Need an LLMD in NJ and help with questions for son!

CindyMil

New Member

Joined : Nov 2012

Posts : 1

Posted 11/21/2012 11:26 PM (GMT 0)

Hi,

My son has some knee swelling (one knee, and it was injured in football, and I just found out that there is a small bone chip that might be causing some irritation) and also had an unknown splinter-like thing (no bulls-eye rash) back in June. So, his doctor ordered lyme testing, but she ordered two types and now I'm frantic because I'm researching it and have two different Western Blots, one is positive, but the specific band seem negative.
Anyway, this is how it all reads:
Lyme AB/Western Blot Reflex
Lyme IgG/IgM AB 1.24 High (over 1.09 is positive)

Lyme AB interpr., EIA Positive Abnormal
Lyme Disease AB, Quant, Igm 0.92 High

then it says: Lyme Ab IgM Interp., EIA Equivocal

Then on the following page it has:
Lyme, Western Blot, Serum (and lists all of the IgG and IgM bands, and reads "absent" for all, and "negative" under them.

So, Does anyone know what a Western Blot REFLEX is as opposed to Western Blot SERUM? If one is positive and all the bands specifically are negative, what would that mean? I don't really think he has any other symptoms but now I'm a bit nervous and the doctors are out for the weekend.

Any help would be truly appreciated. Thank you.

Traveler

Elite Member

Joined : May 2007

Posts : 36573

Posted 11/22/2012 6:29 PM (GMT 0)

Hi Cindymill,
Welcome to our forum! I'm so sorry that your son is ill- it's so hard on us Mom's when it's our kids.

Here is what I believed happened- I think that your son has had actually two Lyme tests run - one is known as an ELISA (what is called the WB Reflex) , and one is the Western Blot (WB serum).

It's pretty unusual for the ELISA to come back positive and not the WB. The ELISA isn't nearly as sensitive as the WB. No matter though, for your son has tested positive to BB- the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. IgM antibodies are the first to show up, so that says he is in the first stages of this disease, which is good. The chances of beating this disease are the highest in the beginning stages.

He needs to be seen by a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor, not by an Infectious Disease doc - as they believe that this disease is hard to catch and easy to treat - usually only treating 28 days at most. The only thing that it really does when people are treated by them is send them looking for answers later on when their symptoms return and they have a chronic disease that is much, much harder to heal from.

The thing about Lyme disease testing is that's it's very flawed. The bacteria doesn't stay in the blood system very long as it prefers tissues and organs more. It also has a way of evading the immune system and these test only look at the immune systems response to the bacteria, not the bacteria itself.

The other thing is that the current testing is designed to recognize only 4 or 5 of the strains of Lyme, when there are over 100 different strains here in the US alone, 300 world wide. So if your son has one of the 95 strains that aren't being tested for there's no way that the test would ever come back positive!

The most knowledgeable Lyme doc's diagnose a person clinically - by symptoms, hoping that the blood tests will back up those results, but not depending on them.

It would be helpful to you to read through our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread that sits at the top of our forum - if you haven't already. It's packed full of important information, symptom lists (as Lyme rarely travels alone - there are usually co-infections, viruses and parasites that get transferred as well), informative links, helpful pdf's, and even a list of questions that you can ask any doctor that wants to treat your son for tick-borne infections!

I do hope that I've been able to answer your questions. Please do let us know how things are going with your son!

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