A simple blood test can determine if levels are abnormally high or low. As a result, doctors practicing in other regions often don't think to look for Lyme, says Alan Barbour, MD, professor of medicine and microbiology at the University of California at Irvine. In its initial stages, Lyme Disease mimics the flu, although if often also causes a bull's eye or large rash. If undetected, the disease may progress, triggering joint pain and swelling. A blood test can detect Lyme, but only after about a month.
Oral antibiotics are the primary treatment.
But, if the diseases has progressed, you may need intravenous antibiotics. Multiple Sclerosis . What's more, in about 70 percent of early-stage cases, symptoms completely disappear for long periods of time. In this disease, something goes wrong with your immune system, so that it produces antibodies that attack and destroy your body's own cells and tissues, especially in the joints, skin, kidneys, and lungs, explains Daniel J. Wallace, MD, clinical chief of rheumatology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. If this is positive, it's important to consult a rheumatologist.