Furthermore we got a Labcorp test called absolute C8-CD57+ Lymphs that was 42 (range 60-300). I have read somewhere that Lyme is the only known cause for this CD57 number to be decreased. Has anyone else heard anything like this?
I am taking these results to be very supportive of my husband having Lyme disease (not to mention his Herxing like crazy with new symptoms since starting ABX).
I don't think our insurance will cover IV ABX with these test results though. Not sure what we will do in that case. Continue on oral ABX and retest in a few months? Have other people done that and gotten a positive result later?
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I'll check on you tomorrow!
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
What a wimp TuTu is. Bed time? HA!
Truth be known though, I've turned into a pumpkin too and am hitting the hay real soon, so here is more info for you to look over till the early birds get here.
And fighting... when TuTu gets here, please tell her TC said...
"He who flies with the eagles by day, can't hoot with the owls at night."
Hoot hoot!
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Tincup, email me and I'll send you the list of what happened to me yesterday. It will make your head spin!! I'm surprised I'm still up and running today!!
--- From the link posted above:
Band 39: Unknown what this antigen is, but based on research at the National Institute of Health (NIH), other Borrelia (such as Borrelia recurrentis that causes relapsing fever), do not even have the genetics to code for the 39 kDa antigen, much less produce it. It is the most specific antibody for borreliosis of all.
Band 41: Flagella or tail. This is how Borrelia burgdorferi moves around, by moving the flagella. Many bacteria have flagella. This is the most common borreliosis antibody.
-----
"Antibiotics may help convert the test to positive, but patients need to be off antibiotics when the specimen is drawn.
It is well documented in medical literature that the presence of antibiotics may cause false negative borreliosis testing. Therefore, your system should be free of all antibiotics for an accurate blot result.
When the Lyme borrelia are alive, they are geniuses at avoiding the immune system. They may do things like go inside your white blood cells, and come out enclosed by the cell membrane of your own white blood cells! This may partly explain why antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi are often not found when patients are tested.
What may happen when patients are given 4 weeks of tetracycline (or other antibiotics) is that some of the bacteria die. When Borrelia burgdorferi dies, it is less efficient at avoiding the immune system.
That's when antibodies may be formed against Borrelia burgdorferi, converting the negative or equivocal Western blot to positive, in about 36% of cases.
If a borreliosis Western blot is going to be positive, it is usually the first one that is positive. The second blot is the next most likely to be positive, and so on, until the fifth blot.
After that, the curve levels off for conversion to positive."
--Dr C of MO
So even an "IND" is important when you're talking about Band 39!!! "IND" is a weak positive!
Posted by fighting4them (Member # 31394) on :
Thanks so much!! He was on abx when the blood was drawn, so maybe that affected it.
![[lol]](graemlins/lol.gif)