I was diagnosed finally in late December '05 by Bowen Labs for lyme....chronic as I've had it for years (misdiagnosed with CFS) at a 1:64 titre.
Being treated with IV now for the lyme. Test results indicate no coinfections.
Can I trust this one? Even the doc said not to worry as the test is very accurate.
Thoughts?
Posted by tequeslady (Member # 6832) on :
I've always heard here that the Bowen test, while good for Borrelia, was not good at detecting the coinfections.
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
I do not. Was negative for both on their tests but positive via Igenex. I think their co-infection testing is not accurate.
Posted by daystar1952 (Member # 3255) on :
I tested positive for Lyme and babesia on the Bowen Test. I went at least 12 years with babesia being untreated. I'm not sure but my first lyme doc must have tested me for babesia within those years. 2 years ago , like I said, I tested positive on the Bowen and since being treated for Babesia I am much better. I was taking Malarone and Artemesinin. NowI go on Artemisinin for 3 months...then go off for about half a year. Symptoms start coming back and then I go back on the Artemisinin
Posted by lucy96734 (Member # 8372) on :
My LLMD said that the Bowen test I had done with a naturopath seems to be right with the highest level 1:128 like mine but he does NOT trust the coinfection tests that they do.
It is so hard to know but I really trust my LLMD unlike the many specialists I have seen along my way to getting the Lyme dx.
Posted by Big B (Member # 8229) on :
I work for a guy who sees a lot of Lyme patients. All get the Bowen test, and so far 3 (including me) have come back with a 128, with others getting various other results.
I am the only one to have any co-infections, according to the test (Babesia). I have not "confirmed" this, nor have I begun treatment.
The real question, I wonder, is whether the coninfection test is prone to Type I or Type II error. Based on this I would guess it to be more likely to return a false negative, but someone has to have designed an experiment with a sufficient sample size and found alpha and beta values.
Right?!
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I would not trust ANY test for babesia, and not so sure I'd trust any test for Lyme. And I do NOT believe in false positives, by the way! Sorry, I'm prejudiced there!!
So.....get TREATED for babesia, no matter what the test says. If you don't herx, then you probably don't have it...end of treatment. If you DO herx, you know what's going on!
Posted by lightfoot (Member # 2536) on :
I agree with Lymetoo!!!!
It's easy to get ensnared in the concept of testing....as that is the model we've been exposed to in our good ol' Western Culture. BUT Lyme is a clinical dx. And I think it's pretty standard these days to treat for babs regardless.
Healing smiles.....lightfoot
PS....I credit Bowen to getting me on the right track. So I'm not saying that we should not be tested depending on the LLMD's wishes. Testing has its place but it is not the final word for sure.
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