Taking Olive Leaf Extract for the Igenex test

I wanted to mention for anyone who is looking for information about Lyme and the Ingenex testing, so advice that was given to me by Pirouette.

We met outside the forum, when I was desperately looking for info on Lyme and suggested looking at this forum. It has been a godsend.

Besides the forum, she suggested that I start on Olive Leaf. She suggested I start slow but work up the dose. I started with one twice daily (2 capsules daily is the dosage on the bottle). Within 4 days, I had a really bad fever blister. It was a symptom I had from the beginning but it had been 5 or 6 years since my last one. It was the general consensus with some of the veteran members and moderators that this was probably a sign that I had Lyme. I also began sleeping for most of the day. I tried increasing the dose after a week but it was too draining.

After a few weeks, I had a family crisis that required me to travel and I was going 20 hours a day for about a week. I couldn't afford to be out of commission so I stopped the Olive Leaf the very first day.

When I got home, I started again. I was able to up the dose later. Overall, I was on the Olive Leaf for about 7 weeks but started and then stopped and started again. Four weeks was the length of time Pirouette recommended.

I have had symptoms for 35 years, most of which have come and gone. Over that length go time the Lyme has had lots of time to figure out how to hide. As well as a lot of time to learn to fool my immune system. The idea behind the Olive Leaf is to force the Lyme out and give the immune system a boost in fighting it so that there will be antibodies in the blood when the test is run.

As I said, the Olive leaf definitely provoked a response by my body and when I got my results back they showed a positive for both CDC and Igenex on the IgM. It ended up negative for CDC and indeterminate foe Igenex for IgG. But the IgM alone is enough to give the answer to what has been plaguing me for more than 3 decades.

The brand that was recommended was Gaia Herbs. It is available on Amazon, but I was able to find it locally at a Earth Fare store (similar to Whole Foods). Others may have different recommendations, but this was a brand she knew and trusted.

I hope this information is helpful.
Kim

I would also like to add that olive leaf extract increases the immune response in general and practically all types of antibodies (autoimmune, viral, bacterial, fungal) will be increased. This will lead to LESS false negatives on all sorts of tests however could be devasting if you increase autoantibodies because more of your own body will be attacked.

However, it is freaking fantastic to provoke lyme.

Rizol's are also known to due this. But rizols are much more expensive and have other effects.

 

Awesome gkamom! I was crossing my fingers. And thanks for sharing w/ the group. I really hope this helps others get a more accurate test result. We do need all the help we can get until they develop better tests. It is the 21st century, after all.

JoOnTheGo10
You are absolutely right. A patient's comprehensive status must be fully evaluated before choosing which provocation to implement. And other people are lucky enough to get tx and insurance coverage w/out positive tests. I was not one of those people.

-p

seeing a ND tomorrow and getting Ignex. Have been taking Olive Leaf extract for some time for EBV infection. Hopefully this sheds some light..

It's about paying attention to our bodies, which is at times completely impossible. But it's the only way to manage things.

Before i even heard the word Lyme, my doc had sent me to a pain medicine specialist. She ran all kinds of tests and finally said that we had eliminated everything except ... Fibromyalgia. She did want me to try a course of Prednisone because she thought it was something systemic. LOL. I couldn't at the time because I was going in for allergy testing.

Later my doc offered me Prednisone for a family vacation in December. The first week was great - not a single symptom and then the Prednisone ran out. It was a very long day until I could get a refill. Once I made it home, I spent the next month in bed but I knew that would be the result from previous use for allergic reactions.

I know, I know you should never, never use steroids but at the time all we knew was I had Fibromyalgia.

So yeah, we have to be careful. I think we all make calculated risks everyday.

This is a great place to have these kind of discussions. Doctors don't have the time and the people on this forum are very knowledgable.

Hope everything turns out well.
Kim