41 and 66 reactive, from PA

Hi everyone, I'm new to the forum and to Lyme. I'm located in Pennsylvania, so my risk for Lyme is high as I understand it. I don't frequently traipse through heavily wooded areas, but I do live on a wooded street with quite thick woods across the road, so there's that. about maybe 5 months ago, I started having joint pain. It's hard for me to create a timeline, because I find I easily ignore symptoms unless they're pretty severe -- high threshold and just so busy with 4 kids right now. After the birth of my son (1 yr ago) I began some digestive issues that mimicked IBS or lactose intolerance so I feel like that may be an unrelated to Lyme symptom. I felt it was hormonal. It improved, somewhat, but is still present. IBS symptoms, joint and muscle pain, brain fog, and well - fatigue, but that just comes with the territory. So with this persistent joint pain, I finally decided to see my GP, who's amazing and very alternative-minded. We talked about possible IBS or SIBO with the joint pain symptom, and he ran some tests including Western Blot. This came back today as negative in all except IgG 41 and IgG 66. He wants me to repeat the test in 2 weeks with Igenex or MDL lab. I didn't get to talk to him personally today, but the woman I spoke with (I suppose a nurse) said, in response to my question, "What does this indicate, is it probably Lyme or could it be something else or nothing?" -- that "You definitely have some strand of Lyme if the band 41 is positive." Any thoughts on this?

Post Edited (RubyMeg) : 7/14/2017 7:16:41 PM (GMT-6)

Welcome and sorry to hear you might have Lyme.
From what I have read on past posts band 41 could possibly be Lyme. It is indicative of a bacteria with flagella.
Like Purrrsian kitty said testing can be unreliable, Lyme can be clinically diagnosed.

I test negative according to the CDC but band 41 showed up on my western blot.

I was clinically diagnosed by my Lyme literate MD with Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia.

If you would like to search for an llmd, you can do that here by enabling your email. Then posting a new thread asking for "Need llmd in your area".

I know we have other members here on the forum from Pennsylvania, they might have some suggestions.

I wish you the best , take care, Jo

RubyMeg,

I am from PA and this same thing happened to me. I had bad IBS, then started with joint and muscle pain and then fatigue, heart issues and nervous system problems. I only had band 41 +

Although your doctor seems knowledgeable I would still suggest seeing an LLMD. I went from dr to dr before someone would treat me and it wasted a lot of valuable time.