“After nearly seven years, it was confirmed that my little girl has Lyme disease, and this result also shed light on the reasons behind her problems at school.”
Without leaving her child’s side for a single moment, far from the capital, Zsófia Bukovicsné Besenyei managed to uncover essential information about the nature of their illness and their treatment options by thoroughly investigating the matter. The mother then received a great deal of help from fellow sufferers too, once it became clear that they were both actually suffering from Lyme disease – her daughter, now aged ten, may have contracted the infection from her whilst she was pregnant.
Why did you feel it was important to have a test for Lyme borreliosis?
So that I could finally get confirmation: my little girl and I really do have Lyme disease, and what’s more, we have co-infections. Actually, our ordeal began back then because of my daughter’s health problems, and it later turned out that I was almost certainly suffering from Lyme disease too. It is likely that my daughter was infected in utero. I took my child all over the place; her symptoms began when she was three and a half years old, and she is now ten. It became clear when she was nine that she might have Lyme disease. We waited a long time for confirmation, even having blood tests carried out abroad. Although I’d heard of the dark-field microscopy test carried out by Dr Bózsik before, at that time DualDur was still in the trial phase. It helped a great deal when the Western Blot test confirmed my suspicions, and that’s when I joined the Lyme group and started reaching out to fellow patients. How good it would have been to have known all this sooner, as I’d been doing everything on my own for years, based on my own research and ideas.
As you mentioned, you had information about the DualDur test. When did you manage to have it carried out?
As I’d been in constant contact with fellow sufferers and had been keeping an eye on developments with the DualDur test, as soon as testing became available in the summer of 2021, we signed up straight away in August. The sample collection is simply a venous blood test.
How long did it take to get the results?
We received the first result very quickly: the sample was taken on 16 August, and the email arrived on the 25th. [Editor’s note: due to increased demand, the waiting time has since become longer]
How did you feel when you found out the result?
I felt somewhat relieved, as finally, after nearly seven years, it was confirmed that my little girl has Lyme disease, and that I hadn’t been imagining things regarding her health issues; this result also shed light on the reasons behind her problems at school. That was the first result, followed by a supplementary analysis to test for co-infections. In this case too, the concerns I’d only suspected up to that point were confirmed: I tested positive for Bartonella, whilst my little girl tested positive for both Bartonella and babesia. I also received confirmation of what might be causing my child’s occasional malaria-like episodes. This is why I had suspected babesiosis. My test results showed that immune complexes had formed in my blood, whilst this was not detected in my daughter. We took it a step further, and I also requested the identification of the Borrelia subspecies for my daughter. It turned out that she had been infected by a subspecies that causes neurological symptoms, whilst very little is yet known about the other subspecies that was detected.
How reliable do you consider the DualDur test to be?
I have absolute confidence in it. I’d been to many places before and tried all sorts of things, but I’d never really received such well-documented, reliable results. You certainly can’t call this a sham. I can wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who wants certainty.
How much did their treatment change after the accurate diagnosis?
In my child’s case, the only change was to the dosage. As she had other health issues as well, the dose was increased mainly because of her weight. Unfortunately, there is no medication for Bartonella in children. So far, I’ve only managed to get an appointment for my little girl; it hasn’t been my turn yet.
(C) Lyme Borreliosis Foundation
