Celebrate the Positive?

The bad news is: you test positive for Lyme.

The good news is: you test positive for Lyme

The first doctor I had spoken with about CD57 test results of 22 told me that I may have Lyme disease and that I should see a specialist.

The specialist went straight into treatment protocols and options. He determined that I had Lyme from my clinical presentation and the CD57 test.

For various reasons, I trusted and went with his plan. I am now 2 months into treatment with some symptoms already better, and some a little worse. So goes Lyme treatment. I did want some other confirmation that Lyme was the culprit. I asked for and he agreed to testing through IGeneX.

The CDC used to promote that Lyme should be a clinical diagnosis. Now, it seems, that it is more important to test positive according to its reporting or tracking specifications. Insurance companies and many doctors now make decisions based on the CDC positive tests.

The major, public labs are limited to only test for antibodies to certain parts of the B burgdorferi bacteria (Bb). IGeneX is a private lab that has certification but because of some technical things in how they operate, they are able to test for additional bands. Two of these additional bands are so specific for Lyme that they were used when trying to create a vaccine. Because the CDC did not want people testing positive because they had received the vaccine, they took those two bands off of the testing criteria.

Guess which two tested positive???

So according to the CDC, I tested negative. According to IGeneX, my doctor, and my common sense, I tested positive.

Of course, I do not want to have Lyme Disease. It is really nice to have confirmation. Lingering doubts floating around in my head have been kicked to the curb. I feel like I can actually tell people now. Before, I hedged how I would word things. “Um, they think I may have some bacterial infection thing, maybe.”

The specific IGeneX test results for those interested:

IgM: 31 ++, 34 +, 41 IND

IgG: 31 +, 34 IND, 39 IND, 41 ++

All of the rest were negative.

PCR testing was also negative.

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