My IgeneX Results Are In - Please Advise.....

Hi Everyone -

My IgeneX results just arrived and I would appreciate your interpretation. I did a little research first, but do want your opinion, please? Anything not listed means it was negative....what you see is what you get.

IGM
41 IND

IGG
41+
58+

IFA TEST
40 EQUIVOCAL

So what I get from this is that there is SOMETHING - I am on the right track - but could possibly NOT be Lyme? Symptomatically, the more I learn about Bartonella co-infection, the more I feel that this could be my primary issue. Also, when first looking up root cause of Hashimoto's, yersinia was one that came up via Dr. Izabella Wentz (41 band could be yersinia?).

I do understand the unreliability. To be honest, I feel relieved to see something...just want to be certain I am on the right track here. How my body responds to treatment tells me I am definitely plagued with something...many neuro symptoms. Also, my daughter has similar symptoms so I am still on a mother to fetus theory here, which I don't know if yersinia would fit.

I don't know anything about the IFA test meaning - it just came in the package I ordered.

ok..........THANK YOU IN ADVANCE!

Hi k07 -
Thank you for your input!

To answer, yes - I used the service gkamom told me about (so grateful she shared that!)...it is true health labs. It worked very easily. One tip, order the basic lyme panel vs just the 2 western blots. Why? Because to make money, they add on about $40 per test....but basic lyme is considered one test, so it was cheaper to get 3 tests vs the igg and igm western blots....I received my results in 20 days after the blood draw was taken.

Also, if you can find one in your area, I had good service from "any lab test now" - who were familiar with the kits, did my blood draw for $25 and shipped it to fed ex for me.

Yes, it cost extra to do these things, but I don't have a doctor...so very happy this option was out there.

Bartonella would not make your test positive. Western Blots only test for Lyme, not co-infection. To me, this test result is worthy of finding a LLMD.

Well, I'm no IFA expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know that the ELISA is considered an IFA:
"Indirect fluorescent-antibody (IFA) tests are used to demonstrate the presence of antibodies against a specific antigen in serum."
classes.midlandstech.edu/carterp/Courses/bio225/chap18/lecture5.htm

"Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), also known as enzyme immunoassays (EIA), are tests designed to detect antigens or antibodies."
/www.dshs.state.tx.us/lab/serology_eia.shtm


Anyway, the Equivocal result does mean that there was a reaction, but not one strong enough that the "powers that be" (CDC) want to admit that it's fully positive.

And you may very well have Bartonella as your top infection and once you start to treat that infection and have your bacterial load lower, then symptoms of other infections that you may have may begin to be more prominent. This is actually fairly common.

As Sarah said, this is worthy to at least be evaluated, but if I remember your symptoms well enough, you should likely be started on treatments with results like this.

Robin, I am not seeing a doctor and am doing herbs also. You can do it! I got a lot of them going and then a storm came around and I got the dad gum head pain that I had after my bite. CD told me to up my Japanese Knotweed a tad and sure enough that was the ticket. I needed a little bit more of that anti-inflammatory.

Always the guinea pig here!!

PeteZa -

Thank you for sharing! I joke that with the "guinea pig" thing that maybe we should redo our modest little rv in "guinea pig fashion." Remember those habitrail hamster complexes with the tubes and things? Thinking of putting a big hamster wheel in place of the couch, a big pile of straw in place of the bed....and a big orange tube at our front door. The small space in this rv just exaggerates the laboratory/research station look we've got going on, haha.

You mentioned CD helping you...she has been so great, like many others, and was the one who helped me take off my training wheels to get started on this Buhner path. This is a great forum in general, but really super duper fantastic for those of us with no medical support at all. I'm amazed at how much information I've gained in such a short span of time....and so thankful....

Traveler -

I remember hearing you state that you took the plunge as the first guinea pig with herbal treatment, even when others said it wouldn't work. Thank you! One of my popular "Robin-isms" quotes (which annoys my loved ones in a loving way) is that the most dangerous thing we can do in life (on any topic) is think we have it all figured out...no need to learn or listen anymore. It is funny but I solve my truck mechanical problems (with zero mechanical training) the same way I handle my health issues. I do the research and find a shadetree mechanic to put in a part vs taking to a shop....it is actually sort of funny. So I am the go to person for any family medical problem, veterinarian issue or auto symptom. I just think and learn, think and learn, test and repeat (then collapse, haha).

I haven't been in the Lyme realm long, but if the timing had been right, I would have been right there with you trying the herbs. I would have followed what felt right and what made sense to me. I already am gathering up some parasitic complex theories vs focusing just on the Lyme part, branching off a little in my own direction, because there are things I question only due to little clues my body has provided here and there.

Anyway, thanks for clearing the debris from the path so many years ago, to make the walk easier for those of us just getting here...do appreciate it more than you could know....