Hi -- I know the testing sucks but it seems like most people I talk to get at least one or two positive co-infections to show up via testing during treatment. Many even had them show up before they began treatment, along with their positive WB.
Can anyone weigh in on this?
Posted by CD57 (Member # 11749) on :
up
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
Hmmmmmm. My LLMD is treating me for babesia even though my fish was negative.
Problem with "waiting" for a positive test is this:
Testing via Fish only tests for two known strains of babesia.
There are (I believe) about 13 identified.
I might always test negative if the lab is not testing the strain I have.
Best to trust your LLMD and go by symptoms.
Also see how co-infection treatment makes you feel.
I herx like crazy on babs meds.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by Vermont_Lymie (Member # 9780) on :
I believe that like lyme, co-infections are a clinical diagnosis because the current blood tests are so inadequate and lead to a unacceptably high amount of false negatives.
For example, like Geneal pointed out above, babesia testing only looks for two strains out of the many that have been identified.
Posted by Charolette (Member # 13008) on :
One thing that I would suggest to a 'newbie' (i.e. if I had to do it all over again)... is that when my strong positive IgM tests came back from Igenex (i.e. 9-bands positive) then I would have had co-infection testing done on that 'pure' blood sample (i.e. not tainted by abx or Chinese herbs that might have skewed test results). My symptoms for Babesiosis was very strong... and I only ended up with a Babesia FISH test 18-months after starting treatment.
Posted by CD57 (Member # 11749) on :
Isn't that unusual, Charolette, for it to show up 18 months in? I'm going to ask my LLMD about this. Most people I've talked to have gotten positive co-infections tests relatively quickly (under 4 months of tx or before starting).
Posted by Michelle M (Member # 7200) on :
quote:Originally posted by CD57: Most people I've talked to have gotten positive co-infections tests relatively quickly (under 4 months of tx or before starting).
Not necessarily. I tested positive for babesia WA-1 after one year of INTENSE lyme treatment -- IV Ceftriaxone, FLAGYL (gaack!), Doxy, etc -- even testing positive while on Plaquenil, which is said to have some anti-babesial properties.