My LabCorp Lyme test results showed a 91. 91 is considered equivocal. I sent off the IgeneX test yesterday but I'm still curious about the LabCorp results. Wouldn't equivocal be considered positive instead of negative? Because it wasn't in the positive range, LabCorp did not do a Western Blot. My doc still thinks I'm negative but has put me on Doxy just in case. I have an appointment with a LLMD but not until January, his first available appointment.
Thank you!
Posted by Geneal (Member # 10375) on :
If you are going to test via Igenex (I would),
Then take your doxy for 30 days.
Stop for 10 days.
Have blood drawn for Western Blot.
Try to look ahead on a calender
So you can get your blood drawn on a Monday or Tuesday.
I am always suprised when Quest or LabCorp find anything.
BTW, my neighbor's Elisa from Lab Corp was negative.
However, her WB from LabCorp was CDC positive for both IgM and IgG.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
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You need a real doctor who REALLY knows about lyme and all the tick-borne diseases (TBD) to evaluate/test.
I hope you can find an excellent ILADS-educated LLMD. Links below will explain this.
Tests cannot tell a lot. Your symptoms, however, can.
Best of luck with finding an expert to help you determine a course of action so that you will feel better.
CONTROVERSY CONTINUES TO FUEL THE "LYME WAR" By Virginia Savely, RN, FNP-C
*****
As two medical societies battle over its diagnosis and treatment, Lyme disease remains a frequently missed illness. Here is how to spot and treat it.
Excerpts:
" . . .To treat Lyme disease for a comparable number of life cycles, treatment would need to last 30 weeks. . . ."
`` . . .Patients with Lyme disease almost always have negative results on standard blood screening tests and have no remarkable findings on physical exam, so they are frequently referred to mental-health professionals for evaluation.
"...If all cases were detected and treated in the early stages of Lyme disease, the debate over the diagnosis and treatment of late-stage disease would not be an issue, and devastating rheumatologic, neurologic, and cardiac complications could be avoided..."
. . . * Clinicians do not realize that the CDC has gone on record as saying the commercial Lyme tests are designed for epidemiologic rather than diagnostic purposes, and a diagnosis should be based on clinical presentation rather than serologic results.
- FULL ARTICLE AT LINK ABOVE.
Co-infections (other tick-borne infections or TBD - tick-borne disease) are not discussed in the Savely article due to space limits. Still, any LLMD you would see would know how to assess/treat if others are present.
=====================
Why doctors who follow IDSA are not giving you the best of medicine (and this is just one reason):
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today announced that his antitrust investigation has uncovered serious flaws in the Infectious Diseases Society of America's (IDSA) process for writing its 2006 Lyme disease guidelines and the IDSA has agreed to reassess them with the assistance of an outside arbiter.
You should also be evaluated for coinfections. Not all tests are great in that regard, either, but a good LLMD can evaluate you and then guide you in testing. One of the top labs is:
The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) provides a forum for health science professionals to share their wealth of knowledge regarding the management of Lyme and associated diseases.
- 2/3 down the page, you can download Guidelines for the management of Lyme disease
Thank you, everyone. I already sent of the IgeneX test so I can't take Doxy for a period of time and stop it -- too late for that. I was on Doxy for two weeks prior to the drawing of my blood. I figured equivocal was a weak positive, thanks for sending me the information supporting it. I was apprehensive about taking Doxy until I got the IgeneX test results back but I'm not any longer!
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