Hi, Hip.
Maybe you have assumed that Lyme disease would be ruled out in the initial diagnosis, but I would just like to note that historically this has not been done very well, because the testing for Lyme disease has missed a lot of cases. As a result, there have been many people who were diagnosed with ME/CFS who actually had Lyme (or perhaps had both). Because they didn't know they had Lyme disease, it went untreated for many years in some cases, and this has had some unfortunate effects.
There is a new culture-type test for Lyme disease now, and hopefully it will catch more of the cases. But for those who have not had this testing, which hopefully will be more reliable, I think that testing for Lyme disease would be a wise thing to do early in the testing. I have personally been fooled too many times over the past few years by not suspecting Lyme disease strongly enough to press the issue in cases I have studied, when the existing tests came out negative, and I would not like to see that happen to many more people.
Best regards,
Rich
Maybe you have assumed that Lyme disease would be ruled out in the initial diagnosis, but I would just like to note that historically this has not been done very well, because the testing for Lyme disease has missed a lot of cases. As a result, there have been many people who were diagnosed with ME/CFS who actually had Lyme (or perhaps had both). Because they didn't know they had Lyme disease, it went untreated for many years in some cases, and this has had some unfortunate effects.
There is a new culture-type test for Lyme disease now, and hopefully it will catch more of the cases. But for those who have not had this testing, which hopefully will be more reliable, I think that testing for Lyme disease would be a wise thing to do early in the testing. I have personally been fooled too many times over the past few years by not suspecting Lyme disease strongly enough to press the issue in cases I have studied, when the existing tests came out negative, and I would not like to see that happen to many more people.
Best regards,
Rich