I don't know if you have seen & read TREEPATROL & TINCUP'S combo newbie links....lots of info there on IGM/IGG western blot info. Here are the basic links for you and 300 OTHER illnesses mimic lyme disease.

Welcome to this 24/7 educational & support group board!

Here's TREEPATROL's and tincup's combination newbie links.
http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/029917.html

Print off the links then check them off as you read as you could spend several months reading all of this.
print & read Dr. Barrascono's info first; you will come back to this often.

Also, see Cheryl's extensive web sites on: LD DIAGNOSIS, SYMPTOMS, & TREATMENT ... wonderful!
http://www.lymeinfo.net/lymediseasetreatment.html

You'll see from this site that there are between 40-50+ posts/replies here daily.

So to help us all, please be as specific as possible for the TOPIC line, example, "is it ticks only transmitting?" You will get many more replies as we try to help you, help us out.

Also, you can EDIT your text anytime. You can NOT edit a subject line so that's why it's important to get it specific the 1st time since we all have limited time here..ok.

You can just reply back to others; you don't need to quote them. If you do use the quote box, please be sure to remove the BOLD [B] at the beginning and ending of the quote. The bold is really hard on us late-stage lymies whose vision is so supersensitive.

Also, please try to limit paragraphs to 6-8 lines of text only and double space between paragraphs...again helping the many late-stage lymies on board. Thanks so much for your helping us, help you.... You'll learn a lot here by all!

The WESTERN BLOT IGM & IGG blood test nos. 189 and 188, are the only accurate tests for LD. They should only be sent to these 3 USA's Lyme testing labs:

IGENEX LAB:
797 San Antonio Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
1.800.832.3200.

(If the early test, called IGM, is negative; the later test IGG is NOT done!)
Please see their web site: www.igenex.com for their current prices effective May 1, 2005 and

to print their REQUIRED form, which MUST be signed by the doctor, DIAGNOSIS CODE NO. COMPLETED!; Medicare's UPIN no., and your FROZEN blood taken EARLY in the week so it doesn't sit in post offices!

Write on their forms you want results FAXED to their drs. Office; snail mail paper copy so it's not lost like mine was!

NON-Medicare patients must PREPAY by check or credit card for the tests since they do NOT handle insurance papers.
Medicare patients do NOT have to prepay!

2. MDLabs from NJ, www.mdl.net
see their site; they too require their own form. NO prices are listed; you must call their 800 no.

3. BOWEN labs from Florida, www.bowen.net 727.937.9077
You pay $250 tax-deductible payment for testing, and they send you a picture of what shows up in your blood. You also get the results within 24 hours after the blood is received at Bowen. They are also a 501(c)(3) lab and you can take the donation of $250 off of your taxes if you live in the US. They fax the results and then about a week later send the actual pictures.
Lyme should be diagnosed clinically using medical history in addition with the Western Blot blood tests as no currently available test is definitive in ruling-in or ruling-out infection with Ld pathogens, or whether these infections are responsible for the patient's symptoms.

NOTE: Please send a copy of your health insurance card to YOUR insurance comany (mine is Wellmark BC/BS, Iowa) for them to submit to BLUE CARD (handles other states) them to FORWARD to California's Blue Shield health insurance company since they will require that, DRS. Diagnosis Code No., and which date of service is correct (IGX has 3 different dates on their paid receipts....use the DATE OF ACTIVITY!).

FYI - mine was returned to me after 6 wks. After submitting; dr./blood lab failed to show DRS. DIAGNOSIS CODE NO. on their form! It went to 7 people to be returned to me! Disgusting!

I came across this new web site of good info from Natl. Institute of Health's medline library....covering many other dx illnesses...Alzheimer's/dementia, Parkinson's, Bell's Palsy, MS, FMS, CFS, IBS, etc. and was posted on www.lymenet.org.

300 OTHER medical condtions mimicking lyme disease w/citations and author's
name, Art Dougherty, Calif., 2001, is at bottom of site page! http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/misdiag-links.html

Hope you each find some good info there. Saw it's from Art Dougherty, Calif. in 2001. http://www.geocities.com/lymeart3/misdiag-links.html#disease

In a past life I was a lab tech (MT,ASCP) and quality control is very high and very standardized in labs. Lyme testing is poor because of lousy tests not lousy lab technique. We can only work with the tests on hand.

Lyme and syphilus, for example, are closely related and might cross react on some antibody tests.

IgG and IgM tests can be used to test for many different pathogens, not only Lyme.

go to www.canlyme.com click on symptoms, count how many you have, if 20 or more it may be Lyme

Best widely available test for Lyme is the Lyme Western Blot, get a copy and post result here for interpretation.