LymeNet Flash: Anyone know of an in-home blood test for Lyme?

This is topic Anyone know of an in-home blood test for Lyme? in forum Medical Questions at LymeNet Flash.

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Posted by tabbytamer (Member # 3159) on :

I heard that there was a doctor in Washington D.C. that comes to the home, does several finger pricks for blood, and examines the blood sample right then for Lyme?

Anyone hear of this? Is it reputable? What is the name of this test?

Posted by klcst (Member # 3427) on :

Hi! There is no known reputable test for Lyme that is done by a droplet of blood. To not get too technical you would have to be the luckiest person in the world to actually catch the spirochete in that drop of blood. If Lyme manifested itself only in your bloodstream then the ELISA/Western Blot would be heaven for all us Lymies, yet these tests miss as much 1/2 the actual positive Lyme's. The tests miss the Lyme because the organism is pleomorphic and multisystemic, it changes it's outside identity, if you will, so that our immune, and yes, testing will miss it. This bugger can basically leave your bloodstream and deeply imbed itself into tissue and bone.
Remember the CDC does not require a positive ELISA/Western Blot to be diagnosed with Lyme. Also, a note, there are no FDA approved tests for Lyme. You might get lucky with a positive Western Blot, but don't waste your time with the ELISA because it is extremely unreliable. If you order the WEstern Blot get it done at IGenex or MDL labs. If you can't afford this then request that all bands, at least 16 be shown at other labs and then cross your fingers.
There is another test called the Bowen that shows the Lyme in a ratio and throughout the treatment can be repeated to judge how well you are responding to a particular treatment. The ratio decreases as you get better. It is really neat. It has been verified by an independent lab run by Dr. Lida Mattman who wrote Stealth Pathogens and was nominated for a Nobel for this work. This is a great test that is induring the long and slow process of being FDA approved.
I wish you well in this endeavor.

Lisa

Posted by Areneli (Member # 6740) on :

Don't belive it. There is no quick test for Lyme.

Posted by tabbytamer (Member # 3159) on :

I thought it seemed far fetched but don't know the particulars--how much blood is taken, what specifically the doctor (?) is looking for on the microscope screen.

Just wondering if anyone else has heard of this procedure that could give a little more info about it.

Posted by riversinger (Member # 4851) on :

It sounds like you might be talking about darkfield or Bradford microscopy. I don't understand it completely, so can't explain it. I do know that a reputable doc in the UK is using it to diagnose Lyme.

So, I am sure, are lots of other, more and less reputable folks.

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Sonoma County Lyme Support
[email protected]

Posted by tabbytamer (Member # 3159) on :

Thanks klcst & Riversigner.

Riversigner: I'll do a google search on techniques you mentioned to see what I can find.

If anyone else has heard of something similar, and/or a doc in this country that performs this test, please let me know, okay?

I'm not looking for myself but for someone who has had this test done and dx'd with Lyme from the result.

Just want to make sure the person peforming this test is okay and knows how to treat properly.

Thanks.

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Tabby

Posted by tabbytamer (Member # 3159) on :

Interesting stuff.

I didn't see anything specific to Lyme or Bb rather that people are trained to look at the effects (on cells, etc.) that indicate there is something wrong going on with the immune system, candida, etc.
http://www.bradfordresearchinst.org/pages/microscopy.html

I'll have to do more specific searches later in relation to this microscopy and Lyme.

Posted by Lynn Lymemom (Member # 19) on :

I know nothing about this Lyme test..... but think about it......

1. a "doctor" coming to your home - when's the last time a true doctor came into your home!?!?!?!?.... no matter how sick you were!!?!?!?!?

2. letting someone into your home for something of this questionable test seems way to scarry..... is he "casing the joint?"

3. lyme tests are hard enough to get quality ones when you go to the reputable places - why waste it on a questionable one.

****If it sounds to good to be true - it probably is!!!!*****

Just my 2 cents,
Lynn LM

Posted by TheCrimeOfLyme (Member # 4019) on :

Your friend was probably diagnosed through "Live blood cell analysis"

If you reasearch darkfield and bradford long enough, you will find out it has been banned in several states.. because ND doctors were actually helping people.

So, the ND's call it live blood cell analysis. You'll get much further looking for that.

Bradford institute ( who developed bradford microscopy) is another place to look, they also have a practitioner list.

I had it done for 30.00. Didnt show lyme, but it DEFINATELY showed tons and tons of yeast. ( 18 months abx)

Posted by TheCrimeOfLyme (Member # 4019) on :

I also wanted to mention, its not an outstanding test for lyme, as none of them are.

It only views your blood, and as we all know, lyme can hide any where it wants.

Can't see it in blood if its stuck in yoru tissues!

Posted by James H (Member # 6380) on :

I will second what TheCrimeOfLyme says about it not being in your blood. I have spent countless hours staring into a microscope at samples of blood and such these past few months.

I have yet to find a spirochette in blood. I have found a totally unexpected case of Malaria, but no keets in the blood.

I did recover a few spirochettes digging arouns the perimeter of rashes, but that also took a huge amount of time. They are hard to spot.

Bradford has been unfortunately misused by a few unscrupulous naturopaths, hurting its reputation. It is a shame as it is a useful tool used right.

On one website I found that was pitching the equipment to practcioners, I found verbage describing why it was valuable to a prospective customer's practice to this effect:

'Understand that it has very little actual diagnostic value, but by showing showing it to your patients you will get then to immediately agree to any treatment regimen you are recommending'

Not the exact words but close.

Live blood under the microscope is never going to be healthy blood... it is in the process of dying... filling up with fibrinogen and turning into a clot. An unscrupulous person can use to to scare the willies out of someone.

Its a shame that kind of stuff goes on, because the Bradford and like equipment is a very valuable tool in the right hands and not being used to make a sales pitch.

Someone might actually find out what is making somebody sick and cure them.

Posted by david1097 (Member # 3662) on :

C6 elisa is being used by the veterinarian community. It is small test kit that just requires a heater. I don't know how well it works, althought it is supposed to be better than the old ELISA.

Posted by Areneli (Member # 6740) on :

I would like to change my previous response upon doing more research.

Dark field microscopy is a possible way of diagnosis Lyme. It may not work in each and every case because for unknown reasons the bacteria are only sometimes present in blood in large quantities. So negative result will not exclude Lyme diagnosis. But hey, that is true to any other test for Lyme.

Also finding the familiar bacterial shape is not 100% positive finding as other bacteria may look the same. It will be however a strong indication towards Lyme diagnosis.

Dark field microscopy may be time consuming as the doc has to get though a lot of microscopic fields to find what he is looking for.

I believe that this way of diagnosis, should be used more often in patients who are febrile. If you are febrile (because of Lyme) chances are large that you have bacteria in your blood stream at the very moment and dark field microscopy can pick it up.

If you are not febrile the chance of diagnosis is smaller or even really small, but perhaps it still worth doing in spite of low chance ; particularly if you can easily afford the test.

Posted by James H (Member # 6380) on :

Regardless of whether you are able to see any Borrelia in your blood this way, I think having a visual inspection of your blood is a good idea.

A fundamental flaw in the way we test is that we are only testing for some specific thing we have ordered a test for... and often the test only detects a specific strain of that. If nobody suspects something they will not test for it and will never find it.

We found one of the lesser forms of Malaria when we looked at out blood, just out of curiosity. Believe me, we would never have thought to test for that, and no lab work for other things would have picked it up the way things are done now.

In this case not even dark field was needed, just a simple stained dried smear viewed with a standard microscope. The parasites stain bright blue even inside the red blood cells.

Some of these obvious, treatable problems will never be found if nobody looks for the things they are not already expecting.

Use any tools at your disposal.