Help with igenex results

Hi Bugsnme!
Welcome! I'm so glad you joined our community!!

If you haven't ​yet​, it would be helpful for you to start with reading through the thread at the top of the forum titled,"New to Lyme?...Start here!!", as it is packed full of important information, symptom lists, helpful links and pdf's, how to detox when one has these infections, information on probiotics and much more.


As for your test results, here is the site that I use to help interpret them:www.reocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/western-blot.txt You can go there to find supporting Pubmed articles showing what these bands represent.

An IgM result means that you have an active infection. It once was thought to mean an 'early' infection, but has since been revised. IgG means that the infection is at a later stage.

The more +'s you have beside a number, the stronger the reaction.

IND means indeterminate - not negative, but not quite strong enough to be "fully positive". But it means that you reacted on those bands and should be considered, especially when they are Lyme specific bands.

A "Lyme specific band" means specific for Borrelia Burgdorferi, sensu stricto - Lyme disease in the strictest sense. There is only one on the over 300 known strains of Lyme that is considered Bb, ss. Nothing else will turn a Lyme specific band positive other than Lyme disease.


Bands 18 & 41 (whether in IgM or IgG) are indicative of the tail of the bacteria, which can cross react with other Spirochetal bacteria such as Relapsing Fever, Pintas and Yaws, and Syphilis.

Band 31 is considered controversial by some, but here are some of the supporting articles showing that it also is Lyme specific:


www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1520966


www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9440203


www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8406878


www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8005219


www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10030131


And more references can be found here:
www.reocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/western-blot.txt

Your other Lyme specific bands are: 25, 34, and 39.

Band 25 indicates Osp C (Outer Surface Protein "C")

Band 34 indicates Osp B (Outer Surface Protein "B")

Band 39 indicates Bmp A (Bacterial Membrane Protein "A")


Band 58 is likely from Borrelia Afzelii - a European strain of Lyme disease.

And, since you believe you have had this for 15 years, it's very likely that you have other co-infections and possibly some viral infections going on as well.

So, how are you feeling? You mentioned tremendous improvements, but those of us that have been at this a while or were also infected for a very long time (40 yrs for me) know that the longer a person has Lyme, the more likely it is that they have these other infections and viral components to their overall disease. Do you feel like you have symptoms that aren't being addressed? I would greatly encourage you to go through our symptom lists in the "New to Lyme? Start here!" thread and see if you might have any of those infections.

Welcome!

Sorry for the reason you're here but, glad you found us.

Traveler has already given you great information.

Unfortunately, testing for the coinfections is less reliable than Lyme tests. Just as with Lyme, coinfection diagnosis is a clinical one - based upon symptoms.

Have you spoken to your Lyme doctor about treatment for possible coinfections?

And, even more so, how about sharing your most recent thyroid labs? Just because the results fall within the normal range does not mean they are normal for you.

Since thyroid lab ranges tend to be skewed towards people with hypothyroidism, please know that healthy people have FreeT4 and FreeT3 levels near the high ends of their ranges.

And, TSH (pituitary hormone) cannot be used to judge thyroid status. Looking at TSH to evaluate thyroid function is like looking at the odometer when you want to know how much gas is in the tank.

The symptoms you still have could very well be caused by hypothyroidism (and Lyme is famous for causing that). I see merit in exploring that avenue first..

Bugsnme said...
thank you- yes, i have spoken to my my lyme dr about coinfections and he has rx other antibiotics during the course of treatment, including azithromycin and cipro in addition to mainly ceftin and doxycline. Honestly, not sure how great he is at treating more difficult cases though. i am calling today to make an apt w/ someone that was referred to me by ilads.

here are my thyroid results followed by reference range

thyroglobulin antibodies- below 1, below or equal to 1
thyroid perxidase antibodies 2, below 9
tsh 1.38, .4-4.5
free t3 3.1, 2.3-4.2
free t4 1.1, .8-1.8
total t3 83, 76-181
total t4 7, 4.5-12

and these for what its worth-
insulin 2.8 2.0-19.6
prolactin 5.1 3-30 (not pregnant range)

I think you made a wise decision to see an ILADS-trained doctor. Please let us know how things go.

And, thanks for sharing your thyroid labs. You are quite correct in your thinking that your thyroid function is sub-par.

I have some tidbits of thyroid info to share....

Firstly, healthy people have TSH 1.0 or lower

You may know that TSH stands for thyroid stimulating hormone which is a hormone produced by the pituitary in response to the body's needs for thyroid hormone (thyroid hormone fuels every single cell in our bodies). Therefore, the higher the TSH, the more the pituitary is calling on the thyroid to produce.

Labs use outdated ranges for TSH. The AACE (American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists) recommended that the range be lowered to .3 - 3.0 back in 2002.....and there continues to be discussion about lowering it more in light of studies that showed healthy people have TSH 1.0 or lower.

Even more important is the need for doctors to look at the actual levels of thyroid hormone that are available for use by the body. Too many doctors get hung up on a "normal" (aka in-range) TSH and don't even look at the FreeT4 and FreeT3 levels.....and patients really get screwed with that because the TSH range is too high.

Your FreeT4 and FreeT3 levels are lower than what a healthy person would have. Based upon your lab's ranges, a healthy person would have a FreeT4 level of at least 1.6 and a FreeT3 level of at least 3.8....and it's common to have even higher levels.

I'm not commenting on your Total T3 and Total T4 results because they're not really useful. They represent measurements of all thyroid hormone in the blood including that which is bound to proteins and not usable by the body.

As far as your thyroid antibodies are concerned, it doesn't look like Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (autoimmune hypothyroidism) is to blame. (Hashi's would manifest with elevated antibodies).

Instead, it's likely that the infection process messed with your thyroid function. The only way to help your thyroid heal is to replace some of the thyroid hormone it's unable to make right now.

By giving your body proper amounts of thyroid hormone, it has the increased capacity to heal. Remember: thyroid hormone is the gas in our tank. It's unrealistic to think that the body can operate at maximum capacity when the tank is filled with watered-down gas.

For you to have proper (healthy) amounts of thyroid hormone, you'd need to take thyroid hormone replacement....either in the form of desiccated thyroid products such as Armour, NatureThroid, Erfa and/or synthetic thyroid hormone (Synthroid/Levoxyl/levothyroxine and Cytomel/liothyronine).

Many LLMD's are thyroid-savvy. You might want to speak with yours about getting started on thyroid hormone replacement....you might have to convince him but your symptoms and your labs warrant it.

Post Edited (cd3764) : 10/27/2015 9:39:11 AM (GMT-6)

You should go to this site: www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/how-to-find-a-good-doc/

I had to join the Yahoo Natural Thyroid Hormones Group in order to get access to their "good doctors list" in order to find a doctor in my area, but it was worth the time and effort. I had a very unusual presentation of hypothyroidism - swelling only on the back side of my thyroid and although I produce enough thyroid hormones, they aren't absorbed/utilized very well, so I have to take thyroid meds still.

Bugsnme

LLMD's tend to be a LOT more savvy than endos when it comes to thyroid issues.

One might wonder why endos drop the ball because thyroid should be their "thing". However, it's been my experience and that of the many members on the various thyroid forums I used to participate on. We can only speculate that they're too busy taking care of the exploding population of diabetics...and they're too hung up on numbers to see the forest from the trees in thyroid patients.