Lymes disease online tests.

[Sgurr]

Or ME? No proper test for that either.

Not sure ME comes with flu like symptoms and joint pain?

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/chronic-fatigue-syndrome-cfs/symptoms/

An employee got it and had to revert to part time, then she would spend the afternoon in bed. Sorry to report that although they moved, I met her son and asked if she still had it, and the answer was "Yes". At one point she self-diagnosed with Gulf War syndrome. Not as silly as it sounds because at that point they were saying the cause was members of the forces having continually sprayed their tents with insecticides, and she used them in a confined space to de-tick her pony every week.

Seems very similar to long Covid.

[davekeiller]

Trouble is that there is no perfect test. *Every* medical test produces at least some false positives and some false negatives.
That's as true for Lymes disease as everything else.
Unfortunately, there's a covid-related backlog in primary care at the moment, so GP's are rushed off their feet. Testing capacity is also probably affected by the number of covid tests being processed.
You need to be bolshie and keep phoning the GP. Explain that you've had tick bites in areas where Lymes disease is known to be present, and push for either testing or referral to a specialist (of whom there are relatively few, all with a long waiting list).

[Alex W]

Or ME? No proper test for that either.

Not sure ME comes with flu like symptoms and joint pain?

It certainly does. ME has a variety of symptoms, but flu like and joint pain are certainly amongst them. It is likely to be triggered by a virus.

There are similarities in symptoms with Lymes. And other correspondents are correct that Lymes is treatable with antibiotics until it becomes chronic after which it is very difficult to get rid of.

Long Covid sounds a lot like ME. I hope that Long Covid research does not ignore the research already underway in the area of ME and that additional research funding complements ME research and that it doesn't try to start from a blank sheet of paper and goes off on its own.

[Sgurr]

One good thing that could come out of this is research into the whole post viral complex. People with ME got brushed aside for so long with talk of "Yuppy 'flu" that it seemed to attract very little funding. I KNEW my employee's symptoms were real, she had been a cliff climber and all round active person, and suddenly, opening a box of books seemed like climbing Everest. No way was she faking it.

[Alex W]

One good thing that could come out of this is research into the whole post viral complex. People with ME got brushed aside for so long with talk of "Yuppy 'flu" that it seemed to attract very little funding. I KNEW my employee's symptoms were real, she had been a cliff climber and all round active person, and suddenly, opening a box of books seemed like climbing Everest. No way was she faking it.

It was always the thing with ME, couch potatoes didn't get it. It was the active people who found their active lives grinding to a halt. Research into it is a scandal. It is a neurological disease as defined by the WHO, but much of the UK research money went into Psychiatric models of research with predictably poor results. The voluntary sector has funded some very good research into medical models. The answer is going to be multi-disciplinary, but getting funding which breaks the narrow discipline constraints is very difficult.

Lymes is a different disease, but the parallels in the way it is treated by the medical profession is striking. Lymes too is dismissed often as non-existent. Chronic Lymes is clearly real, but struggles to be accepted as a condition in UK. Sufferers have an uphill struggle not just living with the condition, but getting suitable help from health professionals.

[Jon and Jen]

Joy of joys. After 4 days in the cairngorms and removing only 4 ticks, 1 on the first night in my thigh, 2 on the second night, scrotum and back of knee and one on the third night, chest. I have a large red circle around the one on my chest. Not a bullseye as such. Just red from the centre to about 2 inches diameter. Will see if I can get a dr appointment for the morning.

[Sgurr]

Joy of joys. After 4 days in the cairngorms and removing only 4 ticks, 1 on the first night in my thigh, 2 on the second night, scrotum and back of knee and one on the third night, chest. I have a large red circle around the one on my chest. Not a bullseye as such. Just red from the centre to about 2 inches diameter. Will see if I can get a dr appointment for the morning.

I think the god of of ticks is taking vengeance.