I've been treating for 4 months(combo abx)and my C4a level went from 2200 (August) to 4800 (Nov)??
Can anyone explain this? Does it have something to do with detox and me not handling the die-off well? If so, what do you all do for detox?
I feel great, almost completely back to my pre-sick self, btw, and my cd57 level went up by 20, which was hanging out at the bottom rung, so-to-speak Any insight would be helpful, Thanks,
Posted by kitty9309 (Member # 19945) on :
Yes, mine did.
12/08 C4a- 3775 prior to starting mino 4/09 C4a- 12,005 after 4 months Mino 9/09 C4a- 5403 after a few more abx changes
My doctor feels that the level can go up during treatment due to die off.
I feel better than I did at the start of treatment. My doctor said the inflammation can continue to decrease even after stopping abx, so the C4a could remain elevated for a time after treatment ends.
I would love to know if my Cd57 increased, but we are not testing that yet.
Posted by Deb133 (Member # 18544) on :
What does the C4a measure? I thought my daughter's LLMD said hers was 400 and that was good..perhaps I misunderstood and he said 4000.
Not sure what it means though.
Deb G
Posted by kitty9309 (Member # 19945) on :
C4a is an innate immune system inflammatory marker.
Elevated C4a is appropriate in early infection. It helps initially to clear the infection.
It becomes a problem when the immune systen continually "sees" a pathogen it cannot eliminate.
This causes continued inflammation and symptoms persist.
In January 09 after I stopped treatment for 6 months it was 26,000 then after 6 months of treatment it was down to 20,000 and in September it jumped back up to 34,000. ( I am rounding down, don't remember exactly). I think it's possible for your C4a to jump up with treatment, but I think you need to explore other possible issues.
My thyriod antibodies were about 20 times the normal rate, so that may have contributed and I also got swine flu in July, but my doc has always thought there's been an underlying issue going on besides lyme that we just can't figure out.
It's my understanding that the range is 0-2500 and out of that range is BAD. So if your daughter is at 400 that is pretty excellent.
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