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test results- "lucky" or unlucky?

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Posted 7/19/2016 12:01 PM (GMT 0)
I asked a variation on this question a few months back...

i tested positive (for 2nd time in 3 months) w/ an elisa score of 6.0 (I think above 0.9 is positive) and 10/10 igg and 3/3 igm bands on western blot....in between 2 tests (and after a month of doxy) was symptom free until 2 day stomach flu has left me with crushing fatigue and brain fog again

do the test results mean, i have ALOT of spirochetes OR that my immune system is producing lots of antibodies to fight the infection? Hypothetically i am "lucky" because the diagnosis cant be doubted, but on a health level is it good or bad to have SUCH a strong positive?

Not seeing a LLMD until mid august (with an addtl appt w Dr P in Wilton not until March)...til then im doing base buhner protocol (JK, cats claw and eleuthro) and finishing the last of 28 days of doxy 100mg(2x a day- which i know is not satisfactory)- this is after having 28 days of doxy during month of April...
Posted 7/19/2016 1:31 PM (GMT 0)
You know, there's really no telling. You can't really use these tests as an indication of the degree of infection. You might have so many positive bands because your particular infection is just genetically aligned with the samples used. On the other hand so many bands could actually be an indication that your immune system is very active against the infection, not a bad thing at all. Or it could simply be producing a lot of antibodies because there are a lot of spirochetes. There are many dynamics that can lead to the same outcome which is why this test is not designed for such a question. I would not worry about it AT ALL. The only way to measure the degree of infection to my knowledge is to test the spirochetes themselves and eliminate the immune system as a variable. Perhaps something like a quantitative PCR, though that would be very tissue specific and not all that useful either. I would consider yourself very lucky as you will have very few problems getting treated with that, at least compared to most of us. These results don't say anything further about the state of your health other than your current infection status
Posted 7/19/2016 2:15 PM (GMT 0)
also don't forget if you have a co-infection like bartonella it can lower your lyme antibodies so while you think you might be moving in the right direction in fact you could be going the other way. this is why these tests are not very useful beyond confirming if you have the bugs.
Posted 7/19/2016 5:10 PM (GMT 0)
PCR testing is not capable of evaluating what the infection load is either. PCR testing can also return negative results, even though the person can have a positive ELISA or Western Blot. Why? Because PCR testing has to be able to capture the bacteria in one particular spot that is 'collected' (sorry, bad brain day!!!). With the way these bacteria are capable of moving around so much more than "normal" bacteria, this is not always possible.

I do agree with Psilo though (I hope you don't mind my shortening your screen name like that!) - it's not something that you should worry about. You have a strong enough infection that you are coming back with overwhelmingly strong positive test results.

Since you have around 3 months to go before seeing the LLMD, I would just encourage you to work on diet, detoxing and continue on using Buhner's protocols to help you make it until then.
Posted 7/19/2016 5:37 PM (GMT 0)
quantitative PCR (real-time PCR) is not the kind used for diagnostic testing in lyme to my knowledge. Regular PCR only amplifies the genes for easier detection. Real-time PCR can be used quantitatively for a number of infections such as toxoplasma and various viruses to evaluate pathogen load. But as I said, i don't know that it'd be useful for lyme/co due to how they localize to different tissues.
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