HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Medical Diagnostic Labs

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 11/18/2013 5:04 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Everyone!

I'm new here and have a few questions. I recently started working with a naturopath mainly to solve some stomach issues, but he's been doing a lot of additional testing on me. I just got my first round of tests back and he did a CD57 test, and mine came back at 20 (normal is over 60), so this might be indicative of Lyme.

about a year and a half ago I started having numbness and tingling in my arms and legs for days on end as well as joint pain and extreme fatigue. I also am constantly sick from colds and other infections and have IBS and inflammation throughout my digestive tract. This has been blamed on low b12 (I still have symptoms even though my levels are normal) and Celiac, which I was diagnosed with 4 years ago.

Now he wants to do additional testing for Lyme and the coinfections through medical diagnostic labs. I know that Lyme is hard to test for, is this a good lab for Lyme tests? Also, will these tests be covered by insurance? It's the end of the year so I am worried about paying for more tests since my deductible will reset in January.

Last, I am in Austin and there doesn't seem to be any Lyme doctors around here. If I do have it, I am worried my naturopath won't want to treat with antibiotics. Has anyone had luck going the natural route?

So many questions for not even having a diagnosis! Thank you all in advance for your help!
Posted 11/18/2013 5:33 PM (GMT 0)
HI Dashlink!
Welcome to our community!
You are very right in that a low CD57 can be indicative of Lyme, although it's not definitive. Your symptoms could also be indicative of Lyme disease.

I would encourage you to read through our "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread that sits at the top of the forum if you haven't already. It's packed with a lot of good information, symptom lists (Lyme usually isn't the only infection passed), detoxing instructions, and more.

There are only a small number of labs that return the most accurate results, Medical Diagnostic Labs being one! Although, please understand that the tests are faulty as well. Even the best labs only test for 4 or 5 of the over 300 strains world wide, so it's still easy to miss an infection!

Any of the blood tests currently being used widely only look for the antibody response from the immune system, and Lyme bacteria can not only change it's outer proteins so that the immune system doesn't recognize it as an intruder, but it prefers tissues, bones, organs to the blood stream.

Whether or not the tests are covered under your insurance depends greatly on your insurance company and the coverage they offer.

Yes! We have several that have healed or are healing using nothing but the natural route! I'm one that has healed using only natural means. Many also have great success using herbs with the abx. The choice is yours!!

If you should want to use a LLMD (Lyme Literate Medical Doctor) who uses abx, I do have a few listings in Texas, although they are a bit of a drive from Austin. Please email me by clicking on either my name or the little blue envelope under my name to send me an email.

To get referrals from other members, please enable your email options through your profile. If you don't want use your personal email, there is a way for you to get an email through Healingwell.com - just select the tab near the top of the page that says "email" - which is right below "Forums & Chat".

To enable your email, please go to your profile, then go to "edit profile". Once there, scroll down just a bit until you see "show my email", please choose this option. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the "submit" button to save your choices.
Posted 11/18/2013 6:20 PM (GMT 0)
MD Labs seems to be pretty good at picking up some co-infections such as Anaplasma and Mycoplasma. Those are the ones I tested positive for and others I've seen use them. The problem is their Western Blot test for Lyme leaves a lot to be desired. I tested negative through them with only one band reactive on the IgG and none on the IgM yet through IGeneX I had many + bands especially on the IgM. The one band 41 that came up positive though MDL was quadruple + through IGeneX so that goes to show you their test needs improvement as the others didn't show up. I know one person that came up positive through them but a few others did not. I would use IGeneX as they are known to have the best WB test for Lyme hands down. It's not perfect but it's the only one I would use since there are so many false negatives with this type of testing.

My MDL test was covered by my insurance so they do participate in some plans. With IGeneX you most likely will have to pay out of pocket but if you can swing it then that's the way to go IMO.

Posted 11/18/2013 6:35 PM (GMT 0)
Thank you for posting about your experience, Toddpaul. All I had heard was the good.
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply