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IGM vs IGG

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Lyme Disease
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Posted 3/17/2015 6:44 PM (GMT -5)
Can anyone help distinguish these? I have a general idea and have read articles on it, but any other info?

For example, my IGM had 7 positive bands, and my IGG had 2 positive and 1 IND.

Is there a meaning to all this? Does it signify I have an active infection but have had it long enough to convert to IGG?

Sorry if I sound stupid...it's pretty confusing to me!
Posted 3/17/2015 7:01 PM (GMT -5)
What I don't understand is why for every other disease it converts to IGG after a month or so.

Why would Lyme be different? I could never find anything on that.

Why are some people's possitive IGG but others not?
Posted 3/17/2015 7:08 PM (GMT -5)
Yep, confusing BDL. That's why I posted...hoping to get some insight.
Posted 3/17/2015 7:20 PM (GMT -5)
I surely don't know much about other infections, but an IgM result means that you have an active infection. It once was thought to mean an 'early' infection, but has since been revised.

IgG means that the infection is at a later stage.
Posted 3/17/2015 7:26 PM (GMT -5)
So if you have IGM and IGG you have an active infection that you've probably had a while?
Posted 3/17/2015 7:55 PM (GMT -5)
It can, but not necessarily. It just means your body has produced a protein that recognizes a bacteria.
Posted 3/17/2015 8:51 PM (GMT -5)
I had an active infection, and it was caught early on - so I had IGM and no IGG. But even after treatment has been over for 6 months - I still don't have any IGG bands present. My Dr said that sometimes people have a relatively low IGG level to begin with, so that can be the reason why some of us don't have any IGG Lyme bands show up on the blood test.
Posted 3/17/2015 8:53 PM (GMT -5)
and when she did test me for the IGG subclases it was below the normal range....
Posted 3/18/2015 6:27 AM (GMT -5)
Hmmm....I started treatment the day after the tick bite and had 5 positive bands on IgM.....and band 41 was positive on IgG.

I think the IgG can also indicate earlier exposure but, perhaps, not the development of illness (I had NO symptoms before the tick bite and really didn't have any until after I started treatment the next day)
Posted 3/18/2015 7:20 AM (GMT -5)
But what about those who got the guidelines of having 5 possitive IGG bands 4 weeks after symptom? There must be a lot of them, around 30,000 who fit the CDC criteria for IGG.
Posted 3/18/2015 9:37 AM (GMT -5)
"Why does Lyme produce varied readings on IGG and IGM?"

The answer lies in the question. Lyme is, by definition, a relapsing fever .

All spirochete-caused diseases are. This produces the range of IGG and IGM levels that will be seen, and why several tests in a row produce different results each time. Lyme fools the humoral immune system, it's hardly even worth testing IGs.

What is really needed are sensitive tests to directly indicate the presence of live spirochetes and to indicate the presence of toxins secreted by them. Those two tests would change the face of Lyme.
Posted 3/18/2015 11:52 AM (GMT -5)
And if you read enough on this, you will find that most researchers say that Lyme can "go chronic" for some people in as little as a few hours. It all depends on the things that predict how badly we get infected - our immune system, how well the body detoxes, other infections, co-conditions (adrenal fatigue and others) and so on.

There is no straight forward, easy to understand answer for this - at least not yet.

As SpeyFisher said: "What is really needed are sensitive tests to directly indicate the presence of live spirochetes (instead of just the antibodies to them) and to indicate the presence of toxins secreted by them. Those two tests would change the face of Lyme.
Posted 3/18/2015 11:52 AM (GMT -5)
And if you read enough on this, you will find that most researchers say that Lyme can "go chronic" for some people in as little as a few hours. It all depends on the things that predict how badly we get infected - our immune system, how well the body detoxes, other infections, co-conditions (adrenal fatigue and others) and so on.

There is no straight forward, easy to understand answer for this - at least not yet.

As SpeyFisher said: "What is really needed are sensitive tests to directly indicate the presence of live spirochetes (instead of just the antibodies to them) and to indicate the presence of toxins secreted by them. Those two tests would change the face of Lyme."
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