IgG p41 and IgG p23, could this be Lyme?

I’m a 26 year old male living in Northern VA. I wanted to share some test results with you guys to see if you had any insight for me. I have no recollection of a tick bite, but I did attend several outdoor music events last year and I do have a cat (indoor only).

My test results:

December 2013 - Western Blot with LabCorp: All bands were negative.
April 2014 - Western Blot with LabCorp: Retested and found the following:

IgG p41 Ab. – Present Abnormal
IgG p23 Ab. – Present Abnormal

All other IgG and IgM results were negative.

I’ve listed my symptoms below. I’ve had these for about 7 months, some days are worse than others.

Chronic off balance / heavy head
Chronic spacey feeling in head
Chronic chest pain on the right side (worse when breathing deep or weight lifting)
Lightheadedness
Exhaustion after walking short distances
Rocking / Swaying feeling in body
Vision feels off, almost dreamlike
Vision also feels sometimes like there’s too much information (sensory overload)
Vision feels lagged, like it takes time for what I’m seeing to register in my brain
Headaches come and go
Pressure behind the eyes comes and goes as well
Overall body fatigue (notice it mainly in my legs)
Shortness of breath
Clumsy while walking
Tight neck / middle of back / lots of popping and cracking
Face feels flush like I have a fever but I don’t
Intense nausea and disorientation
Daily skin peeling on hands/hives on hands

I’m currently attempting to make an appointment with an LLMD in VA for next week. I’m hoping to have an Igenex blood test run. Could those ‘Present Abnormal’ IgG bands be indicative of Lyme? Does anyone have any advice for me when I visit the LLMD? I don’t understand how those bands were absent just 4 months earlier even though I was symptomatic?

I keep being told that I’m fine which is making me feel crazy. Any thoughts?
Thanks so much in advance, this has been a really tough year.

Steve

pictureofhealth said...
First of all welcome to this forum, I hope you find it as helpful as I do.
I had WB bands 23+ & 41+. When I found a LLND and told her about my symptoms and showed her my tests, she started treatment right away. I read somewhere that band #23 is most likely lyme. Hopefully, you will get an appt. with a LLMD soon and get some answers. Keep us posted.

Thanks so much for the response and the warm welcome. I managed to get an appointment for next Wednesday, so I will definitely be sharing my experience from that visit next week.

I too have read that #23 is pretty specific to Lyme after a few google searches. I just don't really understand why it's showing up on IgG and not IgM. Was your Lyme confirmed with more testing (IGeneX maybe)?

Thanks again!

stacestar said...
Here is something I read once and saved from something Dr. Joe B.(the lyme expert) wrote. It was in like a slide/power point thing that I found online.
He wrote:

"Conclusion: IgG 18, 41, and 58 kDa
-statistically associated with tick-borne disease

IgG and IgM 23-25, 31, 34, 39, 83-93
-Highly specific markers for lyme disease "

He also mentioned other bands that are not specific to lyme saying that, but I left that part out since those weren't ones you mentioned.

With that information and your symptoms, I'd say it's highly likely it's a lyme infection.
Good thing to make the llmd appt.

As far as why they were negative before, I don't the answer, but have heard that sometimes it can take time for the bands to show up positive. also, in that same website information that I quoted from Dr. Joe B he also said, on another page of his info., the following:

"…if a positive IgG is present it will generally indicate one of the following things:
…
one has a healthy immune system and is fighting Bb well."

The other thing he said it indicated is that the person didn't have lyme i.e. was exposed but is asymptomatic or doesn't have it anymore. But if one (like yourself) is feeling symptoms than of course that's not asymptomatic.

It can be hard to make sense of it all, but I'm sure a good llmd can help you figure it out. I hope you can be feeling better soon!

Thank you for the very informative post. IgG vs IgM is making a bit more sense to me now. I'm wondering how likely the IgG tests were false positives though? I guess it's better to just wait and see what the LLMD says next week rather than trying to guess myself. Either way, thanks a tun. I'll update this thread after my visit.

I too had similar test results.  I was Igm p 23 and Igg P41 positive on a western blot test from a local hospital.  With these results and my symptoms, my LLMD said I had definitely been exposed at some point to the lyme bacteria.

Looking back, I'm thinking it may have been 10 years ago.  I had some weird symptoms for months at a time and they would just disappear.  In Spring of 2012, everything hit me at once and I was pretty sick.  Feeling a lot better now but I still have some symptoms I'm trying to get rid of.

Anyway, I just wanted to mention my test results.  From what I've read and talking with some very knowledgeable people on this forum, most people are not CDC positive on the western blot. 

I hope you find out something with your test results.  Even though my doctor said I'd been exposed, I still wish I had sent a blood sample to IGenex..........take care.

Hi guys, I finally spoke with my LLMD yesterday and they gave me a few verbal results over the phone from my IGeneX testing. I'll be receiving the full results in the mail later this week and have a follow up with her on the 9th of July.

31 IgM Positive
83/93 IgM Positive
38 IgM Inconclusive

41 IgG Positive
23 IgG Negative (was positive on last my western blot).

My LLMD said she thinks this is why i'm symptomatic. I'm trying to google these bands, but I'm really not sure what to make of the results. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :)