First WB showed IgM 41 and 23 present. Sample collected June 4. My general practitioner put me on 200 mg oral Minocycline for 28 days and referred me to an infectious disease specialist for follow up.
Second WB ordered by an infectious disease specialist on 6/28. Here are the results:
IgG Absent
IgM 41 Present, 23 Absent.
Lyme Disease Ab, Quant, IgM 1.09 H
C6 Peptide B. Burgdorferi .12
I understand the first two lines but don't know what the second two lines mean. Any ideas?
Also, is it possible that 200 mg oral Minocycline daily starting 6/17 could have effected my lab results? I couldn't feel my arms yesterday and find it hard to believe that I'm cured already! Any thoughts?
Posted by erikjh1972 (Member # 20964) on :
all iknow is that my results were affected. i came back positive then after doxy it went to negative.
but i still had it.
Posted by sixgoofykids (Member # 11141) on :
You don't need a follow up test. All a test can do is confirm diagnosis. Diagnosis is clinical based on symptoms, tests can confirm exposure.
A future negative test does not show you were not exposed if a test has already proven you have been. Make sense? All a test shows is you were exposed to Lyme.
Treatment has to be based on symptoms once you've been diagnosed. Chances are your PCP will not treat adequately. Neither will an ID doc. You need to find a Lyme literate MD (LLMD). You can post under seeking a doctor and someone will send a name of a practitioner near you.
Posted by onbam (Member # 23758) on :
Doxy needs to be at 400mg/day to be effective, and any treatmnet needs to continue for 3 months after the disappearance of all symptoms. Don't know about mino dosing And yes, your positive blood test means that, without a shadow of a doubt, you have it. The whole two-tier thing is bs.
I know this may sound a little "out there," but there's a coverup of the realities of Lyme disease, and most docs have no idea how to treat it. Make an appointment with a doctor known to patients to be Lyme literate. Check out the following links to educate both yourself and your doctor until you can get to an LLMD, as well as the links in my signature.
Good luck.
underourskin.com undertheeightball.com lymecryme.com -- check out "treatment failure in their own words"--good to try to use to convince your doctor lymeinfo.net
Posted by mattnapa (Member # 26414) on :
sixgoofykids- I have only been here a short time, but you certainly have my respect. I understand your emphasis on a clinical diagnosis, but are you saying all the biological markers are untrue in measuring realities involved with Lyme or are simply secondary to a clinical diagnosis. If you feel the anti-body test only show exposure what about C-54, D-3 levels and some of the other markers? I just got my test back a few days ago and I had three bands positive , and was also told that a secondary T-cell, not c-54, marker was very high. Any idea what this was?
Posted by sutherngrl (Member # 16270) on :
Like Six says....LD is a clinical diagnosis! Period! The test are used to back up that diagnosis, but not needed to make one. A good LLMD makes a diagnosis based on symptoms and history.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Kimchi... I do hope you will find an LLMD.. a lyme specialist. Otherwise, you have no hope of getting well .. esp with an ID dr.
Looks to me that you have a positive ELISA test? Is that correct?? The one there that says "H" (high)?
If so, you can bank on that test being accurate and that you do indeed have Lyme.
Band 23 is very specific for Lyme.
======
matt... which bands were positive?
Posted by mattnapa (Member # 26414) on :
Suthrngirl- I am simply trying to find out what the significance of the biological tests are. I have no argument with a clinical diagnosis being the definitive statement, but does that mean biological tests are meaningless beyond the question of exposure?
Posted by sutherngrl (Member # 16270) on :
Matt, I don't think the test are meaningless. They can be used to back up the clinical diagnosis. But to depend on them for a diagnosis alone is meaningless.
The test are very inaccurate so that is the reason you cannot depend on them for the diagnosis.
As far as do they only show exposure, I guess that is true. They show that your body is producing antibodies against the spirochete; so if you are exibiting symptoms then you most likely have the disease. However, I think you can also show bands for years or maybe forever after you are well.
The PCR test are different however, yet they are even way less accurate. The PCR test look for the actual DNA of the spirochete. These test are very likely to miss most cases of LD though.
I am not an expert; but have been ill for 4 years; in treatment over 2 years, and this is my understanding.
Posted by bcb1200 (Member # 25745) on :
The tests are flawed as they require an immune / antibody response of a certain amount. The problem is Bb is clever and changes it outer surface proteins, thus fooling your immune system and "hiding" from it so no antibodies are created. Thus people test "negative."
The standard tests don't measure for the presence of Bb. They measure for the presence of antibodies from you immune system due to Bb being there. But if the body doesn't "see" it, then no antibodies.
Read "Cure Unknown" by Pamela Weintraub.
Posted by Kimchi (Member # 26915) on :
Thanks for the replies. I started having symptoms in late May and sought treatment at an urgent care clinic for chest pains on 6/4. I had an assortment of other seemingly unrelated symptoms (tingling in my face and neck, swelling about my ankle, fatigue, etc) and was surprised when the doctor suggested a Lyme test. She really deserves a lot of credit for connecting the dots.
Anyway, I've been educating myself since receiving my initial diagnosis from this urgent care doc on 6/17. I'm aware of the IDSA controversy but wanted to see what an infectious disease specialist would say. He ordered a second round of tests. Long story, but I ended up telling him to mail me my lab results and to then go f*** himself, so I am in the process of making an appointment with an LLMD (Dr. F).
I don't need to be convinced that an LLMD doc is the way to go or that I will very likely need more than 28 days of antibiotics.
Received my lab results in the mail yesterday. Not sure what to make of these two parts that were not included on my first test:
C6 Peptide B. Burgdorferi .12 Negative .000 - .09 Equivocal .91 - 1.09 Positive = or > 1.10
Questions:
1. Are these the result for the ELISA?
2. Is it possible that my C6 peptide levels are lower than what one would expect to see in Lyme because I've been taking Minocycline?
Minocycline is a bacteriostatic antibiotic, which means that it doesn't actually kill bacteria but rather interferes with the production of proteins...those necessary for replication, I imagine.
DNA transcribes messenger RNA (mRNA) which becomes a template for the amino acid sequence. mRNA attaches to the ribosomes on the rough ER. The mRNA consists of codons for specific amino acids. Transfer RNA (tRNA) picks uo amino acids and transfers thm to the mRNA template according to the base pairing rule. They are attached to the template with H bonds and connect side to side with peptide bonds and then break away as a polypeptide.
Anybody know what this C6 Peptide test is all about?