Lumbar test positive

[cooper214]

Afternoon everyone, I had my lumbar test last wed for MS, My dr. called yesterday with the result, he said everything came back fine, except I have the banding both in the spinal fluid and also the blood, so he is ordering tests I beleive for both lupus and rematoid arthyritis (sp), so I am not out of the woods yet but I am so happy I found a dr. that is "on the ball" has anyone had the banding in both? does anyone have ms and lupus or remaoid arthyritus?  he also was testing me for a blood disorder (not enough blood reaching the brain) but that came back negative.. I beleive I am starting to reach the "un" limbo stage,, thanks all

[cooper214]

thanks for the information, I am sorry but I am so confused by this whole process,
I just don't understand, I have the lesions on the brain, I have some symptoms that could be ms, now the blood work is a bit off, and the ms specialist said migraines are not typical with ms, but it seems there are alot of people that do have the headache that have ms,  but I just have to be patient, dr. ordered more blood work and I should get it in the mail today..   Does anything like lupus arthytis, fibro cause brain lessions?
thanks again

[Quixotic1]

Hi, there!  I'll try to answer.  When there is an inflammatory process going on out in the body (outside the Central Nervous Sytem) the immune system may produce clones of antibody-producing B-Lymphocytes that produce a whole lot of a single antibody that shows up as a dark, discreet band on the banding test.  There may be may of these bands called Oligoclonal (few clones) Bands.  In general, these bands don't cross over into the brain and spinal fluid, but sometimes they do.

If there is an inflammatory procress in the brain , such as MS and a few others, there also may be clones of antibody-producing cells that make a bunch of a single antibody.  But, since the CNS is separate from the rest of the body (separated by the Blood-Brain Barrier) those clones of antiodies don't pass over to the rest of the body.

It is also possible for a person to have no clones of antibodies in either place.

For every clone of different antibodies it will have a different positiion on the test.

When they do an LP and draw blood on the same day, they look for these clones of antibodies in the CSF and in the Blood.  And they compare them.

If you have clones in the body, but none in the CSF the result in the CSF is NORMAL

If you have 2 or more clones in the CSF, but none in the blood - the result is POSITIVE

If you have clones of antibodies in both the blood and the CSF, then they compare the two sets of bands.  

If you have clones of antibodies that are in identical positions in both places, they discount any bands that are in the blood and also in the CSF, because they were likely produced out in the blood.  They just leaked over into the CSF.  The resutl will be reported at NORMAL

If there are 2 or more O-Bands in the CSF "that ARE NOT also present in the blood", then that is direct evidence of the inflammatory process occurring JUST in the CSF.  In this case the result is reposted as POSITIVE
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Yes, people can have both another autoimmune disease such as Lupus or Rheumatoid Arthritis.  It is not common, but it definitely happens.  The most common other autoimmune disease that occurs with MS is Autimmune Thyroid disease.

I hope this was clear.

Quix

[cz1970]

Well I can tell you if you have banding in both, they dont count it as abnormal "per neuro" and the lab, because some people just have it that way. Thats why they check both. Its considered abnormal if it is in the CSF ONLY.  But sounds like your Dr is on the ball though!  Congrats on a step forward.

cz

[sllowe]

Wow Coop - you do have a thorough Neuro.  I'm very glad for you, as it will make dx all that much more credible.  

Good luck to you as you move forward!

Sl