Hi tulip, ( I pasted this from a moderator LOL)
Welcome to our forum! I'm so sorry to hear that your daughter has been ill. And yes, most of us on here are familiar with Igenex - it is the standard for most LLMD's, but LLMD's will diagnose based on symptoms not lab results.
If you haven't yet, please do read through our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread, as it contains a great deal of information, helpful links and pdf's and symptom lists to help you determine which infections you may be dealing with and if your daughter may in fact have lyme.
Please seek out a LLMD(Lyme Literate Medical Doctor) or go with Holistic Practitioners. In order to find a LLMD in your area, you can start a new thread titled something like:"Looking for LLMD in the _______ area."
You can also email our long time member, Dan's Mother at:
[email protected]You can also email Stephanie at:
[email protected] You can also go to: www.turnthecorner.org/ if you want to learn a little bit more about
Lyme Disease.
You can also go to The Lyme Disease Association and search for LLMD's 3 times in a month. You have to register first. Here is the link:www.lymediseaseassociation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=277&Itemid=74
You will want to find an ILADS (International Lyme And Associated Diseases Society) doctor. The ILADS site is another great place to read to get you started on your Lyme journey. www.ilads.org/lyme_disease/treatment_guidelines_clearing_ilads.html
As most have told you, the current testing for these infections leaves a lot to be desired - the bacteria's first order of business is to move out of the blood stream and into tissues, joints and organs, and only returns to the blood every 4 weeks or so to replicate. Not to mention that most of these tests only look for the immune response and this particular bacteria can fool our immune systems into thinking that there's nothing there, and even lower our immune system function as well.
So you can see why these blood tests aren't the most reliable way to determine if you have one of these infections. With you having all the classic symptoms, you almost certainly have the infection(s), and you could easily have co-infections as Lyme rarely is the only infection passed by insects.