Hello all,

I'm a regular lurker on this board, but this is only my second post. . There are so many kind and knowledgeable folks here so I am really hoping someone can help me make sense of not only my husband's Igenex results but mine as well.

I'll start with my husband. He has been feeling very unwell for the last few months and complaining of random aches and pains, mostly in his back, legs, arms, hands and general malaise. I encouraged him to get tested through Igenex, which he did and we met today with the LLMD that I've been seeing since November. His results were as follows:

WB IGM

Band 31 +
Band 34 IND
Band 41 IND

(All other bands negative)

WB IGG

Band 31 IND
Band 41 IND

(All other bands negative)


The doctor was pretty certain he tested negative but I'm really not sure about this as he has some similar symptoms as me and for some reason the doctor seems to think I most likely have Lyme and my husband doesn't. He also tested extremely low on testosterone, Herpes 1, Herpes 6, chlamydia pneumonia & EBV. His CD57 was 76, not severely low, but on the lower end of the range.

My Igenex results were as follows:

WB IGM

41 ++
58 +
83-93 IND

(All other bands negative).

No positive bands at all on the IGG.

He also diagnosed me with bartonella, clamydia pneumonia, Herpes 1, Herpes 6, Ebv, and my CD-57 was 12.

I'm starting to lose confidence in this doctor and have considered finding another LLMD and getting a second opinion. I hate the idea of starting over with yet another doctor, but I really need to be sure that this guy knows what he's talking about. I've heard great things about him and his name was one of the several LLMDs I was referred to by the ILADS website.

Any perspective, suggestions, comments would be so appreciated. I'm feeling really upset about all this.

That's funny you mention Lyme Bingo.. as soon as we left the doctor's office I pulled that up online and showed my husband. 😂

I guess I assumed if any Lyme specific bands came up positive or IND that a LLMD would consider that a positive Lyme test but this doctor was pretty adamant that he doesn't have Lyme which is why I'm feeling really confused.

I thought it was interesting too (and totally confusing) because I don't have any Lyme specific positive bands (so of course now I am questioning my own diagnosis The doctor also talked about band 41 and how it's a good indication of Lyme, which is contrary to everything I've read about band 41.

In all honesty, he didn't even ask my husband what his symptoms were. My husband offered them, but was told that his low testosterone and high virus titres could be causing his symptoms. Prescribed him some valtrex, vitamin D and some shot for his testosterone that he will have to self administer.

I'm thinking we need to talk to another LLMD. . Ugh.

Oh, he has Lyme and the common players along with it. It's best to go ahead and start treatments.

Lyme_mama227 said...
Thank you guys for your comments! I really appreciate it. I will actually show him your comments to back up what I believed all along (he kinda side-eyed me when I told him I thought the Dr was wrong, lol).

I thought it strange that he has the same infections that I do (and that I know most with tick born diseases tend to have), some very similar symptoms as me and yet is considered negative for LD. I forgot to mention that he has pulled several ticks off of himself the last few years (although never had a bullseye rash). The doctor ever even asked him about that. 😐

The ticks were embedded? If so...then no way anyone should be questioning it...even if they can't read the WB - symptoms plus a tick-bite = treatment.

Girlie,

My husband said the ticks weren't embedded... as in he didn't have to dig them out of his skin. He was able to pull them off fairly easily. Does it matter if they were embedded or not?

To add to Traveler's post.

Your husband's band 34 is IND That means 'something' showed up - just not strong enough for the lab to mark it as positive. But, it was not Negative. so, it's a weak positive.

And as Traveler pointed out in her post - band 34 is Lyme specific.


Your husband needs treatment along with you.

You are welcome!

I don't know what I would have done without this community.

Please keep asking questions...or just come on to vent...we'll listen!

Hello Lyme Mama,

As other's have said band 31 is a lyme specific band. That's really all you need to know. The same way an archaeologist doesn't need to find an full T-Rex skeleton to know it's a T-Rex, you don't need all the lyme specific bands to know it's lyme.

Your husband feels bad because of lyme and/or Herpes 1 and EBV being opportunistic and rearing it's head while the body is busy fighting against the lyme. Either way it seems lyme is the root cause.

My results:

IFA: postive
WB: 31 and 41
CD57: 70

Oh yeah, does Lyme ever mess with hormones! Did he get his DHEA checked as well? Was that low too?

drsusanmarra.com/services/lyme-disease-andropause/

That doctor obviously doesn't understand that even one 'Lyme specific band' is enough to determine that a person has the infection. It makes it hard to believe that he would understand all the other little intricacies of these infections....

It may show up as DHEA-SO4, or DHEA Sulfate, or you may see the entire name spelled out: Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate. Other than that, I'm not sure if it may be listed under another name. You'll have to ask the doctor about that or call the lab and ask them what to look for.

And, I'm not saying that his DHEA will be low, it's just another hormone that needs to be checked, since his testosterone is wonky. Testosterone production is suppose to peak when a man is in his 30's, so it's possible that if your hubby's testosterone is only slightly low, it's a "normal" thing.

Well, your doctor was right about the poor co-infection testing, it doesn't matter what lab is used, they are all really poor at picking up co-infections.

The best LLMD's all go by symptoms a LOT more than what tests tell us about these infections. If we have the symptoms, we obviously have the infections - no matter what the testing tells us.

Just trying to help!!! That's what I LOVE about this community!!