Brief Answer:
7-13 days; yes; yes it does

Detailed Answer:
Hello and welcome.

Thank you for writing in.

I am glad to see the quality of your question, as these are considered very good doubts. I am happy to educate my patients, unfortunately not many are interested in learning about conditions they suffer from.

Disappearance of the bullseye rash (also called erythema migrans) depends on whether treatment has been initiated or not, and also on the specific type of medication used to treat the condition. As I see doxycylcine in your treatment regimen, the mean time taken for disappearance of this particular rash with doxycycline as treatment was found to be 7-13 days.

Yes ma'am, it is normal for the rash to reappear in a previously affected region.

Yes ma'am, a more extensive rash, but not just in one region, but more generalized, does indicate a more severe form of Lyme's disease than otherwise.

I hope you found my response helpful. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

God bless.

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Brief Answer:
Yes ma'am, it means just that

Detailed Answer:
Hello once again ma'am.

I am happy to hear from you.

Yes ma'am, a genetic predisposition to a particular disease does in fact mean that someone in the blood line had this disease previously.

The number of blood relatives who had this disease can be just one, or much more than that. But there are diseases which can be passed on through genes/DNA, and because of this, future generations will be predisposed to this particular disease if an individual in the blood line has/had it.

I hope you found my response helpful ma'am. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications, I would be more than happy to be of assistance.

Take care and god bless.

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Brief Answer:
Can be treated with high-grade antibiotics

Detailed Answer:
Hello once again,

That is a good question. Yes, misdiagnosis between these two conditions does occur, but only when an initial diagnosis is made based solely on clinical presentation (i.e. symptoms). Both these conditions have quite specific investigations and tests that help in confirming them; if these tests are used a misdiagnosis cannot happen.

If your Lyme's disease has progressed and is more severe than it was previously then you might require an intravenous course of antibiotics, which would be better in tackling the disease. I am sure it should be cured with antibiotics (a higher grade might be required).

I hope you found my response helpful. Please feel free to write in to my anytime. Here is my direct link for any future queries: WWW.WWWW.WW
Best wishes.

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Brief Answer:
Not much; yes; few interactions reported

Detailed Answer:
Hello once again ma'am.

Yes ma'am, lesions in MS and Lyme's disease are quite similar and seen in one common region called the white matter, making diagnosis a little more difficult; but there are many others specific findings (eg. cerebro-spinal fluid analysis) that can help differentiate the two.

Yes, Lyme's disease lesions can be seen in the spine region, especially by a symptom called transverse myelitis.

There have been a few documented cases of drug interactions in patients using both doxycycline and copaxone together, but nothing of much significance and mostly only in long-term use. The reported interactions were of a lowered immunity leaving the individual susceptible to common infections; and a fluctuation in blood sugar levels. To avoid all such interactions, you should get yourself regularly checked by your doctor and I am sure you will be fine. Other than the reactions, there are not really any risks in taking these medications ma'am.

I hope I have successfully answered all your queries. I wish you all the luck. Please feel free to write back to me for any further clarifications.

Best wishes and god bless.

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Brief Answer:
All queries addressed below

Detailed Answer:
Hello once again and welcome.

The intial symptoms of Lyme's disease are a rash, fever, fatigue, lethargy, chills, headache and generalized body pain. Later symptoms include joint pain, numbness or weakness of hands and/or legs, and at times partial paralysis. Other rare symptoms include extreme fatigue, eye inflammation or even distorted vision, heart problems, etc.

Progression of Lyme's disease can at times match a few symptoms of MS as symptoms of MS include: numbness kr weakness of limbs, vision problems, tingling sensation, paralysis like symptoms(eg. Slurring of speech), fatigue, dizziness, tremors, unsteady gait, etc.

MS can be accurately diagnosed with the help of blood tests (to check for inflammation), a lumbar puncture, an evoked potential test to check your brain response and an MRI which helps in imaging of your brain using a XXXXXXX to look for any active lesions.

And lastly, despite the variois similarities and often misdiagnosis there have been no documented cases of patients having both Lyme's disease and MS; so based on that fact, I do noy think both diseases can occur at the sametime.

I hope I have addressed all your queries. Please feel free to ask my any questions, do not worry about their length or relevance, I am always here to help.

Best wishes.

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Brief Answer:
Spinal tap will be inaccurate now; best of luck

Detailed Answer:
Hello ma'am.

I am with you through every step of your research and accurate diagnosis, please keep all your information ready so you may discuss, question and counter-question the doctor when he/she explains the test results and proposed diagnosis.

Now coming to the spinal tap; during this procedure the presence of antibodies for Lyme's disease are an indication for a positive result. In patients who have been initiated with a course of antibiotics, these medications can prevent the antibodies from reaching a detectable amount, and thus show a negative result, even if the infection is indeed due to Lyme's disease.

I wish you lots of luck ma'am and may god bless you with success in reaching an accurate diagnosis; and get treated accurately from thereafter.

God bless.

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Brief Answer:
Antibiotics cannot affect spinal tap result in MS

Detailed Answer:
Hello once again ma'am, my sincere apologies for missing that information in my previous response.

Antibiotics cannot affect the results of a spinal tap done to detect inflammation and/or proteins.

Specific and most common findings seen in the CSF (cerebro-spinal fluid) of a patient diagnosed with MS are increased immunoglobulins, oligoclonal immunoglobulin bands, elevated cell count, increased protein levels, and the identification of cells called t-lumphocytes.

I hope you can use this information to tally the spinal tap results and help discuss/confirm the possibility of MS with your doctor.

Best wishes.

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Brief Answer:
Yes false reports are possible; remission is seen

Detailed Answer:
Hello XXXXXXX

You always have interesting questions and it is always a pleasure to answer them for you.

1. A spinal tap shows an accuracy of about 90-95 % to diagnose MS. This is an impressive figure, but false-positive and false-negative reports are also possible.

A negative result does not mean that the individual does not have MS, in fact it only means that the investigation has not identified oligoclonal bands which are in fact characteristic for MS; this could be due to various reasons.

A false-positive result is when an individual might not actually have MS, but oligoclonal bands are seen; this is possible when the person has conditions like subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, syphilis, subarachnoid hemorrhage, Guillian-Barre Syndrome, etc. So yes, false-positive and false-negative results are in fact possible.

2. Yes, Lyme's disease can very well go into remission.

I hope this information helps you XXXXXXX I am glad you are consulting a LLMD soon. I wish you lots of luck, and please do not hesitate to write back to me for any further clarifications.

Best wishes.

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