Igenex test results

My Chiropractor called me yesterday and told me he had the results of my western blot. Band 41 was positive on both the IgG and IgM and band 31 was indeterminate on one of the tests, but I can't remember which one. he did say that this was not CDC positive but that he wanted a good LLMD to treat me.

background - I became very ill May '08 severe flu like symptoms, severe muscle pain tightness & fatigue (like you get after lifting weights too hard only much more intense) Petit-mal and absance seizures, muscle twitching, fascilations and spasms. joint pain and stiffness, deep tissue intense itching in the muscles most affected (calves, thighs, upper arms/shoulders, back - across shoulder blades. Dr treated with high doses of prednisone which alleviated all symptoms until I tapered off, then everything came back. over the last 2 1/2 years I have been on prednisone for 3 months 3 times. (total of 9 months) each time I feel 110% perfect, but everything returns with a vengeance once I begin tapering. with no exertion and rest I feel better, but if I exert myself at all, I am back in bed for days.

since becoming ill I have been diagnosed with epilepsy and narcolepsy. but none of the medications make me feel any better. I have no memory of being bit by a tic, but my dh & I would go to a wooded state park often, and he did get bit about a year before I got sick. I only remember because by the time we saw the tic it was huge. I grew up camping, and with no Lyme in Illinois, tics weren't a big deal

My chiropractor suggested testing for lyme over a year ago, but I asked my doctor and she told me there was no Lyme in Illinois. so I did not pursue it. as time went on with no improvement or even any progress with diagnoses I decided to test for Lyme I called Igenex and read Dr. Burrascano's information. I asked my dr. to put me on an antibiotic challenge before the test. I took doxycycline for 4 weeks, then had the blood drawn 2 weeks later. I felt horrible all the time I was on the doxy, until a couple of weeks after I stopped taking it.

So now what? I don't know how to react to the results. I am desperate for answers, but do I accept this as a positive test?

sorry this is so long, thanks for reading.

thank you, I know of only 2 LLMDs within a 5 hour drive and both of them are cash only. not an option for me. the best I can do is to educate my doctor. I am printing the Ilads treatment guidelines and hopefully that will do it. I did do some reading today, and while I wish that the information out there was more clear, it does seem to say that band 41 is a spirochete type issue, so hopefully treatment will prevail!

Thanks Razzle

According to Igenex that is not a positive result but if it may become one if you retest further down the track. You need to see a good LLMD to be followed up on for this.

As for band 31, I think we need to be more aware of the following information.

According to the Igenex web site, Band 31 can be positive for other reasons like EBV and so they have a band 31 epitope test that does further testing to see if band 31 is positive specifically due to Lyme or not and so it can give you confirmation as to if it is due to Lyme or not.

 

This is from the Igenex website.

 

"[I]The Lyme IgG or IgM 30-31kDA confirmation test is a qualitative immunoblot assay that determines whether 30 and/or 31kDA bands present on a Lyme IgG or IgM western blot are due to B. burgdorferi specific antibodies or not. B. burgdorferi specific epitope(s) - 30 and/or 31kDA, are denatured and separated by SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, blotted onto nitrocellulose membranes and cut into strips for the use of Lyme 30-31kDA Western Blot Confirmation Test. It is known that Western blots, especially IgM, can give false positive results with some viruses. This test would be very useful to rule out false positives when 30 and/or 31kDa bands are present on the Western blots.[/I]"

 

And further down the page after some more technical stuff...

 

[I]"...Based on this data, we recommend that further testing is not necessary if in addition to 30 and/or 31kDa bands, two of the following bands (23-25, 34, 39,41 and 83-93 kDa), are present on the Western blot. Otherwise, the 30-31kDA confirmation test should be used to confirm whether 30-31kDa bands present on the Lyme Western blots are due to B. burgdorferi specific antibodies or not. If the 30-31kDa confirmation test is negative, we recommend that patient’s sera be tested for viral antibodies.[/I]"

 

So if you have 2 of those bands in brackets as positive, then they consider you positive and not to bother with extra testing. But if not, then testing band 31 can give confirmation that it is due to Lyme and not a false positive. And if that comes back negative, then they suggest testing for various viruses to see if that is why band 31 and maybe some others bands are due to EBV, CMV or other viruses.

 

I did the band 31 epitope test and it came back positive.

 

My IgG WB results

23-25 IND

**31 ++

**34 IND

**39 +

**41 ++

58 +

So supposedly doing the band 31 epitope test was not necessary for me but I wanted to get extra confirmation. If this extra test confirms band 31 is positive specifically due to Lyme, then doesn't that make your results less likely to be a false positive?

That is my understanding, and if this is so, then it makes you wonder how many false positives are out there and hence the need for a clinical diagnoses. The standard WB test on its own is just not good enough it seems in some situations.

For instance, if your Igenex result for the standard WB was positive due to band 31 and one other ** band being positive for instance (they say 2 positives on ** band is a positive result for Lyme) but the band 31 Epitope test came back negative for Lyme, then you are really left with only one ** band and your test is no longer a positive result for Lyme! How many are in this situation?