Late stage chronic lyme disease

[Deer2me]

I would like to know if anyone can suggest a hospital or clinic that could carefully check me for a very late stage of lyme disease. I believe I contracted this more than 20 years ago long before I came to Thailand. I have been struggling for the last few years with a brain fog, difficulty in concentrating, extreme lethargy and joint pains. It has been getting slowly worse as I get older.

 

In a recent conversation with someone, I found out I may have contracted lyme. I know exactly when it occurred, and I had a very definite bullseye rash that slowly expanded and then finally disappeared after several weeks.  Everything I have read about the disease is entirely consistent with my symptoms.

 

I also understand from my research that at this stage it can be very hard to detect and treat, and can easily be missed in a cursory test. Because of this, I am looking for a doctor who is very skilled at checking for this particular illness. If I could bet cash money, I would say I almost certainly suffer from this, but what I really don't want to happen is for a doctor to say I don't simply because they didn't know how to properly check for the signs. At the same time, if I really don't have lyme disease, then I want to know that too so I can rule it out as a possible cause.

 

Can anyone suggest a doctor in the Bangkok area who I should see about getting tested for this condition?

 

[joe china]

I don't know who to recommend or where you go to...

But a had a friend had Lyme disease. He too had the symptoms you describe and for many years.

It was only when he had a huge range of the ELISA test thats it was identified.

Then a 2 or 3 week course of Antibiotics and he was mostly cured. A couple of months later he was right as rain.

So you need a doctor with a medical testing facility to do a targeted ELISA test and then if the results are positive then they will prescribe oral or intravenous antibiotics and you should see a life improvement.


Good luck.

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[Sheryl]

If you felt well until a few years ago your self-diagnosis is unlikely to be correct.   While the symptoms you mention can occur in Lyme disease they usually manifest months, not many years, after the infection, and if you had had chronic Lyme disease all these 20 years you would have been having joint and neurological symptoms long before you apparently did. They begin within weeks to months, rarely after a few years -- not after a gap of more than a decade.

 

Testing for  Lyme disease involves testing for the presence of antibiodies to Borrelia: first by Elisa and then, if positive, by western blot. I do not know where you can get that done in Thailand.

 

Note that there is considerable controversy regarding whether or not "chronic lyme disease" exists and studies of people who have been given that diagnosis found that the majority not only did not currently have Lyme disease but also had never had it in the past.  See  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4477530/

while about a third actually had current, acute  lyme disease.

 

There are many possible causes of joint pain and "brain fog", including rheumatoid arthritis,  SLE, chronic fatigue syndrome

 

What you might do, if the neurological symptoms  ("brain fog") are predominant  and if you are in or near Bangkok, is consult this neurologist who specializes in cognitive problems. He trained in the US and is a very good listener, and you could discuss your concerns re Lyme disease with him and ask him if it is possible to test for: He trained in the US recently enough (2011) that he will be familiar with cognitive impairment due to Lyme.

 

https://www.bumrungrad.com/doctors/Ketchai-Suavansri

 

If you want to save money and if you live near a good laboratory (e.g. BRIA in Bangkok) you might get the following lab work before consulting a doctor as it will help:

 

CNC

ESR (sedimentation rate)

C Reactive Protein

Rheumatoid factor

ANA

B12 levels

thyroid panel (TSH, free T3/T4)

testosterone (if you are male)

 

The above can all be done at Bumrungrad too and likely would be ordered but will be less expensive if done at an outside lab. Results may also help narrow down what type of specialist you would best see, for example if ANA or Rheumatoid factor came back positive then I would suggest a rheumatologist rather than neurologist.  But if cost is nto a concern then go straight to Dr,. Ketchai and let him order the labs.