bands that make her dance

hollsya

Regular Member

Joined : May 2017

Posts : 57

Posted 6/14/2017 8:29 AM (GMT -5)

I have three IgG bands positive in my western blot: P30, P41 and P66. (No IgM bands positive). As I understand it, 41 and 66 are not lyme specific but 30 is.

When I tested ten years ago, P41 was the only positive band I had; my mom had P41 positive too when she tested ten years ago but she didn't have lyme symptoms, she just took the test to see what result she'd get.

I am now confused about the bands. Is my doctor gonna say EBV or some crap is causing the bands to show up positive? What could cause P30 to show up positive if it isn't lyme? And what does this mean: "unknown, probably an outer surface protein: common in European and one Californian strain." (This is info that I found online about band P30.)

Does this mean I could have lyme bacteria from Cali or Europe?! I've never been to either of those places!
Or maybe I'm just interpreting this incorrectly?

Traveler

Elite Member

Joined : May 2007

Posts : 36573

Posted 6/14/2017 9:09 AM (GMT -5)

Band 30 is for OspA, one of the outer surface proteins on the Lyme bacteria, but it is not Lyme specific. In your case the best thing to do is to find a doctor that will treat based on a clinical diagnosis only.

Sometimes treatment will provoke a positive response for testing if that's needed for insurance purposes.

As far as having a strain from a place you've never been to, that's getting more common all the time. This is because of how we as humans travel and how the bugs can travel. The bugs can hitch a ride on a bird and end up in a different country, so it's easy to see how this could happen in the same country.

We also must take into consideration that people travel, and if I were to go to the East coast, get bit by a mosquito or tick and that insect then go on to bite someone from the East Coast, they have the potential to now have the same strains I have - and I grew up on the West Coast (where I was first infected) and have lived in the lower Midwest for decades now and have been reinfected here.

Pirouette

Veteran Member

Joined : Mar 2014

Posts : 6235

Posted 6/14/2017 11:27 AM (GMT -5)

I think we know what the bands mean... until the Bb microbie continues its process of morphing and adapting and shifting.

If the bands were "Lyme-specific" I think you can easily call it Lyme. Since they aren't, it's best to consider that the tests are highly inaccurate (as little as 50% accurate) and as Traveler mentions, your LLMD will need to use a clinical diagnosis and treat, accordingly.

The bands are important only to get past that first stage of dx. A lot more info is needed in order to treat effectively, anyway (symptoms, dominance, etc.)

I'd fill out one of the symptom questionnaires and share that with an LLMD to help guide dx and treatment:

Jernigan's symptom list:
www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=30&m=3673749&g=3673789#m3673789

Hope that's helpful.

-p

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