any point in seeing an immunologist

just had my physical, and my GP, who does seem to care, asked if i would be interested in being referred to immunologist...ive seen so many specialists, which have each been utterly useless in lyme issues, that i dont know if its worth it...i no longer see my llmd as he was expensive, and i didnt see improvements over a yr and half- currently see naturopath who specializes in lyme....currently has me on sida, biocidin, berberine, chinese skullcap, interfase and recently houttunyia, which is kicking my ass on 10 drops

so any opinions on this? he also asked if i wanted to see a neurologist...the hospital i would goto, yale, is not exactly lyme friendly...i feel they are one of the biggest hindrances, so i dont have alot of hope in seeing a specialist from there......

Ive seen two immunologist and mentioned a little about them here.

They primarily look at your immune cells and levels........ and dont know anything about lyme. I went to further my questions about my low immune cells and what can be done about it.

What did you hope to get out of them? They dont treat diseases or infections.

thanks for comments...yes, gp felt that maybe ivig would boost immune system if whatever tests showed whatever they showed about my immune system...my immediate reaction was to dismiss it, but figured see if anyone had positive experiences

astroman said...
My immunologist has treated lymies and told me it was wasted time and money and they still had lyme. At least he was honest. Its like minimal 2K($) every 6 weeks. One time wont do jack.
.

Are you referring to IVIG?

If so - the llmd’s are treating their patients plus having them do IVIG as supplemental/supportive therapy.
(The IVIG isn’t the lyme treatment )
Dr J (the peds LLMD) has some of his patients do IVIG.

The guy I see is prob top 50 or 100 in the US, seems to know his stuff. That said, Im not certain he can fix this, neither is he. As long as I remain healthy a low immune system is OK since whats left does its job.

He pointed out that I was smart to have interest/suspect specific protein issues on my CMP, (albumin and globulin), most people and many Drs ignore this. If anyone's cd57 is low, look at these protein levels. After researching this last summer, it seems many lymies with low immune cells also have one or both of these proteins low.

You need protein absorption to make immune b, t, nk cells and immunoglobulins. You also need a healthy gut that wont "let go" of protein. Protein is used or............. pooped out. My nk cells are great, but B and T's not so much.

My opinion on this is: if you can find a good immunologist (per online reviews) try a few appointments and get some more deeper testing than just cd57. As far as IVIG, be forwarded that its costly and might not do anything for lyme or it might (yay). These are immune cells from other peoples blood plasma and only last 6 weeks or so.

Post Edited (astroman) : 11/17/2018 2:07:25 PM (GMT-7)