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Lyme Disease
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Posted 7/21/2015 1:12 PM (GMT 0)
Went to a doctor who had diagnosed me with Lyme disease after having a C-reactive protein level of 31.78 which led her to do further tests. I had no symptoms but she completed a CD57 and came back with results of 21. I was on a month of a complicated protocol of antibiotics which led me to become very sick. After re-tetsing my CD57 after a month of treatment, it was still 21. I decided to go to a different doctor and get her thoughts. She was very perplexed by my case and is not convinced that I have lyme. I re-did my c-reactive protein which came back 1.03 along with CD57 which is now 12. She tested me for all of the co-infections which came back negative and I am still waiting for the C4A to come back along with the Igenex test.

Does anyone have an idea of why my CD57 can be getting worse if I do not have lyme disease? Very anxious to get my Igenex test back and get some answers! I am off all medications now and feel great.
Posted 7/21/2015 2:58 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Britni!

What were your symptoms when you were on antibiotics? It's possible that you were experiencing a herx. While CD-57 can't be used to diagnose Lyme specifically, it is generally indicative of a chronic infection.
Posted 7/21/2015 3:01 PM (GMT 0)
Hey!
While on the antibiotics I was very nauseous, occasionally throwing up, headaches/migraines, poor sleep at night, loss of appetite, racing heart and would get lightheaded when standing from sitting. These symptoms were present throughout the whole time on the antibiotics. However, I did not have any symptoms prior to starting the antibiotics and felt great when terminating them. So far all of the Lyme tests are coming back negative but my CD57 is getting worse.
Posted 7/21/2015 3:09 PM (GMT 0)
Unfortunately, sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a herx and true side effects of a drug. One way to test it might be to try an herbal treatment and see how your body reacts. Another thing to think about is what dose of abx you started with. I haven't used abx for Lyme, so I don't know the specifics on dosing. But I do know that starting with a higher dose can cause a worse herx!

I never tested positive for Lyme disease but had a low CD-57, at 14. My LLMD treats me with herbs, so I was able to increase my dose gradually. I did herx, but it was mild.
Posted 7/21/2015 3:11 PM (GMT 0)
Also, on the CD-57, my LLMD says that it doesn't make sense to test it more than once a year or so, as you won't see much increase until you are really well.
Posted 7/21/2015 3:30 PM (GMT 0)
Is there anything else the CD57 can test for? My new doctor doesn't think I have Lyme since I haven't had any symptoms, can't remember a tick bite and never had a rash. I have a mold allergy and my EBV results are still very high from when I had mono 5 years ago.
Posted 7/21/2015 3:49 PM (GMT 0)
I don't think anybody knows. It's possible that low CD-57 could be the result of another type of infection, but I think tick-borne infections are the only thing that have been tied to it.

If I were in your shoes, I would try some herbal treatment to see if you have any reaction. Then you would have a better idea of whether the abx gave you side effects or whether they made you herx. The difference between the two is really important.
Posted 7/21/2015 3:55 PM (GMT 0)
Ok, thanks! Yea my doctor is waiting for the rest of the results to come back before treatment, but stated she wants to try herbs versus antibiotics if necessary. Does anyone know how long the Igenex test takes to come back?
Posted 7/21/2015 4:24 PM (GMT 0)
So you had no symptoms originally? Why were you being tested - C-reactive protein?

Just wondering what initiated the testing in the first place.
Posted 7/21/2015 4:29 PM (GMT 0)
I went to a doctor that my family had gone to in order to be tested for hypothyroidism and MTHFR since they both run in the family. As part of the routine testing, she included the c-reactive protein. Once we got those results back, she tested for lyme and autoimmune diseases to see what was causing the CRP to be so high. I had a CD57 of 21, 126 EBV VCA IgG and 162 EBV nuclear antigen Ab. She ran the western blot through labcorp and it came back with only a present abnormal p41, which the new doctor stated p41 was a bacteria that is common in many things and not just lyme.

My first doctor put me on 6 different antibiotics treating me for the co-infections of lyme since my CD57 was so low. She thought I had had lyme for a long time. With my new doctor, I just had tests ran for all of he co-infections and they all came back negative. Still waiting on the Igenex western blot and a new C4a since mine through labcorp was negative.
Posted 7/21/2015 4:37 PM (GMT 0)
The Igenex WB takes three weeks approx.

Not sure if the co-infection tests take longer.
Posted 7/21/2015 4:38 PM (GMT 0)
Ok, Thanks! I had the co-infection testing done already through quest since they haven't been done prior to treatment. They all came back negative!
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