LymeNet Flash: How should Western Blot results change with treatment?

This is topic How should Western Blot results change with treatment? in forum Medical Questions at LymeNet Flash.

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Posted by starfish1995 (Member # 11809) on :

Dear Listmates,

I posted a month or so ago about my 8 year old

with autism who tested positive for lyme. I

received some wonderful replies - thank you once

again for all the support and information.

As a background, the only reason I even tested

him for lyme was that a recnet course of Septra

for a tooth infection led to fairly dramatic

improvements in his autistic symptoms. So, I

began to suspect a bacterial infection as part

of his autistic etiology, and possibly lyme.

For a number of reasons, I have decided to not

do antibiotics, but instead do the Stephen

Buhner herbal protocol with him. Over the

course of the last month I have been ramping up

the suggested herbs very slowly; so far so

good.

My son has somewhat limited verbal abilities so

I cannot rely on him to tell me his symptoms or

improvements. I just have to carefully observe

him. I am hoping that the lyme treatment will

help with his autism symptoms; i.e. improved

language, cognition, eye contact, connectedness,

etc. He *may* have some neck stiffness as he

frequently pops his neck (like a chiropractor

would), but he denies that it hurts or is

stiff. Certainly one could argue that many

autism symptoms could be neurolyme. I don't

know. All I know is that his autistic

symptoms dramatically decreased in

response to antibiotics, and he subsequently

tested positive for lyme, and we are going to

take a stab at this with the Buhner protocol.

He does not seem to be fatigued or in pain at

all, no rages or headaches like some of the

severe lyme children with autsim. So no severe

physical symptoms of lyme, but arguably a

neurolyme presentation based on the autism

symptoms (delayed language, verbal and eye

stims, poor eye contact, poor social

skills/connectedness).

My question is that at some point (when?) I will

probably want to re-run the Western Blot to see

if it has changed, or if the lyme has cleared.

How can you tell in a Western Blot if the lyme

has cleared? What kind of changes would I

expect to see in his test results?

I will post his pretreatment test results below.

All coinfections were negative so I did not post

those.

Thank you to you all for any help!

Beth

Here are his pretreatment results:

IGenex Labs:

Lyme Igg Western Blot

Igenex IGG Result - Negative

CDC/NYS Result - Negative

(The only band that was positive was a ++ in band 41)

Lyme IgM Western Blot

Igenex IGM result: Positive
CDC/NYS result: Negative

18 kDa +

22 kDa -

**23-25kda IND

28 kDa -

30 kDa ++

**31 kDa ++++

** 34 kDa IND

**39 kDa IND

**41 kDa IND

45 kDa -

58 kDa -

66 kDa +

73 kDa -

**83-93 KDa +

Posted by Aniek (Member # 5374) on :

I noticed you are in PA. Are you anywhere close to MD? I have a doctor in MD who treats autistic children and Lyme. He uses herbs and other supplements.

Posted by starfish1995 (Member # 11809) on :

Well, I am within a 2-4 hour drive of MD depending on where. We are in the Pittsburgh, PA area.

Any thoughts on my question though about how the Igenex Western Blot test should change with successful treatment?

Thanks,

Beth

Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :

Dear Starfish,

It may be more reliable to monitor infection via CD57 than a Western Blot.

Less expensive too.

Since it will be difficult for you to monitor until your child is two months symptom free, this

May be a better/viable alternative.

I don't know if I would look at a negative Western Blot and say "Oh good, the infection is gone".

We know that you can have Lyme disease and still have a negative Western Blot.

You may also carry IgG titers for a long, long time.

Hope you see a big improvement in neuro symptoms in your child.

Hugs,

Geneal