA. This was the same test ordered by the Houston doctor.

"The test done in-house came back negative," Molly said. We had another test
sent to the Palo Alto lab, and in the meantime, they put him on a stronger
medication called Rocephin."

An April 9 trip to the Houston doctor revealed the results from the Palo
Alto lab, which were that Darsey was afflicted with Lyme disease. The type
of Lyme disease Darsey has is neurological, and if treated in time, the
damage and symptoms are reversible. If not treated in time, the damage is
often permanent.

"He got worse before he got better," she said. "He got an IV mainline to put
the meds in directly, and will need eight to 12 months of treatment.

"We wouldn't have kept pursuing it if it weren't for Ruthie," Molly said.
"So many doctors misdiagnosed him."

A report in the May 7, 2004 issue of USA Today said this year may see a
relatively large amount of ticks, which are the carriers of Lyme disease.

"The incidence of Lyme disease jumped 40% from 2001 to 2002 and reached an
all-time high of 23,763 cases," the report said.

"The disease, which was first identified in Lyme, Conn. in 1977, can occur
year-round. But it is most common from May through August, when the
speck-size deer ticks that carry it are abundant. Typically, the bite of an
infected tick causes a characteristic bull's-eye rash that appears a week or
two after the bite, along with flu-like symptoms, such as fever, fatigue,
headache and achiness in muscles and joints."

Molly Darsey said her husband is recovering slowly, but they are relieved to
finally know what is wrong.

"It's a roller-coaster ride they said he would be on," she said. "We just
have to get him well, and we're close. He has been on meds for two and a
half months, but could be on them for months longer."


Copyright 2001 Corsicana Daily Sun and Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc,.