Igm p23 only on western blot labcorp- Lyme?

Hi Waterpain,
Welcome to the forum!! It would be best if you would kindly read through our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread at the top of the forum, as it's full of great and important information and links about dealing with these infections!

Testing is very poor with these infections, missing about 60% of those that are infected for a number of reasons. Band 23 is highly specific to Lyme Disease -a s a matter of fact badn 23 indicates that an outer surface protein of the Lyme bacteria has been detected, so you have Lyme no matter what any doctor tells you!!

Lots of us here are hypo-thyroid, although some are hyper-thyroid. Most of us with the hypo have been diagnosed with Hasimoto's Thyroiditis, and are in need of supplementation. I use a homeopathic supplement that works better for me than prescriptions have, but others have great success with Armour thyroid supplements. Hopefully whatever you are already on will work well for you!

Also one of the symptoms of Hypothyroid is weight gain!Here are two good site to do some more reading on the thyroid:
thyroid.about.com/cs/basics_starthere/a/symptoms.htm

www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

Another thing, many of us that have been infected for a while also have adrenal issues, which are spoken of in the second site that I put a link to. Please read through and see if the symptoms match yours.

Keep on reading all that you can about your infections! Knowledge is power to heal! Ask questions of everyone , us and your docs!! Remember YOU hired THEM to help you. If you need to find another doctor to be treated properly, then please do so! A LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor) is the preferred doc for treating these infections, as they have gone through training from ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society). If you need help with finding a LLMD, our members are really good at pointing others in the right direction!!

I happen to use NatraBio's brand of thyroid and adrenal supplements, they can be found online and in most health food stores. I'm sure there are other brands just as effective out there, but these have worked well for me.

Your next question is a bit tricky - the IgM responses are the first to be seen, indicating an recent infection. The IgG responses are produced under a longer term infection. Here's the tricky part, the majority of people tested that have long-term infections won't test positive, as the bacteria have the ability to evade the immune system so as to not cause an immune response - which is what the tests all look for.

So to say that based on your blood test results that you don't have a long term (chronic) infection would be incorrect, since there's no way to know for sure as far as the tests are concerned.

This is why knowledgeable, Lyme Literate docs will base their diagnosis on symptoms. If your symptoms started 2 years ago, chances are you were infected at least two years ago or further back, since these infections can go dormant and wait until the body is under just the right amount of stress to come out to play.

Only a lucky few (around 40%) of those who test positive will ever see that bulls eye rash. It's the skin form of the Lyme infection. Sometimes patients will have the rash appear as they go through treatment, as a herx reaction.

There are so, so many more insects than just ticks that carry these infections!!! Any insect that can bite, draw blood, then live to bite another has the potential to pass these infections along - so that means that mosquitoes, biting flies, deer flies, horse flies, fleas, mites, sand flies, and well you get the picture - they all can and do pass these infections along to other people each time they bite if they have picked up the infection from someone like say...me! Not really lovely thoughts, but necessary information none the less.

Also, please don't give blood, plasma, or donate organs now. These infections can be passed through those products to another. We are already miserable, no need to include any other people if we can avoid that!