Friday, June 6, 2008
My knee hurts and is swollen, I did nothing to injure it. Is it Lyme?
Lyme disease frequently presents itself with a single painful joint. It is nice when it is large joint, such as the knee and an effusion (water on the knee) is present. The fluid can be withdrawn by a needle and tested. A positive test for Lyme will only be obtained if the doctors knows what test to order. The test that is accurate is not FDA approved and the standard tests are virtually worthless. The fluid must be sent for Lyme Western Blot antibodies and or a C6 peptide ELISA test for Lyme antibody. The Lyme germ will not be in the fluid, unless the doctor is very lucky. The Lyme bacteria lives in the cartilage and synovial lining of the joint. A culture will be negative. A PCR test for Lyme DNA will be negative. This is a great test but it only works if the specimen contains the actual bacteria. This is a test that most doctors order because they think it is reliable. The bacteria are not in the fluid so it will consistently be negative. The fluid shows an acute inflammatory response. Tests for the usual rheumatological causes of this sort of arthritis will be negative. The doctor will scratch his head. A wrong diagnosis will be made. . This sort of inflammatory arthritis of a single joint could be: gout, rheumatoid arthritis, another bacterial infection, Reiter's syndrome, reactive arthritis of various sorts, psoriatric arthritis and others. A blood test for Lyme may be ordered. But the usual ELISA/Western Blot two step will be negative in the vast majority of cases. These patients frequently do not have a lot of other Lyme symptoms and are in a fairly early stage which is easy to cure. It is unfortunate that most patients will be diagnosed and treated based on algorithms which don't work. These patients can be easy or vary hard, depending on the treating doctor's understanding of the issues outlined here. Test books need to be updated so that physicians will get this one right. When the disease is missed at this stage there may be hell to pay down the road.
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3 comments:
LymeMD - I believed for so long that I had severe osteoarthritis. I did cortisone shots, took anti inflammatory NSAIDS and all along I had Lyme Disease.
I've been off of my NSAIDS for the last two months which is spectacular!
I appreciate the diagnosis and wish that it had happened a long time ago.
Thank you very much for this blog.
I woke up in 1985 with very swollen knees. The swelling got larger and larger and was repeatedly removed by the doc. After a few days, I got so sick I could barely get off the sofa for the rest of the summer. Pred made me extraordinarily anxious.
I took gold and then various NSAIDS for the next 14 years. They numbed the pain and kept me upright enough to raise my children.
Now, 24 years later, very ill, I am being tested for Lyme. I've lost a lot of my life.
Thank you for this interesting article. I had this problem because of Lyme disease and was treated for the same.
More than 8 months since it was diagnosed, my knee is no longer swollen but it is still painful... and so difficlut for someone who loves walking. The doctor told me not to walk but it's difficult.
Since some time I have this tingling feeling in my lower limbs and the right leg is still painful. Hope I won't have to suffer for the rest of my life...
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