A month after most of this started I noticed what feels like a constant bruise on the rightside of my spine..right above my bra strap. It sometimes burns--I feel it every day and more so in the am. Lately I feel it more, mayb because I keep pressing on it. Anyway, I got a full body bone scan and an MRI of my spine (non contrast). The bone scan did not show anything and the MRI showed mild DDD in my thoracic spine but not sure if its this EXACT area. I worry that something more sinister could be going on in my spine ie cancer.However I hope that would have shown in the MRI or scan?

I have asked for another MRI w contrast--what would you do or think? Something in the spine I think could cause all of these oddities aside from the extreme joint cracking. Guess I am second guessing my possible dx again

However, that being said, if your insurance will pay for a contrast study and you are truly concerned, I don't see the harm in doing it. There are very few side effects to one, except for the feeling of needing to pee! LOL... FWIW, I think you COULD be making trouble where there is none, but if your insurance will pay to put your mind at ease, why not go ahead and do it and be done with the worry, so you can stop stressing, eh? It's probably worth the co-pay to ease your mind or find something that so far they may have missed, wouldn't you think? Then you will have a better time accepting what is going on and can move forward with treatment without a constant worry.

I'd also highly recommend that you get tested for co-infections if you haven't already. It's a possibility that shouldn't be ignored when you have Lyme, and for some of the co-infections, Babesia in particular, the ab's used to treat LD don't work to kill them, and by ignoring them, you will never be free of LD. JMO, but it's worth looking into and asking your LLMD.

Good luck, and let us know how things go, wouldja? *hugs*

jen

I emailed my dr asking for a contrast study. This is just all confusing, I go from thinking lyme, to some other bacteria, to spinal cord tumors etc...I just want a FULL positive vs the pos of what I have,its hard for me to accept it IS lyme!

I know it's really difficult. I think we may have talked about it, but I say it all the time. Remember that Lyme is a clinical diagnosis, and what that means is that tests should only be used to back up a doctor's diagnosis of the disease. They shouldn't be used as the definitive thing saying that's for sure what it is. They should be used in conjunction with other things, your symptoms and a physical exam. What's more important than tests, due to their unreliability, is the physical exam, but even moreso is your symptoms, and your history. Things like your exposure history to ticks, have you worked or lived around animals like cats, dogs, horses, etc? Have you lived in an endemic tick area (and don't listen to the idiots who say "ain't no ticks in [insert state]", cuz it's getting to where it's pretty much everywhere, but there are areas where it's really bad)? Have you visited areas were it's endemic? Those things, and others, all need to be taken into account BEFORE you start looking at tests, and then tests should be used to HELP make the diagnosis, but they should NEVER be used as the be-all and end-all of a diagnosis. Period. NO ifs, ands, or buts about it.

And that's a hard pill for those of us who've grown up in a society where testing has been such an ingrained part of our medical practice, I know. But I've worked in vet medicine, and I understand that testing is not always 100% reliable. I know that it can miss things, and I know that it's not always the answer. So to me, this is easier to get than it is for a lot of other people. For years, we've relied on testing. A negative means you don't have something, and a positive means you do, period. We've been taught that, it's been brained into us. But that's really not the case, EVER, to be honest. In every test ever taken, there is a fallibility factor that doctors don't tell you about. You get a negative test result, but it could be false. There's all sorts of factors that go into that, but it's always possible. False positives are so extremely rare that you just don't much see them, but it can also happen. The accuracy rate of a WB test is about 37%, I think. That's just unacceptable. But when you get a positive at all, you have it, hun. It's virtually impossible to get a false positive. And with IND (indeterminate) bands on the WB, they are treated as positives as far as treatment is concerned.

Honestly, if I had the WB test results you had, I'd be overjoyed. I can't get anyone to listen to me and believe that I have Lyme! I think you are LUCKY to have the results you do. Mine came back a flat negative, tho they were done by Spectra labs or someone like that, and the bands weren't separated, so I have no idea what it actually looked like, but just a plain negative. No questions asked. So, therefore, I'm just crazy. It's all in my head. I must have CFS/FMS, and nothing else. I'm to be dismissed.

And I'm not trying to make this all about me, either. I just want to try to help you accept it better...I hope that it did help at least some!

*hugs*

Jen