Antobiotic's affecting test results?

[ChrisD07]

I am going to have blood drawn for another Lyme test and I have been on Doxy for 2 weeks, I have stopped taking the doxy for 2 days now and my test is tomorrow.  Will the abx affect my test results and is 2 days with no abx enough?

[ChrisD07]

Thanks guys, those links posted by Wonko help a lot.  It is also good to know that the abx didnt seem to affect your results Hope.  I have already had my Igenex tests but my ID doctor thinks they are bull and is having retest at "his" preferred lab.

[Hope75]

I think I stopped my 10 day course of doxy about 3 days before my test?  You are right that these things start to blur together, so I should write them down.  

My Igenex results still came out Igenex and CDC positive for IgM (bands 39 and 41) and negative for both on IgG.  So, from my experience, I still came out positive where it counts.  

[patsy10]

My understanding is 10-14 days as posted above.  I would ask your doctor if he or she wants you to wait or not.

[wonko]

One of our members, SOONERMOM, recently posted her LLMD's explanation of how to use antibiotics to "challenge" the blood test.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Lyme-Disease/Explanation-of-the-Antibiotic-Challenge-by-Dr-C/show/934698

The explanation suggests stopping abx 10-14 days before having blood drawn.

Another post by a MedHelp member with and MD can be found here:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Lyme-Disease/Lab-Results-are-INPLEASE-HELP/show/933125?post_id=post_4394958

I think her explanation suggests that your antibiotics should not make a difference in the test.

My experience, and my doctor's philosophy, is that the tests can help guide the diagnosis and treatment, but are not reliable enough to consider as the bottom line.

[skarey]

I had the same quesiton a while back.  I have read many times to give it 10-14 days before you test.  I also only gave it a few days and am wondering if it did effect the test.

[JackieCalifornia]

I don't know for sure, but it might affect the test results.  If your dr told you to stop the meds "x" days before the tests, then that's the right thing to do.  Write down in your own personal medical notes what days you start and stop meds (and what meds, at what dose) and on what days you had blood draws -- all this will begin to blur in a big fuzz ball pretty fast, and this way you can convey the data accurately going forward. Drs can allow for variations in the tests, or if they can't, then it's not your fault it's off a bit, as long as you can convey accurately the time/drug sequence.

Somebody more scientific than I here could explain about the likely effect of abx on test results, but I'm guessing it won't matter much, since what's being measured (so I've been told) are the antibodies your immune system makes to the bacteria, not the bacteria themselves, and the antibodies aren't likely to be disarranged by abx, I wouldn't think.