This result page is Greek to me, help?

This is the site I used to understand my results. No one understands their results.

lymetwistontherocks.blogspot.com/2011/01/western-blots-what-do-all-of-those-darn.html
If you read down the page she does a great job of explaining things.

No the 21 days is not enough. You need to find a LLMD. You are CDC positive for Lyme which is B. Burgdorferi.

Hi Lynda --

Wooohooo Test results!

Well, as you already know, this test confirms that you have lyme (Lyme = Borrelia Burgdorferi = B. Burgdorferi = Bb).

With most other infections, one can rely upon what the MDs and .gov says about diagnosis and treatment. Not for Lyme & coinfections... The diagnosis is confusing, the guidelines are confusing, the treatment is confusing and MDs and patients are left confused.

Why so confusing?
Simply, everything the CDC and IDSA and mainstream medical community knows and understands about Lyme is kind of wrong because it's all based on only ONE strain of a species. Whereas the species of "Lyme" has hundreds of strains and let's say, 20 of them impact our health in ways that produce "Lyme-like disease".

In other words, the entire knowledge structure of Lyme that the CDC and IDSA subscribe to is based on a very specific and strict definition of only one strain of lyme that was studied early on, how it manifests, how the immune system reacts to it, etc.

One reason for this is - the science of this one strain is what the lyme vaccines were based on, this science of only one strain is what their endorsed testing and treatment guidelines are based on and this is the basis for a LOT of publically-fuvded research that followed. So we're stuck with it (for now).

But very little of this reflects what is going on in the real world with patients and doctors. These limitations are what underlies why the treatments fail most people. This is why we become very knowledgable and our own health advocate.

IgM vs IgG
The IgM antibodies are generally the "first responders" when a pathogen is discovered by your immune system. Generally, this response becomes IgG antibodies over time.

As with MANY other aspects of Lyme, this typical response is not so typical in Lyme. Often the IgG response never happens or happens in a very reduced way or they disappear over time. It's weird.

So - back to your tests.
For the reason explained above, the CDC-IDSA interpretation of the tests results follow the CDC's surveillance case definition criteria for reporting lyme (which supports this very narrow definition of lyme) and it suggests that IgM should show up a month after infection and then a month after that, only IgG antibodies are relevant in diagnosis. But our body's response to Lyme doesn't work that simply.

Most MDs (who are not Lyme specialists, including ID docs) will ascribe 100% to the narrow definition of lyme described above. However, Lyme specialist know how to interpret these tests within the context of the patient's symptom and health history for the strain that they have. For most lyme specialists, they will accept the IgM and IgG response as indicative of lyme no matter when you were infected.

Bands
The bands are another specificity of the lyme diagnosis - your bands are clearly lyme-specific and there's little gray area. The site jrpsf posted is a great resource for understanding what the different bands mean.

Treatment
Regarding your treatment, as suggested in your previous threads, the 21 days is not very likely curative. This is why you need a specialist who is going to look beyond the Guidelines treatment limitations and figure out how best to treat your unique situation.

Hope this is helpful! If not, please keep asking questions -

-p

Let us know if you need assistance in finding a LLMD.

Ooooh, I just needed to read again, more slowly. A positive IgG takes it from acute to chronic. :( My IgG and IgM were both positive and the same bands showed up in both, the bolded red, scary ones--23 & 39. I need to find out what exactly these proteins are. :( as well, of course, as the other numbers...

It's a shame Lymes isn't a standard test when anyone presents with any bacterial illnesses. I had strep almost bi-monthly for years until my tonsils came out at 32. Bad knees (from tennis, I thought) for over ten years now. Daily "tension" headaches for over two years. Everything is written off as stress-related or "lose twenty pounds." Grrrrrrrrrr....

The numbers correspond to a specific band - each band represents a DNA or protein or antigen component of the B. burdorferi or Lyme bacteria.

"OsP" further clarifies the type of the part of the microbe, or "outer surface protein"

"kDa" is kilodaltons, a scientific measurement of atomic mass

- The blot paper with the bands of the bacterial components are exposed to your blood.

- The goal is to see if the body has created antibodies against the Lyme microbe and they use the different bands/parts of the bacteria to try to detect this reaction.

- If there are antibodies in your blood that have been produced due to the presence of the microbe components of those bands, it will show a reaction to those bands.

In other words, our body generally creates antibodies when it finds a microbe or components of a microbe that shouldn't be in the blood. So those antibodies circulate in the blood ready to attack. When the lab applies your blood to the blot paper, the bands associated with those antibodies that were created against various microbe components, will darken indicating a reaction. If the band darkens, the antibody is present indicating the microbe is present.

Specific bands
There are very lyme-specific bands that they've found that are connected with only the microbe (for example 23 & 39) and then there are other bands that can also cross-react with other microbes like dental bacteria (I wouldn't say it shows up on all tests but it's common with infections).

When they created the tests they wanted to pick up as much reaction as possible indicated by our antibodies but they go by only the lyme-specific bands for the minimal reaction for a positive result. The other bands like 41 is "in addition to" the specific bands.

This is all complicated, I know. Took me 2 yrs to understand it ;)

You're lucky in that you have a positive test and don't need to worry too much about the specific bands. People who produce a negative test, based on the narrow criteria, do need to focus on the specific bands to make sure the test result isn't falsely negative.

Chronic vs Acute
Regarding the "acute" vs "chronic" question... that is a WHOLE OTHER bag-o-worms. It's very likely that you will never know when you were infected. It's tough to accept this for an answer but in some ways, it doesn't really matter. But I understand wanting to know.

I tested entirely negative with my first ELISA test. My LLMD gave me the Western blot and I was "CDC-positive" for IgM (indicating new antibodies to a recent infection) and negative for IgG (an already present infection), yet I'd been infected 16+ years before I tested. Made no sense. We ignored it.

The reason you might not ever know is because the body's immune reaction to the presence of the Lyme infection isn't orthodox - in fact, it's bizarre and not well understood. This is why the serology (antibody) tests are so inaccurate and often don't really tell us a lot of info. Plus, they're created for only one strain.

Some might suggest that since you had more IgG antibodies than IgM antibodies that the tests suggest more of a chronic infection than an acute infection (I describe this in my previous post - in simple infections, IgM are first produced and then IgG are produced for long-term immunity) but this doesn't really apply to Lyme. So, most LLMDs or lyme specialists will suggest that tests don't really indicate "acute" or a "chronic" infection.

What MIGHT tell you more about how long you've had this infection is your clinical presentation and history of health and possible exposure.

- If you don't live in an endemic area (and you can't go by what the CDC or IDSA deems endemic - half of the country is now endemic) but visited one on vacation back in 1995.
- Or if you never had a tick before but pulled one off in 2000.
- Or if you never had any symptoms until you had a huge negative event in your life and all of a sudden started developing symptoms.

Your case kind of aligns with this scenario - kind of not.

In my opinion, I think most people carry the Lyme microbe (for too many reasons to cite here but if you really want to know I'll share). Like viruses, it can lie dormant in the body or maintained in low population by a healthy immune system. But as we know, stress can impact our lives in many ways and can damage immune function. Next thing you know, you're sick and there could be many reasons why. There are many opportunistic pathogens that lie in wait for a hospitable environment to flourish in.

This is exactly what helps enable Lyme's proliferation in our bodies. What also helps exacerbate an infection is how difficult it is to diagnose and treat effectively. This is how chronic cases develop.

Hope that's helpful!
-p

Post Edited (Pirouette) : 8/2/2016 3:35:47 PM (GMT-6)

The test is for Lyme only. The co-infections won't be determined by that test.

I don't know why the test even has the other bands...since they are discounted if they're not on the list of Lyme bands.

Some LLMD's start off treating Lyme first and see how things progress...and later add in/switch to a coinfection...others will start with a co-infection if your dominant symptoms are pointing to one.

Welcome to the community! An awesome first step is such a clear diagnosis... let your healing journey begin. I have nothing to add to all of the brilliant support you are getting from those who have been at this for so long! Well, actually, to say, in the course of treatment, not everyone responds the same. For some anti-biotics don't help at all, for some herbs work best, or that is all they can access because they don't have access to an LLMD or blood work that comes back negative, for some a combination of things. You'll find your way. If you can afford it, get a good LLMD on your side. In the interim. Begin with nutrition. Feed your body in such a way that bacteria won't want to live in your body. That's the very best start, in my view. Books by Stephen Buhner and Richard Horowitz...also great investments. Your public library may have them. Someone here suggested these..and I am so glad I educated myself!

All very informative, great responses. It's very scary to know if I tested a year ago, or six months FROM now, the bands would be different. It's almost like that game Whack a Mole, one thing pops up, you hit it to get rid of it, and another one pops up! It seems impossible to even try to keep up with them all.

I'm definitely getting that changing my nutrition is going to be key (and difficult). I will certainly detox. I have a great book on herbal remedies and what they do--I got it when my Mom was sick. I've already purchased two books off of Amazon; Ken Singleton's book and Richard Horowitz's book.

I don't understand what my MD saw that she was so clear in that I was in the early stage and the 21 day of Doxy is going to be my sole "cure." Saying that to me was certainly a disservice, then again, I don't hold it against her if that is the normal, typical protocol.

Ugh-maybe all that seafood I ate travelling around the Pacific Northwest exacerbated all this, l lived on salmon, crab, lobster, oysters, various fishes, I always have jars of Herring around...at home, with a college kid here, he loves tuna melts, etc. Mercury overload lately!??! I'm seeing the name Buhner pop up a lot, so those will be the next books even if they're for a bit later, I'd just like them around.

I don't want to "dwell" on this, I also don't want to be overly Lymed 24/7 or for sure, my stress and already high BP will go up and I surely don't need that. Right now, besides the fainting of the two rashes, my only complaints are my upper back is very, very sore and although I can finally turn my neck, I definitely don't have the range I had--I turn it to a certain point and it hurts, a lot. I'm tired, but I've actually complained of that for the past couple of Years, to which "stress" was the diagnosis and I was put on Vyvanse which was GREAT, except my hair fell out in clumps within the first two weeks (luckily I have a lot to spare, lol). But my memory improved, I had ENERGY, I just felt GOOD. Those were a great two weeks...

Thanks again for all the info; trust me, I take notes from each member's reply, and will be visiting this site daily for all the great ideas, stories and information.