posted
Have just received the results from lab tests sent to Quest in Mi and do not understand what all the NON REACTIVE (except on Band 41 means.)
My Dr. has agreed to a 30 day Doxy 200mg Bid and then sending to Igenex.
Posts: 13 | From Fort Wayne, IN | Registered: Aug 2006
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
No surprise - Quest probably couldn't find Borrelia Burgdorferi in a tick laden with it. I read an intriguing study where a guy with documented lyme-positive blood sent his blood to like 18 different labs as part of this experiment, and at least half of them reported "no lyme here!"
If it was ME, I would get an IGeneX western blot before going on antibiotics. Unless you just got bitten like the other day or something and each day is critical from a treatment standpoint. Because antibiotics will certainly skew your test results.
You WANT to get better but since you're not dealing with an LLMD, you also want to have a positive test in hand if indeed you do have lyme so that you won't have to fight so hard for treatment (and believe me, fighting for treatment is part of the package!!)
"Non-reactive" means they don't see any antibodies but remember -- they don't even look at some of the most important bands, whereas IGeneX looks at ALL bands.
Band 41 is not specific to lyme disease and while it DOES appear often in lyme, its appearance won't mean that much without some other bands to correlate. Still, take the Quest test with a grain of salt.
Remind your doctor that lyme is a clinical diagnosis - many patients with confirmed lyme (i.e., they have actually scraped the borrelia outta the EM rash!!) nevertheless continue to have totally negative blood tests.
You need at least 400 mg. of Doxy per day to be an effective measure against lyme.
Don't let your doc forget about co-infections; most non-LLMD's don't even think about them, but they can kick your butt, so help remind him about testing for those!
Best of luck to you!
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
I understood if the LD was chronic or long term that ABX would give a better reading on blood tests.
Posts: 13 | From Fort Wayne, IN | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
I understood if the LD was chronic or long term that ABX would give a better reading on blood tests.
Posts: 13 | From Fort Wayne, IN | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
I was told by the director of IgeneX not to take abx for weeks before being tested as it can affect the results. This is opposite from the practice of many LLMDs.
Sadie
Posts: 115 | From new york | Registered: May 2006
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-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
quote:Originally posted by Dean L. Harris: I understood if the LD was chronic or long term that ABX would give a better reading on blood tests.
Hi Dean.
That might indeed be true. That's called an "antibiotic challenge." By taking antibiotics, you kill off some of the spirochetes, basically putting some dead spirochetes into your blood (where there typically AREN'T any) so that you will form some antibodies, which will then be detectable by the western blot.
Someone help me out if I didn't say that correctly.
However, I don't know about taking antibiotics for a whole month before testing. That's a right challenging 'challenge.' A week's worth of antibiotics following by 10 days' or two weeks without seems more standard to me. But I'm not a doctor.
Here's what I would do: I would call up Dr. Nick Harris at IGeneX. He is a really smart and personable fellow! Tell him your predicament. Ask him what the best course to follow is. Or if your doctor will call him, even better. He's surprisingly easy to talk to.
Believe me, they have no interest in finding borrelia burgdorferi if there isn't any in you!
I sure wish you luck, Dean.
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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