What is Ehrlichia???
Posts: 85 | From Staten Island, NY | Registered: Nov 2007
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tdtid
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Ehrlichia is one of the tick borne co-infections, which would make me wonder if you may have others. Have you been to an LLMD and had the Igenex work up?
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
Had WB with PCP and had reactive bands 23,58. Told it was negative. I took matters into my own hands.....
Posts: 85 | From Staten Island, NY | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
What is up with those other viruses???
Posts: 85 | From Staten Island, NY | Registered: Nov 2007
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tdtid
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posted
I'd definitely not take what the PCP says as gospel since a huge amount of us have tested negative with their tests for lyme and sadly, this appears to be one of those diseases that we need to take into our own hands.
It sounds like you are on an excellent path though, if you have found an LLMD and he/she has just run the Igenex testing. The waiting for results is always the hard part, but getting the answers will definitely be worth it.
As far as the other viruses...sadly, many other things pop up with the lyme and co-infections. I'm sure your LLMD will have a much better feel for the whole picture after the results come in.
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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Timaca
Posts: 2872 | From above 7,000 ft in a pine forest | Registered: Feb 2005
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CaliforniaLyme
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HEY*!)!*! EHRLICHIOSIS is a serious TBD. I had HME, Human Monocytic Ehrlichiosis- Do you know if you have HME or HGE? Having Ehrlichiosis is a sign you may have Lyme or babesiosis too but Ehrlichiosis BY ITSELF is capable of causing all your symptoms. LUCKILY it is the most easy to cure of ALL the TBDs!!! High doses of Doxycycline (or Rifampin) for a few months and everyone seems to have it go away-
I HOPE the answer for you is that simple. I hope you don't have Lyme or Babs, too- but you need to get the Ehrlichiosis properly treated! untreated it can be very serious. I am glad you got tested and found that out- espeically since a lot of Ehrlichiosis is blood negative!! I would get treated for that asap-
Bestest wishes, Sarah
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
IGG positive means you have long term antibodies in your system. IGM would mean you have an accute response. That means that you have been exposed to whatever is causing the antibodies to flare up in the past 6 months.
Back in March/April of this year I tested positive IGM, I just recently only tested positive for IGG.
IGM is good in that it means your immune system is in full gear trying to kill the bateria, it is aware of its existance.
IGG means that your immune system believes it has beaten the bateria and has a few antibodies running around your system, but it isn't in full gear.
I am not a doctor, but this is my understanding of the test results.
Posts: 158 | From Santa Monica | Registered: May 2007
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From what I remember from nursing school (and it has been a little while), High IgG's usually represent more chronic infections and high IgM's usually represent a more acute infection.
However, didnt I read somewhere that with Lyme, it is thought to be the opposite? That if you have more IgM's than IgG's it is thought to be more chronic?
Not sure...just thought I read it somewhere relating to Lyme specifically...anyone else ever read that??
Becky
Posts: 68 | From Massachusetts | Registered: Nov 2007
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timaca
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posted
with regard to viruses (from the HHV-6 website):
Elevated IgG antibody levels. Elevated IgG antibody levels can suggest, but not prove active, chronic infection. In a 1996 study of HHV-6 in CFS patients, 89% of the patients with IgG titers of 1:320 and above were found to have active infections by culture. (Wagner, Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome)Stanford infectious disease specialist Jose Montoya believes that the best evidence of smoldering central nervous system (CNS) infection is the IgG antibody to the virus, and not the virus itself. In a pilot study, he found that when patients with high titers of HHV-6 IgG (1:320, 1:640 or higher) and EBV are treated with a potent antiviral; their titers fall substantially along with a significant improvement in symptoms.5 Elevated IgG Antibodies to HHV-6 cannot tell you for certain that the infection is active, but high titers support a clinical diagnosis. Similarly, elevated EBV VCA (late antibody) titers cannot indicate with certainly that an infection is active. However, EBV Early Antigen (EA) antibodies disappear rapidly after an infection is over, so elevated EBV EA antibodies do predict active infection.
Individuals vary in the way they respond to virus: some may not be able to generate antibodies due to a weak immune response. Others may generate large numbers of antibodies to many pathogens, and some healthy individuals have high titers of HHV-6 IgG antibodies. So looking at elevated antibodies to determine active infection is far from a perfect measure. Montoya is currently conducting a placebo controlled trial of Valcyte in symptomatic patients with elevated antibodies to HHV-6 & EBV. If these patients show a dramatic drop in antibody titers and an improvement in symptoms in response to Valcyte treatment, he will demonstrate conclusively that elevated IgG titers can be a sign of active infection and could be a good biomarker in monitoring patients.
At Stanford, Montoya uses antibody tests done by immunofluorescence or IFA to determine if a patient might qualify for antiviral treatment. He uses the IFA test at Focus Diagnostics Laboratory and has established a minimum threshold for treatment. He does not use ELISA tests that are offered at many labs (which report a number such as 0-20) because they are difficult to compare to the IFA values established in the literature, and because these assays cannot be used to monitor values over time. Many hospitals use the IFA test. Other laboratories that use the IFA test include: Focus Diagnostics Laboratory, Specialty Laboratories and Medical Diagnostics Laboratory.
Primary infections & IgM antibody levels. In a primary infection, which typically occurs before the age of two, IgG antibody levels increase four-fold within several weeks. Most pediatricians test for IgM antibodies to confirm a case of HHV-6 associated roseola or febrile seizures. The IgM antibodies appear within a few weeks and can be detected for several months. A fourfold rise in IgG titers or the presence of IgM antibodies are considered proof of active infection. The HHV-6 IgM antibodies are typically produced only with the primary infection, and not in subsequent reactivations. For this reason, the HHV-6 IgM test is not very useful for adults. Many physicians believe incorrectly that an adult with no IgM antibodies, the infection must not be active.
Posts: 2872 | From above 7,000 ft in a pine forest | Registered: Feb 2005
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However, didnt I read somewhere that with Lyme, it is thought to be the opposite? That if you have more IgM's than IgG's it is thought to be more chronic?
Yes, it is the opposite with Lyme disease. Read here:
"With most infections, your immune system first forms IgM antibodies, then in about 2 to 4 weeks, you see IgG antibodies. In some infections, IgG antibodies may be detectable for years.
Because Borrelia burgdorferi is a chronic persistent infection that may last for decades, you would think patients with chronic symptoms would have positive IgG Western blots.
But actually, more IgM blots are positive in chronic borreliosis than IgG. Every time Borrelia burgdorferi reproduces itself, it may stimulate the immune system to form new IgM antibodies.
Some patients have both IgG and IgM blots positive. But if either the IgG or IgM blot is positive, overall it is a positive result.
Response to antibiotics is the same if either is positive, or both. Some antibodies against the borrelia are given more significance if they are IgG versus IgM, or vice versa.
Since this is a chronic persistent infection, this does not make a lot of sense to me. A newly formed Borrelia burgdorferi should have the same antigen parts as the previous bacteria that produced it.
But anyway, from my clinical experience, these borrelia associated bands usually predict a clinical change in symptoms with antibiotics, regardless of whether they are IgG or IgM."
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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