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Lyme Disease
Are positive Lyme Disease Titers registered in the chronic stage of the disease?
The medical community believes the answer is always Yes. But doctors who are "Lyme aware", we call them LLMDs, Lyme Literate Medical Doctors, know very well that many chronically ill patients test false negative on the Lyme titers. I did. Multiple doctors told me I didn't have Lyme because my titer was negative, even though I was severely ill and they had no other answers for me.
Over time, the bacteria moves out of the blood stream and into tissues or joints (or both). And so, antibody production declines over time, often too low to show up on the tests. The blood tests were validated on early infection patients. There are few studies done on long term/late stage patients because it's difficult to prove such a patient truly has Lyme. It's difficult to culture.
It's a controversial topic in the medical community with most mainstream doctors believing what they've been told, that the tests are terrific and that you must follow them. If you've tested negative and you believe you might be infected, then you need to find a doctor who will test you at IGeneX, a specialty lab that does more advanced testing.
Over time, the bacteria moves out of the blood stream and into tissues or joints (or both). And so, antibody production declines over time, often too low to show up on the tests. The blood tests were validated on early infection patients. There are few studies done on long term/late stage patients because it's difficult to prove such a patient truly has Lyme. It's difficult to culture.
It's a controversial topic in the medical community with most mainstream doctors believing what they've been told, that the tests are terrific and that you must follow them. If you've tested negative and you believe you might be infected, then you need to find a doctor who will test you at IGeneX, a specialty lab that does more advanced testing.
Welcome to MedHelp Lyme --
Others will speak up here too, but to my understanding, it is certainly possible for the standard Lyme tests (Western blot and ELISA) to show positive in the 'chronic' stage of the infection, meaning not immediately after infection.
Everyone's immune system reacts differently, and those with a hardy immune reaction may continue to show antibodies against the Lyme bacteria for an extended period of time. My Lyme doc was surprised that I tested positive on the standard tests, considering I had been ill and undiagnosed for something over a year.
Lyme is also immunosuppressive, meaning it has the ability to suppress the activity of your immune system, and that can also cause the standard Western blot/ELISA tests to show a false negative, because the Lyme bacteria tamp down the normal reaction of your immune system. No immune system reaction, then a negative test result.
There is another test that Lyme specialists often use, called a PCR test, short for polymerase chain reaction (the test is offered by IGeneX Labs). Rather than look for your immune system's reaction to the Lyme bacteria, the PCR test looks for DNA of the Lyme bacteria in your blood -- that is, a direct test, rather than an indirect test like W.blot/ELISA.
Docs who are not particularly up to date on Lyme do not 'believe' in the PCR test but do believe that W.blot/ELISA is fully accurate. If you need help finding a Lyme specialist who understands all this, let us know.
Others will speak up here too, but to my understanding, it is certainly possible for the standard Lyme tests (Western blot and ELISA) to show positive in the 'chronic' stage of the infection, meaning not immediately after infection.
Everyone's immune system reacts differently, and those with a hardy immune reaction may continue to show antibodies against the Lyme bacteria for an extended period of time. My Lyme doc was surprised that I tested positive on the standard tests, considering I had been ill and undiagnosed for something over a year.
Lyme is also immunosuppressive, meaning it has the ability to suppress the activity of your immune system, and that can also cause the standard Western blot/ELISA tests to show a false negative, because the Lyme bacteria tamp down the normal reaction of your immune system. No immune system reaction, then a negative test result.
There is another test that Lyme specialists often use, called a PCR test, short for polymerase chain reaction (the test is offered by IGeneX Labs). Rather than look for your immune system's reaction to the Lyme bacteria, the PCR test looks for DNA of the Lyme bacteria in your blood -- that is, a direct test, rather than an indirect test like W.blot/ELISA.
Docs who are not particularly up to date on Lyme do not 'believe' in the PCR test but do believe that W.blot/ELISA is fully accurate. If you need help finding a Lyme specialist who understands all this, let us know.
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