I went for blood test to detect lyme disease, what to expect?

Its been a while since I was here last,
when my doc thought I could have lyme due to feeling achy muscles and joints plus a red patch on my leg.

So, now that its been a while I wanted to get a blood test, I think is enough time for my body to have produced antibodies that can be detected.

I'm getting some lyme blood test and a WEstern blot, whatever those two tests mean.

I dont' have means to get any non-standard test insurance accepted...I hope this one give a result.

Hi dmonica -

If you haven't already taken the test - please try to get the IGeneX Western Blot - it's more accurate than the regular western blot.

If you can't do that, please try boosting your immune response for a few weeks - or have you already been doing that? If your immune system isn't functioning well the tests are going to be inaccurate. Sometimes if we have poor gut health, the immune system is overwhelmed and won't produce enough antibodies for the test to detect.

It's tough to know how well our immune system is functioning so that's why people often 'provoke' a strong immune response by taking something like olive leaf extract for 4-6 wks before testing).

Please get a copy of your results - you can ask the lab or your MD to mail you a copy.

Regardless of your test results - post them here and we can help you interpret them properly - most MDs will not know how to do that and will accept a negative result without further analysis.

Hope that's helpful - please let us know what you find out.

-p