Many of you know my endless search for what is ailing me. One of my doctors recently ordered a Lyme Western Blot from Quest Diagnostics.
I have had several of these over the years. Never CDC positive. Igenex found a good number of bands 3 yrs ago on the IgM side, but not enough to be CDC positive The 23 band was +++ and others, but not the two needed to be CDC positive. My IgG side at Igenex had 4 positives and 4 IND..again not CDC positive, but Igenex positive.
Usually all other 'mill labs' never find anything. Quest now shows I'm reactive to band 23 on the IgM side, but not to 39 or 41. They show I'm reactive to 41 on the IgG side, but no others. Pretty ironic they aren't paired together.
What a darn tricky scenario all the time. I have never had a regular lab find 23 before...makes me wonder.
However, my EBV titers were also very, very high. Not the IgM side, but IgG and also the Early Antigen number was up at 1:320. Normal was <1:10.
Is this a viral attack or Lyme? My Babesia WA-1 titer jumped from 1:256 to 1:512 recently. Normal is <1:256.
I HATE THIS STUFF. lol.
Posted by timaca (Member # 6911) on :
seekhelp~
I'd treat what is most obviously wrong, and that seems to be EBV. Lyme may or may not be an issue but you could continue to try to treat that too.
Regarding Babesia WA1, any titer can easily vary that much so it didn't really "jump". That is normal variation. If it moves up or down several dilutions (not just one) then that is more meaningful.
Good luck. I hate this stuff too.
Best, Timaca
Posted by Pocono Lyme (Member # 5939) on :
I've been wondering about band 23 all of a sudden showing up. About 6 months ago band 23 was positive on my WB from labcorp.
That was the first any band ever showed up from them. I had lyme specific bands from Igenex in the past but like you always one band shy or so from cdc positive.
I noticed on here around the time I had the positive 23 band, quite a few others did too. No other positive bands.
My first thought was they're just learning to read them and started with band 23.
Have you had your immune system checked? Total IgG, subclasses 1,2,3 and 4? I had very high EBV titers also but it showed active but resolving.
These things will surface when your immune system is down and we know how well lyme and company knock our immune systems.
Posted by minimonkey (Member # 8693) on :
I've had astronomically high EBV titers every time we've tested them ...both of the LLMDs I've seen feel this is secondary to Lyme. (I had an unequivocal positive WB thru Igenex)
That said, Valtrex has helped immensely when I've taken it -- particularly with fatigue, but also with the overall symptom picture.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)