Help! I just realized that my Lyme Changed

isitlyme said...
Hello all,

I was looking trought my blood tests i made at Arminlabs, and forgot i requested a test on april 2018 for Lyme Elispot, and for my surprise the result was negative.
Was 1 SI for full antigen and osp mix.

After that i started abx.

On last month, february 2019 i requested the test again and full antigen came with 5 SI and osp mix 3 SI??? What???

How is it possible to be positive after treatment and negative before any treatment???


Should i ask Arminlabs?

Thank you.

Well if those tests results are affected by immune system - then it can’t be relied on to gauge effectiveness of treatment - ie poor/suppressed immunity may not produce a result.
The WB is one that does - so follow up testing isn’t used to determine when someone is in remission.

But im not sure if the Immunoblot and ISpot relies on that.

I have heard of Drs using the Armin Labs to gauge infection severity but I’m not sure how that works.

I would call the lab and ask.

You could have busted up biofilms. You could be producing antibodies now because your immune system is working better, whereas you might not have been before, so tests that detect antibodies would have given a false negative. You could have "chased" bugs out of hiding places (organs and tissues) and into the bloodstream where tests can detect them. I don't know much about that particular test, but there are many reasons for tests to be ... not quite what we'd expect or hope.

Many people find Lyme testing of limited usefulness, or even totally useless, both because the tests are inaccurate and because what the tests mean is so dependent on context. Some LLMDs believe that Lyme diagnosis is a purely clinical diagnosis, and don't use any tests.

I like Girlie's suggestion to call the lab, or perhaps whichever doc ordered the test, if you are concerned. Personally, I would rely on symptoms and reactivity to treatment, moreso than testing.

In addition to breaking biofilms, my son's doctor explained (if I understood correctly) that when you kill the bacteria, they break into pieces and each piece is detectable somehow. I'll go back to my notes and try to come back and explain better.

This doctor is planning to treat an infection my son had an equivocal result to, and if the numbers rise, she will consider that an active infection that needs more treatment. If not, she'll consider it a "memory" and leave it alone.