My brother, age 35 lives in Rhode Island, just got some lab results back and I'm confused as to what this all means. They're different than mine were so I don't know what to make of them.
He has many symptoms which seem Lyme-ish to me. But I have Lyme so am always worried about that. He has severe ADD, brain fog, depression, joint pain, body pain, extreme fatigue, etc.
Here are his lab findings. I only listed those that were positive/borderline positive - I didn't bother to list all the negatives. All were done through LabCorp...
WA1, Babesia duncani, IgG antibody, IFA result: 1:256 - high - says that > or = 1:256 is positive antibody detection
Lyme Ab IgG western Blot result: only band 41 came back as present No IgM bands came back as present
Coxsackie IgG all 1:200 - high titer - negative is <1:100 Coxsackie IgM all negative
EBV Ab VCA IgG 8 - high - a positive is >1.0 EBV nuclear antigen Ab IgG 8 - high - a positive is >1.0
Chlamydia pneumoniae IgG 1:32 Chlamydia pneumoniae IgA 1:64 - high - a neg is <1:16
MTHFR DNA Analysis result: C677T/C677T
Parvovirus B19, IgG 6.1 - high - a positive is >1.1
Cytomegalovirus CMV Ab IgG 6.9 - high - positive is >1.0
HHV 6 IgG anitibodies 6.28 - high - a positive is >.99
M pneumoniae IgM Abs <770 - negative is <770, low positive is 770-950 M pneumoniae IgG Abs 542 - high - positive is >320
If I understand correctly, all seem to indicate past, IgG, infections. But what jumped out at me was the WA1 positive test. It's a weak positive though, is it not?
Could all of this add up to something? Babesia? Lyme? Something else? So many 'mainstream' doctors have told him over the years it's all in his head and that he is just suffering from depression, but I really don't think that's what it is. He developed ADD as a kid - I can think back to when he was in elementary school almost 30 years ago and remember him starting to develop it then and over the past almost 30 years it's gotten worse and worse to the point he really stuggles on a daily basis now. He also has a son with autism and a wife with possible Lyme-ish symptoms. Yet only 1 band, 41, showed as present. I know the test is far from reliable though. Any thoughts?
Thank you.
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
First off I want to say that he must have a pretty good doc if one doc ordered all of those tests.
Now for the news you suspect and dread at the same time. In my opinion your brother has lyme, babesia and multiple viruses.
The babesia and the length of time he has been sick have probably suppressed his immune responses and that is why he does not have more lyme bands.
I would also expect that with treatment many of the viral titers will also increase and that he may start showing IgM responses as positive as well as the IgG antibodies.
A quick and easy way to see if the babesia is really present would be to take some artemisia or artemisinin, but it would really be better for him to have a doc supervise, because you don't want the parasite to become drug resistant from taking only one herb or med and the herx could be severe also.
Good luck and please encourage your brother to follow up with his doc.
Bea Seibert
Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Also, please do not be fooled by the "low positive" titer to babesia duncani. That particular species of babesia is very difficult to treat and any positive titer should be taken very seriously.
I would also not be at all surprised if the titer does not increase when treatment is started.
Bea Seibert
Posted by dbpei (Member # 33574) on :
I agree with Bea's posting. Your brother lives in an endemic area for lyme and obviously has been exposed to many vector born illnesses. My Western Blot was also negative, even by Igenex standards, but I had a positive PCR for lyme and a brain spect scan that validated lyme disease. Also my brain MRI showed one lesion that could be lyme related.
I tested positive for anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, herpes virus and chlamydia pneumoniae. So there are some similarities here.
I did not test positive for babesia or bartonella, but there are so many different strains, it is likely that I have had one or both. I never had a bulls eye rash, but instead, had a mysterious summer flu in 2006 followed by migrating joint pain that was so mild, I would only mention it to my MD during annual exams.
But something happened in winter 2010/2011 that caused this illness to attack my immune system and I went deaf in one ear and then developed strange neuro symptoms. That is when my search for answers began.
Let me know if you need any names of lyme literate practitioners in this area.
Posted by Olive09 (Member # 37278) on :
Thank you both for your input. I do suspect Lyme but was confused by the lab results. Babesia did jump out at me though.
Is it possible to have Babesia without Lyme? Or does that not even matter in terms of treatment - would they treat him for everything regardless? I know my Lyme dr does - I tested + for Lyme and negative for everything else but he is treating me for Lyme, babesia, bartonella anyway.
I live in NC so am not familiar with any docs up in the North East. I only know of 1 but he isn't accepting any new patients right now. Any info on Lyme docs near the RI area would be awesome! He needs help and needs a doc for sure.
Their son is autistic and I mentioned looking into Lyme for him as well.
Posted by Olive09 (Member # 37278) on :
Thank you both for your input. I do suspect Lyme but was confused by the lab results. Babesia did jump out at me though.
Is it possible to have Babesia without Lyme? Or does that not even matter in terms of treatment - would they treat him for everything regardless? I know my Lyme dr does - I tested + for Lyme and negative for everything else but he is treating me for Lyme, babesia, bartonella anyway.
I live in NC so am not familiar with any docs up in the North East. I only know of 1 but he isn't accepting any new patients right now. Any info on Lyme docs near the RI area would be awesome! He needs help and needs a doc for sure.
Their son is autistic and I mentioned looking into Lyme for him as well.
Posted by Olive09 (Member # 37278) on :
Thank you both for your input. I do suspect Lyme but was confused by the lab results. Babesia did jump out at me though.
Is it possible to have Babesia without Lyme? Or does that not even matter in terms of treatment - would they treat him for everything regardless? I know my Lyme dr does - I tested + for Lyme and negative for everything else but he is treating me for Lyme, babesia, bartonella anyway.
I live in NC so am not familiar with any docs up in the North East. I only know of 1 but he isn't accepting any new patients right now. Any info on Lyme docs near the RI area would be awesome! He needs help and needs a doc for sure.
Their son is autistic and I mentioned looking into Lyme for him as well.
Posted by Olive09 (Member # 37278) on :
Ooops. Sorry for the triple post! My computer was being slow and I guess was being impatient with it!
Posted by derk diggler (Member # 31903) on :
well as much as i hate to say it,,,, i only have band 41 and i have same symptoms and am close to the same age,, i also had a doc dx me with parasites, so who knows good luck
Posted by dbpei (Member # 33574) on :
Olive, I have been away for the weekend and will send PM with names of docs in RI area.