I used to see Dr. Cafferty when he was with Dr. Nasr about 4 years or so ago. I made the jump a few weeks ago to start seeing Dr. Cafferty again.
My first visit, I waited 3 hours before being seen. He did blood work, I went back about 2 weeks later (and in between this I dealt with his incompetent staff, particularly Ashley). He said that Calvert Internal Medicine was wrong, I do not have Fibromylagia but my labs reported that I have Lymes disease. He stated that I had 5 of the 10 bands in my blood associated with Lymes Disease and gave me 6 months of antibitics and for me to come back in a month for more labs and go from there.
He also says I have Hoshimotto's disease which I believe to be true because I was previously diagnosed about 10 years ago, just the doctors in between didn't do anything about it. He clains my Lymes came back negative last year becuase he does "more extensive blood work"
I called today to make an appointment for my kids because they were both exposed to ticks and one even developed a rash in which urgent care gave him antibiotics for 2 weeks. Cafferty said he should have had a month of antibiotics. So when making the appointment to get them established as patients, I get hung up on twice and got passed around the 3rd time. Finally someone gets on the line. I tell her I want them check for Lymes because I was diagnosed and they were also exposed. She then told that if they were diagnosed with Lymes their care may be outsourced because they have so many active Lymes patients that Dr. Cafferty cannot accomodate them all. This struck me as VERY strange and I asked who they would be referred to? She told me another primary care doctor in the area that would treat them as he would. I said well if thats the case, I will have to switch doctors because my insurance is not going to pay for 2 primary care docs.
This struck me as odd that this one doctor seemed to have an extreme outbreak of Lymes on his hands so much so that he had so many patients with Lymes that he can't even treat them all! One being my brother in law who has port in his chest and was told the same as I, not fibro but is Lymes. My friend who also has a port in her chest when this time last year, at her mothers funeral, she was fine and now something has violated her nervous system.
It was odd to me...I asked them to fax me my blood work. I looked at it, lookd at it again. I was only seeing in one area of the lymes disease 2 bands out of 10, it said for a positive there must be 5. The other section showed 1 band, it said for a positive there must be 2 out of the 3. Both said at the bottom NEGATIVE!
I thought I must be wrong, I called Labcorp and told them, that my doctor said that this test revealed that I had Lymes disease, she said "uh, oh I can't read results to you but get a second opinion." I asked her if the line that said negative meant NEGATIVE for Lymes, she said...oh geeze, these calls are recorded, I will just say BINGO!
I have got to call tomorrow and see why he told me I had Lymes disease when I clearly don't, why is he treating me for lymes when I don't have it, why did he say for me to take meds for 6 months for lymes when I don't have it? Why did he say I had 5 of the 10 bands when I don't?
My friend claims, I don't know if its true but she has moved from the area and said her infectious disease doctor told her that while she did initially have lymes, she DID NOT HAVE IT for as long as Dr. Cafferty was treating her and that she DID NOT HAVE IT when they placed the port in her chest. She claims her new doctor states the damage to her nervous system are possibly from the length of time she has been on the various medications. Again, I am not sure how accurate this is but I do know how accurate my tests are.
I hope that there is some explanation behind this, I hope that Labcorb and myself are not understanding something. I personally like Dr. Cafferty and I hope this is a huge misunderstanding becuase I do not want to have to try and find another doctor. Since leaving Calvert Internal who I was with for years, if I have to find another Doctor, it will be my 3rd one since June for me and my entire family and just getting established as a patient is difficult.
If anyone else has been diagnosed with Lymes Disease by Dr. Cafferty, I would love to hear from you, maybe you can shed some light on this for me.
but he is a great doctor... and I love how blunt he is.
