Igenex IGG result western blot- indefinite
23-25 IND
31 +
39 IND
41 +
here is the site that I use to help interpret them:
www.oocities.org/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 are only
two on the over 300 known strains of Lyme that is considered Bb, ss. Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia mayonii. Nothing else will turn a Lyme specific band positive other than Lyme disease - - even though there are over 100 different strains of Borrelia in the US that cause human illness.
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.
To help you understand your test results, Bands 23- 25, which represent OspC (Outer Surface Protein "C") would be considered positive by a knowledgeable Lyme doctor, with band 25 being specific for Lyme.
Band 31 I'm still a bit confused by as I've read some conflicting things on it.
Band 39 indicates BmpA (Bacterial Membrane Protein "A") and is also Lyme specific.
It's impossible to have Lyme specific antibodies without having the infection.
Have you ever been treated for anything other than Lyme? If not, this would indicate that there is another tick-borne infection that is keeping you from healing from Lyme, since each time you have been under "just enough" stress, you get sick all over again. Believe me, if we were talking about
pneumonia or cancer, no one would consider it an issue if you relapsed. This is basically only reserved for those with Lyme disease.
Since we don't have effective testing, we don't know what protocols work for which strains of Lyme, and since there are over 100 strains of Lyme here in the US alone, you may not have been using a good protocol for the particular strain of Lyme that you have. We see evidence of different protocols being effective for different strains when we compare what is being used effectively not only in different parts of the US, but in Europe and elsewhere as well.
The feeling better on just 2 weeks of abx treatment was only just the start of your treatment - you knocked down the bacterial load sufficiently with it to make you feel less symptoms, but had you not followed up with the herbal treatments, you would have relapsed quickly. Why do I say that? It's because you weren't in treatment long enough with those 2 weeks to even be sure that you caught even one reproduction period of Lyme in the body, as Lyme "cycles" in the body every 4 - 6 weeks, and once symptoms set in, the treatment times go to months, not weeks. If a person has only the bulls eye rash with no other symptoms at all, then treatment will eradicate the infection in just 8 weeks of treatment.
Please do understand that the herbs could be hard on the gut as well. This is a very complex bacteria that creates a very complex illness, so we must use powerful abx and herbs. Have you ever been evaluated for leaky gut, or candida? Did you or are you now taking large doses of probiotics? The tests/evaluations would help you understand what may be going on with your gut and the probiotics would be one step in helping it to recover. We have to protect our entire gut from damage while we are in treatment, or we pay a high price for it.
Do you have a LLMD or LLND that you are seeing currently? Do you need some help in finding one?