which test to order from igenex ?

[deseperate]

If I plan to order the kit myself and have my regular doctor sign it..what do you guys advise me to order ?  which kit is affordable, yet most useful and accurate ..
could someone help me then interpret the results, so that if it is negative I don't have to see LLMD ?
also, if I the test is negative for Lyme, does that mean the same for co-infections? if not what test I should order to rule out co-infection as well ?

I heard that sometimes Ignex are not reliable in their tests results ...is this true ?

[JackieCalifornia]

" Igenex now apparently has a doctor on staff who will help your MD interpret the results."

This is great news!  In my brief contact with the IGeneX staff, I found them to be kind and accommodating, and this addition of a doc to liaise with the patient's doc is another good mark.  Think where we'd be without them:  still dithering around with ELISA and W.blot and nothing else.

[Ricobord]

I ordered the IGenex kit to my home as well, and then asked my GP to sign it.  (She did, but I've heard of plenty of others who refused.)  In my case, I was becoming desperately ill. I ended up in the ER a couple hours later.

I was fairly confident I had neuro Lyme, but I suspected I had Babesia causing my chronic air hunger. I'd read about hidden coinfections that delay some people's treatment, and I wanted to avoid that. I didn't care about cost at that point, I was just desperate for some evidence, so I ordered the whole Lyme panel and one of the coinfections panel.  

The coinfections panel paid off for me because it showed I had Bartonella Henselae antibodies, something I didn't expect. IGeneX called it a "not negative". I would have been negative at a mainstream lab, where results are looking for an acute infection. Their cutoffs are too high for chronic infections. I didn't know at first if the LLMD would see it as a positive. He did.

On the Lyme panel, only my IgM was IGeneX positive, but still CDC negative.  I learned later that the Western Blot is the test most likely to show evidence of Lyme. It can show Lyme specific antibodies even if the overall interpretation is "negative." The PCR is often false negative (although it's definitive when it's positive).

My GP believed the Lyme result, but didn't know anything about Bartonella. The day after the results came in, I had my diagnosis and I started antibiotics.

It was nearly another year before I got a clinical diagnosis of Babesia. I was negative on 3 different tests at 2 different labs, and yet I still had a nasty, entrenched case of it. (I think I have a different species than the one I tested for.)

So Jackie is right in that you need a Lyme Literate physician to interpret the results for you.  You can still be false negative at IGeneX, although genuine false positives are extremely rare, despite the anti-Lyme rhetoric from the IDSA and CDC.

I did save a lot of money by having my GP sign the order. I got nearly half the cost back from my insurance. If I'd had the LLMD sign the order, I would have gotten zero back. (Different insurance companies have different reimbursement policies for out of network providers.)

If cost is a big issue, I personally would just order the Western Blot (which I think comes with a screening test) and also make an appointment with an LLMD so that the results are either on their way or already received when you show up. That can save you 3 weeks of time. Then, the LLMD can suggest possible additional tests based on symptoms, which could save you hundreds of dollars.

Once in a while, a sympathetic GP will prescribe 3 weeks of Doxy for a positive IGeneX test. This can get treatment started before getting in to see a LLMD.

Do what you need to do!

[kathloj]

I ordered the Igenex kit myself to arrive to my home address through the mail. When it arrived I took the requisitions that came with it in to my MD to sign. The tests that I had him sign off for (did my own research and corresponding with a well-known LLMD in BC) were Igenex #188 and #189. It will run you aprox. $260 including tax. My GP was reluctant but went ahead and signed it. The results came back to him (stated Negative) but he did not know how to decipher them, nor did he realize some of the bands that were + actually were indicative that my body had produced antibodies to the Bb bacteria. Igenex now apparently has a doctor on staff who will help your MD interpret the results. Wish I'd known that before! I then took my Igenex tests to an LLMD in the US (none treat Lyme patients here in Canada as they get harassed by the medical board for long term antibiotic treatment) and she diagnosed me with chronic Lyme disease and 2 co-infections. She based the co-infections on a clinical diagnosis of my symptoms. Good luck, keep us posted!

[JackieCalifornia]

--- "If I plan to order the kit myself and have my regular doctor sign it..what do you guys advise me to order ?  which kit is affordable, yet most useful and accurate .."

Sorry, but this is something an MD needs to do.

--- "could someone help me then interpret the results, so that if it is negative I don't have to see LLMD ?"

You need to see an MD.

--- "also, if I the test is negative for Lyme, does that mean the same for co-infections?"

No.

--- "if not, what test I should order to rule out co-infection as well ?"

Your doc will decide, based on your symptoms, what co-infections you may have.  It takes a trained and skilled MD to make those decisions, and I don't know that the lab would run tests based solely on your say-so.

--- "I heard that sometimes Ignex are not reliable in their tests results ...is this true ?"

Not in my experience ... but I'm not a doc!