Lyme disease testing: should I be tested?

Lyme disease

Lyme disease is a real infection spread by tick bites. Ticks that carry it are found in many parts of southern Ontario, including throughout Durham Region. If you had a tick bite and then a spreading red rash, that is Lyme disease. Your doctor can treat it right away, without waiting for a blood test. Blood tests are more useful later. They help when there is no rash, but there are other signs. These include a swollen joint, facial weakness, or a new irregular heartbeat. Tiredness or brain fog alone, with no tick bite and no rash, is usually not Lyme disease. A positive result from a private lab, with no other sign, does not confirm it either. If you are worried about a tick bite, tell your doctor when and where it happened.

"Chronic Lyme disease"

Not a recognized medical diagnosis — here’s what it usually means and what to ask about instead.

You may have heard the term 'chronic Lyme disease.' It usually means one of two different things. Some people really did have Lyme disease, found and treated with antibiotics. Weeks later, they still feel unwell. Doctors call this post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. It is real, and your symptoms are real. But more antibiotics have not been shown to help this. A large study tested this directly. Longer treatment did not improve quality of life over shorter treatment. Other people are told they have 'chronic Lyme' with no tick bite and no positive standard test. Private labs sometimes give a positive result using their own methods. Health authorities do not consider these methods reliable. If this is your situation, your tiredness and pain are still real and worth investigating, just not as Lyme disease.