Lyme questions GI and Ligament? Also Lyme test question

[Katya4]

Does lyme affect joints or ligaments/tendons? I have heard some people say it does. Does it cause pain or discomfort in the ligaments/tendons?
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Can lyme cause upper digestive issues? Pain from eating, excess upper GI gas, nausea.
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I had one lyme test but it wasn't ELISA or WesternBlot, it was "Lyme a-b" and a yes or no answer, only tested for one thing, not even sure what it was. But that one was a No. And there were no other numbers, its spit out of the machine that way.

What IS lyme AB ? I didn't even know that existed, its very VERY basic, the average single level blood draw is more complex result. Any one know what that is?

Thanks!

[mojogal]

Yes to both your questions. Lyme loves to eat cartiledge. I had to have a hip replaced because of the bugs. I also get regular "arthritic" type of pain all over.

Another common thing is digestive issues. Most LLMD say to give up gluten, dairy and sugar. In my case, to get my gut back to normal I had to be drastic and give up all carbs.  Are you taking a probiotic? I would start there. A good one can help a lot.

I have never heard of Lyme AB. Western blot as you know is the most common test. Done at igenex and you get a more precise answer.

Good luck!

[Katya4]

I have had some on and off digestive issues, upper GI. Fatty food and meat seems to be better setting with me than anything else. I think sugar might be a culprit, or maybe starches/bread. I tried cutting out gluten and I had all the same issues, raw oats seems a bit better, but not dramatically.

I eat yogurt as much as I can. Basically I get upper GI stomach pain, sharp pain like I am about to be sick, when eating almost anything, and usually subsequent gas.  bleh...

I have noticed some ligament/tendon pain that did not go away with my 2 week hiatus from gym, but it is by no means severe, I simply noticed it din't go away lol. It could still be just from over use, though I didn't have it before, but never too late to start...ha...ha....

[JackieCalifornia]

Lyme AB means a test ("Lyme antibody screen") that looks to see if your immune system has started producing antibodies against the Lyme bacteria.  Your body wouldn't do that if there were not Lyme present.  I don't recall if my doc used that test, but one thing Lyme can do is suppress your immune system, and if your immune system isn't producing antibodies, then the Lyme AB test may not be positive even if you have a genuine case of Lyme.

That's why Lyme specialists use the IGeneX labs PCR test:  it does not rely on your immune system activity to diagnose Lyme (as the other tests do), but instead looks for DNA of the Lyme bacteria.