posted
Ok, I got the western blot test, and received a 4 page printout of my test results from IgeneX.
For the IGM Western Blot, I had an "IND" for indeterminate on the 31 kDa band, one "+" for the 30kDa band, 2 "+" for the 39 kDa band, 1 "+" for the 41 kDa band, and 1 "+" for the 66 kDa band. Can anyone tell me what this means?
Do I have lyme disease or was I exposed in the past??? For the IGG Western blot, I only had one "IND" for the 41 kDa band.
What are the possible reasons you would have a "+" for each band if in fact, you don't have lyme disease??? Can someone help me here?
Posts: 33 | From Portsmouth, VA | Registered: Sep 2006
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For the IGM Western Blot, I had an "IND" for indeterminate on the 31 kDa band, one "+" for the 30kDa band, 2 "+" for the 39 kDa band, 1 "+" for the 41 kDa band, and 1 "+" for the 66 kDa band. Can anyone tell me what this means? It means you have Lyme disease. The ++ on 39 alone would say you have Lyme, as it is Lyme-specific.
What are the possible reasons you would have a "+" for each band if in fact, you don't have lyme disease??? NONE, that I can think of.
Read this ALL THE WAY THROUGH, including the replies. LOTS of good information there.
If you want more responses, cut and paste this over to Medical Questions.
From the above link: "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."
-------------------------------
Also from the link:
"The significant antibodies, in my opinion, are the 18, 23-25, 28, 30, 31, 34, 39, 58, 66 and 93."
posted
Thanks! One question though: based on this test result alone, is it true that I only know for sure that I have been previously exposed to lyme disease, and that there is no way to know for sure whether or not I have lyme disease right now?
Do the numbers of "+" I have indicate that I do in fact have a CURRENT INFECTION or just that I was exposed to lyme, but may in fact not have lyme right now??
Posts: 33 | From Portsmouth, VA | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
Please be sure to read the entire link (about the western blot) above in my first post.
another excerpt:
"Antibodies are very specific as to what they bind; consequently, in over 700 borreliosis patients false positive blot results occurred in only three percent of them, based upon research I presented at the 2000 International Lyme Borreliosis conference.
Data from those same 700 patients showed that if their Western blots had even one antibody significantly associated with the Lyme bacteria, then there was a 97 percent chance they would feel better with antibiotics.
Consequently, I tell my patients not to worry if the laboratory interpretation is ``negative'' or ``equivocal,'' if they have antibodies that are significantly associated with Borrelia burgdorferi.
One thing doctors are taught in medical schools is to treat the patient, not the test result.
If someone has chronic pain, fatigue, cognitive problems, blurry vision and/or neurological problems, and also has a significant antibody on a borreliosis Western blot, that antibody should not be ignored in my opinion, even if the `official' interpretation is negative or equivocal.
Remember, antibodies are very specific to what they bind, and borreliosis may cause virtually any symptom and any disease."
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96239 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
I have a dog with pretty significant hip dysplagia on x-ray. However, he walks, runs, and jumps.
After being told he needed both hips operated on, to the tune of 1600.00 (He's a free dog), I decided to see a surgical specialist for him.
He looked at the x-rays , then asked the young man in the room with him (I guess someone in training), what he would do.
Operate!! The surgeon said to him never dx on an x-ray, dx the symptoms. So, he gave him a shot, some meds and he is doing fine.
That really hit me hard as no one wanted to dx my symptoms until I found a LLMD.
I only had one band positive on WB....band 23 Igm. Of course I didn't know better at the time and test was done at Quest (waste of money).
Have been getting treated for Lyme and am slowly getting better.
My advice would be to not get caught up in the WB. It is important, but Lyme is a clinical dx. Do you have symptoms that support that dx?
Hope you have a great LLMD.
Good luck.
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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