posted
I already asked you guys for help with my lyme results and now I am still waiting for a NEW appointment with a lyme doc. I had one scheduled for this week but it was changed to a new doc. Anyway, in the meantime my internist ran my results by an ID doc here in Ft. Lauderdale and I kind of knew what he was going to say. He seemed to be very open to it being lyme but he didn't think the test warranted that. Here goes again...can anyone help me know whether it possible COULD be lyme? He seemed to think if I have been sick a year and a half why are my IGG results negative if the lyme has been around??? I am not sure what that meant exactly. And that the IGM shows a new infection. I know this is why there are lyme doc specially for this but I feel I am doubting it and until I see a doc I have to wonder. Here are the results again, maybe someone knows more than them, I am pursuing it either way but I get negative alittle now. I know lyme is bad enough but I would be afraid of the alternative.
I know I have posted this before but I feel even more confused now.
I have read the symptoms chart and know that some of them apply to me. But they can also apply to other things as well. Any help, once again, or insight would be appreciated. Thanks, Jocelyn
Posts: 25 | From south Florida | Registered: Feb 2010
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sixgoofykids
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11141
posted
IgG doesn't work the same way with Lyme as it does with other infections. It's like the borrelia renews itself and remains an IgM infection.
I was IgG positive and my LLMD told me that was relatively unusual for Lyme that most people were IgM positive. Keep your LLMD appt.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
First of all LYME DISEASE is a CLINICAL DIAGNOSIS!!!!! Period!!!!
Find a real LLMD and stop fooling around with stupid ID docs.
The reason people with chronic lyme have IGM bands is because every time your body post an immune response to try and fight this illness, it can produce new antibodies; thus IGM!
You can read about this here on LN. I will try to find it for you and post it here!
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- I'm confused. WHY were your Lyme results changed?
You said: "IGM shows a new infection"
Not necessarily. It can show long-standing, chronic but ACTIVE & PERSISTENT infection.
This "lyme doctor" who you are to see (that apparently you did not even arrange??) . . . is this an ILADS-educated LLMD?
How did you find this doctor? Are the IDSA or ILADS? The difference will mean the difference in what kind of life you will have. It's that serious. Find a good ILADS-educated LLMD.
Forget the doctors who are not well educated in all matters of tick borne infection. It takes a long time to absorb it all - and that is why a real LLMD is best. -
[ 04-20-2010, 07:04 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
At the top of the previous page........
Go to: quick links to popular topics, then click on western blot explanation.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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posted
Forget the current doc and wait for LLMD. The IGG/IGM thing doesn't work for Lyme like it does for other infections, as the other posters mentioned. So yes, you certainly could have Lyme. Get co-infections tested too, if you haven't already.
I'm not even sure IGG/IGM works for co-infections normally either. I had a high-ish IGG for bartonella, with normal IGM, yet the lab results stated it was a recent infection.
Posts: 584 | From NY | Registered: Feb 2009
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WildCondor
Unregistered
posted
Lyme disease is a clinical diagnosis, you have to stop the western blot obsessions on here. It's not wise to go by them and broadcast what your bands are and so on, it sends the wrong message.
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
Agree with WC.....everyone needs to stop obsessing over the test results!
Lyme Disease is a clinical diagnosis!!!
Don't know why everyone is so hung up on getting a positive result from a test that is not even accurate.
If you want to post your bands I don't see the harm in that; but really the test is not where the answer lies.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Jocelyn, here are the words of a lyme doctor in response to what the ID doctor said about your test results:
"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."
You can find this quote as part of a very long explanation of the Western Blot test if you go to Medical Questions, and click on the topic "Quick Links to Popular Topics" which is always very near the top of Medical Questions. Then, under that, you click on "Western Blot Explanation."
So, again, the ID doc is saying that because he has not seen and treated thousands of lyme disease cases. He does not expect to see a positive IgM. He is expecting to see a positive IgG because you have been sick so long.
But, with lyme disease, it doesn't work the normal way. Get to an expert and quit being dragged around in your mind about this.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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Pinelady
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18524
posted
I believe you have Neuroborreliosis and I would see a LLMD.
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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