Switched PCPs recently and had a full workup physical including having blood sent out for general testing. Ahead of our follow-up appointment in a couple of weeks, the Dr. sent out the results by mail.
Most everything came back normal (which has been great news) except for the following.
- My IgM seems to be low - normal should be 48-271 mg/dL, mine is 26 mg/dL. A cursory web search would indicate to me that this is pretty low and a definite deficiency
- My vitamin D levels are also pretty low - normal is 30-100 ng/mL - mine is 17.
So just wanted to run this by the community here to see if others have seen the same thing.
Is low IgM a results of the ongoing Lyme infection or has Lyme been so hard to treat for me because of having low IgM?
Have other have low vitamin D and been able to get level back up with supplementation?
Thanks for any info you can send my way.
LS
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Do you mean IgM as in immune deficiency?
Get the Vit D up with D3 supplementation AND magnesium.
Posted by Nancy L (Member # 42733) on :
Hi,
I have been definitely diagnosed with Lyme. My Vitamin D was about like yours, deficient. My Killer Cell CD57 count was also low, and my thyroid was iffy. Other than that my test results were normal, like yours.
I read that a lot of Lyme people have very low D.
Did not have the IgM count, no clue about that.
I am taking fairly large doses of D3. Did not know about the magnesium connection Lymetoo shared. I wonder how the D deficiency and magnesium are related. Lymetoo, do u know?
Posted by susank (Member # 22150) on :
What about your other immunoglobulin levels? Total IGG and IGA and subclasses?
Posted by sparklyholiday (Member # 42456) on :
Nancy...
Vitamin D uses magnesium to convert to a usable form in your body.
Most people (both with and without lyme) are already low in magnesium. So you will definitely need magnesium with the Vitamin D. (I learned the hard way!).
I was taking 5,000 iu of vitamin D without mg and suffered severe mg deficiency symptoms (which I mistakenly thought were side effects of the vitamin D!).
Once I started properly supplementing magnesium, the Vitamin D "side effects" went away!
Read about the different kinds of magnesium here... I highly suggest against getting magnesium oxide (which is what is mostly sold in the stores). It's only 4% bioavailable and can cause the runs.
I take a combination of remag (liquid pico ionized mg) and Magnesium Glycinate. I do not have stomach problems at all with either of these.
And between the two, I get about 800mg of magnesium/day.
I also have the magnesium oil spray, but that irritates my skin, so I don't use it very often.
My Vitamin D never came up (even with supplements) until I started the mg.
I was between 16 and 21 for a long time... and then since starting magnesium, I went to 26, then most recently to 31 for my vitamin d level.
Good luck!
Posted by Kudzuslipper (Member # 31915) on :
I didn't know about magnesium with the d3, do you need to take them at the same time? I usually take my d in the am and mag before bed.
Posted by GretaM (Member # 40917) on :
Sparkly-I didn't know that either! Awesome info, thanks Posted by sparklyholiday (Member # 42456) on :
Kudzuslipper... I don't know the answer to that! But it's a good question. If your body stores magnesium, then I would think you don't need them at the same time. But if your body uses the magnesium you take, then secretes the rest, then you probably need them at the same time.
But I don't know how magnesium is stored or secreted in the body. I take my vitamin D at night and I take my magnesium broken up into 3 throughout the day (mostly because I take so much of it, that I can't stomach it all at once).
So in the end, mine ends up being taken together. But not necessarily on purpose! lol
Posted by sparklyholiday (Member # 42456) on :
P.S. If you are on doxy, don't take the magnesium with the doxy... it can prevent the doxy from being absorbed.
I take a liquid magnesium before my shower in the morning and take my doxy and remaining supplements about an hour later...
Take my pill form magnesium with lunch, then more liquid right before bed (about 2 or 3 hours after my doxy).
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