Low CD57 Levels - Marker for Lyme?

Ok, most of you who have been on here a while know my story - but long story short, for those of you who don't, I have lyme, and so do my kids. We contracted it this fall from a hike in dutchess county, NY

Here is my question - I know that CD57 is a marker for lyme, because if the levels are low, then that means the lyme is attacking our natural killer cells. So the lower the number, the more serious the case of lyme.

My oldest daughter came back with IGG band 41, and that's it. The LLMD in the city my children are seeing was not totally convinced that she had lyme, and was not sure whether or not to treat her, bc her symptoms were very vague, if any. So he treated my two other kids with AL complex And antibiotics, but gave only AL complex to her. This is really bothering me. Her CD57 level was only 40 - however she did not exhibit the symptoms that the rest of us did. All she had was a sore throat in December, and bladder pain in January. Then in march she started complaining of her toe feeling a little numb, and then over the past few weeks, its been a numbness complaint once a week of either her fingers or her toes. Also, she is in the fifth grade and i am finding her underpants wet - so she is still having bladder issues. What the heck? I honestly don't know what to do here. Will her immune system be strong enough combined with the AL complex to fight the lyme off if she does have it? or should I beg the DR to give her 2 months of doxy anyway? I don't want everyone else to be fine, and then she is left with some possible lyme bacteria that comes back to haunt her later on in life. I feel its worth giving her the doxy just incase. what do you guys think???

Thanks!! I just got confused bc she has IGG not IGM - and I though IGM was active infection, and IGG was a sign of an older infection - that is why I think the Dr. is hesitant.

she hasn't taken any antibiotics yet. I did not think of igenex!! thank you for reminding me!! but how do I start with that?? I heard its super expensive, but its worth it, bc if she does have it, she is still in the early stages. if I don't hear back from you, I will do some research tonight!

that's not bad at all!! ok, im doing that first thing tmrw,. thanks!!! another question - how long is the wait for results???

i hope it's not 3 weeks! they told me 7-10 business days. today is day 8 and it wasn't ready when i called them today. toddpaul, did they tell you it was going to take 3 weeks?

Hi Chapelle,

looks like you've got lots of good replies already, but I was just going to add that on Dr. C's website (he's in MO, and does exclusively lyme, and is very reputable) anyway, he states that in his clinical experience that if a person has symptoms of borelia and even just one "significant" band, of which he includes band 41, that he thinks it is very suspicious for lyme (or highly likely, something like that), and that he treats with antibiotics and 97% of the time he than finds that the antibiotics make a difference and help +/or get rid of it.

And, also, when our pediatrician sent my son's Igenex test results to an Infectious Disease Specialist in IA City (university hospital, our go to place around here for specialists), that doctor said that he was "very concerned" with the test results and that we needed to "definitely treat" with antibiotics.
And my son's test results were:
IgM all negative except 41 IND
IgG all negative except for 41 ++, and 39 IND

The ID dr. never mentioned the 39 IND, but he said b/c of lyme symptoms and band 41 + that we "definitely" needed to treat.

I feel like it a good idea to get the doxy for you daughter.
Plus, the more I read, the more I start to understand that people can react differently and at different time tables too with lyme, so maybe that's why she is starting symptoms later than the rest of you and at a different pace, if that's what if may be. I agree it's better to be safe than sorry.

Keep us posted!

Post Edited (stacestar) : 4/28/2014 7:40:03 PM (GMT-6)

Cheerio- It was over a year ago so I don't remember exactly how long it took but it was somewhere between 2-3 weeks. Well worth the wait for me.

yeah, the IgG and IgM has me confused too, to tell the truth; I mean even with my son's, b/c he was IgG 41 ++ and IgM IND
but he had so many symptoms of lyme (although they did start slowly and increase) and he's doing well, yet some still linger for now.

One thing I read somewhere, and I think even our Dr. mentioned it too, is that with lyme (or tick borne infections) often the rules of IgG and IGM don't apply, b/c it acts differently from other infections. And then also, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that it doesn't take that long (like weeks) before it might go to IgG; But I can't remember where I heard that.
I don't know for sure; but those do sound like unusual things for a kid to experience; I mean the numbness and urinary accidents.
I know with my son I only heard his complaints of foot pain or other pains about once a week at first and then they became more and more.
I like what Dr. C said about antibiotics helping 97% of the time when he sees these kinds of test results, and I think about the ID Dr. who saw my son's tests saying to definitely treat. I think they are both saying that if there is a significant band (including 41) and there are some symptoms, then treatment is the way to go, even if lyme can't be pinpointed exactly. And, the ID dr. in IA City knew that our son's test was the IgG 41 positive, not IgM 41 positive.

Sorry if this doesn't really answer your question about IgG. I do relate to the confusion of the time frame and IgG. But that's a good idea to treat her!

Post Edited (stacestar) : 4/28/2014 8:59:02 PM (GMT-6)