posted
Hi. I have been feeling sick on and off for the past 18 months. I have been to a ton of specialists such as a neurologist, rheumotologist, cardiologist, dermotolgist, and had many, many tests done, and everything would always come back normal. Some of the symptoms I have, and have had in the past 18 months are a shaky weakness especially in my legs, always when i bear extra weight on them. I will get very weak a lot, a strange itchy, prickly sunburned feeling on my skin, numbness on my foot, hand and face, heart palpatations, lightheadedness, sometimes shortness of breath. Sometimes these symptoms will last a few months and then go away for a few months. Last week I had my PCP test me for lyme. When the test results came in it said igg western blot negative, igm western blot positive. He put me on doxycycline and told me to go to an infectious disease doctor. So I went today and he said he thinks that it is a false positve because Igm means recent infection (as in the first 4 weeks after getting bitten) and since i had been having symptoms for so long that the igg should be positve too, so that s what makes him think its a false positive. He said it just doesn't seem right for the igg to be neg, and that I have no symptoms of a "new" infection (the first 4 wks.) He told me to get off the antibiotics, and he took my blood again to re-test it. He said there can be cross reactions that could be making the igm test come back postive. This just doesnt sit right with me. It seems like a lot of people just have just the igm wb positive and have had lyme for a really long time. I dont know what to do. Can there really be false positives like this??
Posts: 12 | From Detroit Michigan | Registered: Sep 2010
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Hi. I have been feeling sick on and off for the past 18 months. I have been to a ton of specialists such as a neurologist, rheumotologist, cardiologist, dermotolgist, and had many, many tests done, and everything would always come back normal.
Some of the symptoms I have, and have had in the past 18 months are a shaky weakness especially in my legs, always when i bear extra weight on them.
I will get very weak a lot, a strange itchy, prickly sunburned feeling on my skin, numbness on my foot, hand and face, heart palpatations, lightheadedness, sometimes shortness of breath.
Sometimes these symptoms will last a few months and then go away for a few months. Last week I had my PCP test me for lyme. When the test results came in it said igg western blot negative, igm western blot positive.
He put me on doxycycline and told me to go to an infectious disease doctor. So I went today and he said he thinks that it is a false positve because Igm means recent infection (as in the first 4 weeks after getting bitten)
and since i had been having symptoms for so long that the igg should be positve too, so that s what makes him think its a false positive.
He said it just doesn't seem right for the igg to be neg, and that I have no symptoms of a "new" infection (the first 4 wks.) He told me to get off the antibiotics, and he took my blood again to re-test it.
He said there can be cross reactions that could be making the igm test come back postive. This just doesnt sit right with me.
It seems like a lot of people just have just the igm wb positive and have had lyme for a really long time. I dont know what to do. Can there really be false positives like this?? [/QB]
I'll be back to comment.....
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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----"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." --- Dr C of MO
(This is what he said regarding false positives... from 1999):
---"Medical literature is replete with statements about false positive test results for Lyme borreliosis. Since 1988, I have diagnosed and treated well over 600 borreliosis patients. Only 2 of those patients with a positive borreliosis test did not respond to antibiotics. This is a 99% success rate!
So in the trenches of day-to-day medical practice, false positive borreliosis tests are not an issue. In retrospect, those 2 patients that did not respond to antibiotics may have also had babesiosis.
In my practice, many borreliosis patients also have babesiosis, another tick-borne infection that causes the same symptoms as Lyme borreliosis.
Babesiosis is caused by a protozoa, which is a different germ type than a bacteria, virus, fungus or yeast.
The placebo effect would not explain a 99% response rate. Those borreliosis associated antibodies should not be there, in patients with symptoms.
A placebo is like a sugar pill, that has no effect. A placebo effect occurs because patients believe in the pill they are taking, even though it is a sugar pill. The human mind causes the response. Placebo effects should more likely be about 20-30%, not a 99% response rate.
False negative test results are the real problem in diagnosing borreliosis."-----
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IDSA drs will DENY, DENY, DENY Lyme until their last dying breath. Run from this doctor and find a real LLMD... a Lyme Literate MD.
posted
My daughter is positive 6 bands IGM, negative IGG. IGM means active infection...positive is positive. IGG shows up later...once near remission.
Posts: 747 | From Utah | Registered: Apr 2010
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Pinelady
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18524
posted
Agree. Find a LLMD to treat.
-------------------- 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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