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If I really do have Lymes Disease....
If I really do have Lymes Disease, and caught it late, lets say 6 months after, could it be too late for antibiotics to work? When is it too late for anti-biotics to work, associated with Lymes disease, (Doxycycline) (I am not sure If I spelled it right.) And yesterday I had bad jaw pains (have been on and off for a few weeks) and both sides of my head have been hurting (close to the temple, on each side) I have also been very achy from knee down. Any advice on anything? Or opinions? I would be so greatful. I just started medicine recently...
Yes, I would think that it is a more recent infection. I will try to find where I read that. There are so many "issues" with testing that I guess none of know for sure. Some people have immune systems that are beat down from the infection and they test negative, but have had the infection for a long time. You don't exhibit a lot of symptoms and only have 1 IgG band so I would THINK this is a fairly recent infection.
You have jumped through a tiny CDC hoop to be positive, so yes I think you have it. You should be reported as a official positive case, something that didn 't happen for me because I never had a positive ELISA. I would take it seriously especially since you are in an endemic area and take a few months of antibiotics (minimum).
You have jumped through a tiny CDC hoop to be positive, so yes I think you have it. You should be reported as a official positive case, something that didn 't happen for me because I never had a positive ELISA. I would take it seriously especially since you are in an endemic area and take a few months of antibiotics (minimum).
when you mean 23 is one of the fist to show up do you mean its possible that this is recent? what do you mean by that?
Thank you so much...so considering my results that I had put up there you pretty much think I really do have this? 41 is present in both IgM and IgG and 23 is only present in in IgM but they both came back positive on the Western Blot test. it says I was tested for
bands (93,66,58,45,41,39,31,30,28,23 and 18) I will check that website also. Thank you again for being of so much help.
bands (93,66,58,45,41,39,31,30,28,23 and 18) I will check that website also. Thank you again for being of so much help.
I have read somewhere that band 23 is one of the first to show up.
You have a CDC positive IgM western blot. There are 14 bands (that represent antibodies to borrelia, the bacteria that causes lyme disease) that can be tested for. The CDC only recognizes 3 of these in the IgM and requires you to test positive for 2 of the 3 to be considered "positive". If you didn't get your blood tested at IgeneX or some other specialty lab, you probably didn't get tested for all 14 and could have additional bands. So you probably tested positive first by ELISA or IFA and then they ran the western blot for confirmation. I would take that seriously and consider that "positive" and it sounds like your doctor is following through on that.
Below is information written by my LLMD about the western blot. That garbage they write about it being an infection of a month or less is ridiculous in my opinion. It is just another way they like to get around treating people. Most people that never show a bullseye rash are NOT diagnosed with in a month. I was sick for about 7 months and still had 7 positive IgM bands and only 3 IgG. It takes a few weeks to even mount a response so they are giving people a 2 week window to test positive before they discount it?? They only acknowledge 3 of the 14 bands (IgM)and require that you have 2 of them.
All these requirements are supposed to be for CDC REPORTING purposes only and not purely for diagnosing.
Below is a further explanation of the western blot by my LLMD. His website is drcharlescrist.com if you want to read further. He has a lot of good information on there. I hope some of this helps.
"Because Borrelia burgdorferi is a chronic persistent infection that may last for decades, you would think patients with chronic symptoms would have positive IgG Western blots.
But actually, more IgM blots are positive in chronic borreliosis than IgG. Every time Borrelia burgdorferi reproduces itself, it may stimulate the immune system to form new IgM antibodies.
Some patients have both IgG and IgM blots positive. But if either the IgG or IgM blot is positive, overall it is a positive result.
23-25: Outer surface protein C (osp C).
41: Flagella or tail. This is how Borrelia burgdorferi moves around, by moving the flagella. Many bacteria have flagella. This is the most common borreliosis antibody.
In my clinical experience, if a patient has symptoms suspicious for borreliosis, and has one or more of the following bands, there is a very high probability the patient has borreliosis.
These bands are 18, 22, 23-25, 28, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 41, 83, and 93.
(Remember, research supports that if just one antibody that is significantly associated with Borrelia burgdorferi is present on a Western blot, 97 percent of those patients with chronic symptoms or chronic diseases feel better with antibiotics.) "
You have a CDC positive IgM western blot. There are 14 bands (that represent antibodies to borrelia, the bacteria that causes lyme disease) that can be tested for. The CDC only recognizes 3 of these in the IgM and requires you to test positive for 2 of the 3 to be considered "positive". If you didn't get your blood tested at IgeneX or some other specialty lab, you probably didn't get tested for all 14 and could have additional bands. So you probably tested positive first by ELISA or IFA and then they ran the western blot for confirmation. I would take that seriously and consider that "positive" and it sounds like your doctor is following through on that.
Below is information written by my LLMD about the western blot. That garbage they write about it being an infection of a month or less is ridiculous in my opinion. It is just another way they like to get around treating people. Most people that never show a bullseye rash are NOT diagnosed with in a month. I was sick for about 7 months and still had 7 positive IgM bands and only 3 IgG. It takes a few weeks to even mount a response so they are giving people a 2 week window to test positive before they discount it?? They only acknowledge 3 of the 14 bands (IgM)and require that you have 2 of them.
All these requirements are supposed to be for CDC REPORTING purposes only and not purely for diagnosing.
Below is a further explanation of the western blot by my LLMD. His website is drcharlescrist.com if you want to read further. He has a lot of good information on there. I hope some of this helps.
"Because Borrelia burgdorferi is a chronic persistent infection that may last for decades, you would think patients with chronic symptoms would have positive IgG Western blots.
But actually, more IgM blots are positive in chronic borreliosis than IgG. Every time Borrelia burgdorferi reproduces itself, it may stimulate the immune system to form new IgM antibodies.
Some patients have both IgG and IgM blots positive. But if either the IgG or IgM blot is positive, overall it is a positive result.
23-25: Outer surface protein C (osp C).
41: Flagella or tail. This is how Borrelia burgdorferi moves around, by moving the flagella. Many bacteria have flagella. This is the most common borreliosis antibody.
In my clinical experience, if a patient has symptoms suspicious for borreliosis, and has one or more of the following bands, there is a very high probability the patient has borreliosis.
These bands are 18, 22, 23-25, 28, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 41, 83, and 93.
(Remember, research supports that if just one antibody that is significantly associated with Borrelia burgdorferi is present on a Western blot, 97 percent of those patients with chronic symptoms or chronic diseases feel better with antibiotics.) "
does anyone have any information or knowledge on those bands? sorry I am having so much anxiety and haven't been feeling like myself for weeks...
No it's not too late. Just harder to treat.
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