Lyme Blood Culture: C
A United States lab called Advanced Laboratory Services had a Lyme disease blood culture that may have good predictive value in finding Lyme infection. Note: ALS no longer offers this tests. Traditionally the problem with Lyme blood culture has been finding a substance to grow the Lyme germ. ALS has perfected a method that involves three separate steps. In the first step the blood is incubated on a special modified BSK medium. Then after 2 weeks it is transfered to a medium that has a protein matrix. As a third step a PCR techinique is use to determine if the growth on the medium is really borrelia. PCR is a techinique that finds the dna of an infection, in this case borrelia.
There is one study of this technique performed by Eva Sapi PhD and her research group. Of note the research was supported by ALS and Dr. Sapi is a member of the Research Division at ALS. This means there is an inherent bias built into the results of the research to find a positive result supporting the effectiveness of the test.
The test included 72 people who were known to have Lyme based on the very strict standards of the CDC and IDSA. There were also 50 people put in a control group who did not have Lyme. The study results found 94% sensitivity and 100% specificity.
In fact in my limited use of this test I found it missed many that I diagnosed with Lyme disease based on other tests and clinical grounds.
About The Vibrant Wellness Heavy Metals Test:
The Vibrant Heavy Metals test is a urine-based test to screen for 20 of the most common heavy metals known to accumulate and cause adverse health effects in the human body. This test can be taken either provoked or non-provoked. Discuss with your healthcare provider which option is best for you and consult a trained healthcare provider before attempting any heavy metal provocation protocols.
Fit Colon Cancer Screening Test
If youre over 45, the FIT Colon Cancer Screening Test is a handy and convenient tool at your disposal for testing your colon health. This stool sample test checks for small amounts of blood in your stool.
Studies indicate that Everlywells test is quite sensitive and compares favorably to similar tests. Although the presence of a small amount of blood in your stool doesnt mean you have colon cancer or precancerous polyps, it does require medical attention to determine the cause.
Early detection of any issue related to your gut health is crucial for avoiding more dangerous health situations later. We recommend this kit for that very reason, mainly because its such an affordable and convenient way to be proactive about your colons health. If youve been having digestive symptoms like constipation and diarrhea, unexplainable weight loss, or discomfort in your abdomen, studies conclude that this test can provide helpful information for you and your doctor.
Recommended Reading: Unusual Symptoms Of Lyme Disease
Is There A Lyme Disease Test Kit
Blood collection kits are available for at-home Lyme disease testing. Lyme disease test kits can cost as less as $20 and as much as $100 or more. Using a Lyme disease test kit is as simple as pricking your finger and smearing or collecting the blood onto the kit for testing.
However, testing for Lyme disease in a more controlled environment such as a lab or clinic is preferable as qualified healthcare professionals are likely to perform a more reliable test.
Waddell L. A., et al. . The accuracy of diagnostic tests for Lyme disease in humans, a systematic review and meta-analysis of North American research. PLoS One. 2016 11: e0168613. Retrieved from
Precision Point Diagnostics Allergy 88
We offer both IgE , IgG , IgG4 and cd3 testing to foods through Precision Point Diagnostics.
IgE
The IgE antibody response is the most commonly known food allergy response. This response usually occurs immediately and can create severe symptoms such as swelling, hives, itching, and in some cases anaphylaxis. Even though IgE reactions are immediate, the allergic potential of food-based allergens can remain in your system 1-2 days after ingestion, extending the presence of symptoms during this duration. IgE reactions can be permanent, or they may improve with the elimination diet and gut treatment. IgE reactions stimulate the release of histamine in the body.
IgG4
IgG4, which is a subclass of IgG, is a distinct antibody in the immune system. IgG4 total antibody is important in relation to IgE because this antibody acts as a blocking agent for an IgE reaction. When the IgG4 reaction is greater than the IgE reaction for a particular antigen, IgG4 blocks the IgE antibodies from binding to the receptor sites and releasing histamine, thereby reducing severity of the symptoms associated with the IgE reaction. This is referred to as the blocking potential. You might have true food allergies which will not come up on a test, because the reaction is blocked by IgG4! IgG4 carries its own clinical relevance in high levels and may mediate several conditions and diseases.
IgG
C3d
Patient with the following symptoms may benefit from this test:
- Volatile Organic Compounds
Read Also: What Type Of Doctor Treats Lyme Disease
Lyme Testing: Accurate When Used Appropriately
A 2016 systematic review that included 8 studies of CDC-recommended two tier test performance in Late Lyme showed Lyme antibody testing to be 99.4% sensitive and 99.3% specific** in North America.
In other words, out of 100 people with Late Lyme disease, 99-100 of them will test positive. Out of 100 people who may believe they have Late Lyme disease but do not, 99-100 of them will test negative.
Misinformation can convince patients to ignore or misinterpret negative tests to justify a false Chronic Lyme diagnosis.
Things I Wish People Knew About Lyme Disease
May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month, and over on , Ive been sharing some tidbits about Lyme disease that a lot of folks dont know . Lyme is a disease that most people have heard of but is incredibly misunderstood.
Being a Lyme Disease sufferer is exhausting because of the disease itself, but also because of the incredible amount of advocacy work you have to do for yourself and your disease. There are so many questions to answer and misconceptions to fight!
Since I was diagnosed six months ago, Ive been collecting the most frequently asked questions I get and figured Id pull them together into one post to finish up the month of May. Hopefully this post will help clear up some questions, and if you would like to know more, I highly recommend checking out the documentary Under Our Skin and the sequel, Under Our Skin 2, to get a good overview of why Lyme is so controversial and what its like to live with it and treat it.
Read Also: Arizona Lyme Disease Treatment Center
Assumption Of Risks And Releases:
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Episode 1: What Do Fibromyalgia Cfs Lyme And Long Haulers Have In Common With Dr Bruce Patterson
We have seen many chronic illnesses over the years and many are difficult to treat and sometimes impossible to cure. CV has forced medicine to think outside the box. Dr. Bruce Patterson has not only used technology to prove long haulers exist but has found similar patterns in chronic Lyme, fibromyalgia, and CFS. As a practitioner, I have been looking for new technologies to apply to these conditions for decades. Some work great, others do not so well. With this new technology we can now identify what is causing the issue and we KNOW which medications to prescribe to greatly improve the condition.
Do not miss these highlights:
04:21 Dr. Patterson draws similarities between this pandemic and others that he has dealt with in the past.
07:23 Vaccines are the be all and end all that people want them to be. Focus needs to be put on the treatment.
08:53 Similarities between the inflammatory markers between chronic Lyme, Fibromyalgia and COVID.
11:59 There have been similarities in treating post Lyme, MECFS, and post-vaccination long haulers.
16:14 We have to look at enhancing the immune system without over stimulating it
18:30 The fact that we are not using precision medicine the way it should be with Covid and the fact that healthcare is using hospitalization as a biomarker for treatment
25:20 Healthcare is not looking at alternate or similar diagnosis as Covid so people with issues are being left untreated because it is not covid.
Also Check: Signs My Dog Has Lyme Disease
Testing And Diagnosing Coinfections And Related Microbes
There are quite a few microbes spread by blood-sucking insects that have stealth characteristics similar to those of Borrelia burgdorferi some we know about, and others still waiting to be discovered.
They all have stealth characteristics and the ability to infect and thrive inside cells. They are masters of evading the immune system, and can be even harder to diagnose than borrelia. Symptoms profiles are similar to borrelia and related mostly to stimulation of cytokine cascades, not concentrations of microbes. Though they each have slightly different strategies, their motive is the same: complete a lifecycle stage within the host and move on.
The primary known players in chronic Lyme include mycoplasma, bartonella, and chlamydia species. The most well-known species of babesia, anaplasma, ehrlichia, and rickettsia are more apt to cause acute illness and less apt to be associated with chronic illness, but research is discovering lesser known and lesser virulent species of these microbes that are associated with chronic Lyme. Reactivation of herpes-type viruses is common in chronic Lyme.
Though testing is possible for some species of these microbes, when a natural route of recovery is chosen, extensive testing is not necessary and can actually be very misleading.
References Choosing A Test
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Arbitration And Governing Law:
It is understood that any dispute, that is as to whether any services rendered under this contract were unnecessary or unauthorized or were improperly, negligently, or incompetently rendered, will be determined by submission to arbitration by the American Arbitration Association. Both parties to this contract, by entering into it, are giving up their constitutional rights to have any such dispute decided on a court of law before a jury, and instead are accepting the use of arbitration
Symptoms Associated with Tickborne Diseases Include:
- Fever and/or chills
- GI symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
- Change in cognitive or psychological status
- Loss of appetite
- Dizziness or shortness of breath
- Numbness or weakness in limbs
Tickborne disease symptoms and disease progression can also often be more severe in the elderly and immunocompromised.
Facts About Tickborne Diseases
Patients in early stages of Lyme disease and those who have been treated with antibiotics may not exhibit detectable levels of antibody using traditional methods such as ELISA. For low analyte concentrations such as this, chemiluminescence-based immunoassays are the assays of choice because they enable a more sensitive detection.
What does the Tickborne Complete 2.0 Include?
Common FAQ:
Do I need to be fasting for the Tickborne Diseases test? As with all antibody testing, fasting is not required.
Newer Immunoblot Using Synthetic Proteins From Igenex: Grade A
In an immunoblot using synthetic proteins grown in bacteria through recombinant dna, only the protein regions specific for Lyme on protein 31, 41, and 93 are grown. This decreases the chances of a false positive testing which I outlined above in the western blot section. In this method, like the western blot above, attention is still paid to certain Lyme specific proteins.
IGenex goes one step further in its new Lyme Immunoblot test and uses 8 different strains of Lyme proteins. These include: B. burgdorferi B31, B. burgdorferi 297, B. californiensis, B. mayonii, B. spielmanii, B. afzelii, B. garinii and B. valaisiana.
Using internal validation standards, an IGM Immunoblot is positive if there are antibodies attached to 2 of the following four proteins: 23, 31, 39, and 41. The IGG Immunoblot is positive if there are antibodies attached to 2 of the following 6 proteins: 23, 31, 34, 39, and 41.
Based on internal validation studies, IGenex reports the tests has a sensitivity of 90.9% and a specificity of 98%. This means this is by far the best test at finding Lyme with a very limited chance of false positives.
Grade: A-. The only reason I do not give this test an A grade is that it still misses 9% of Lyme. This can occur for a variety of reasons including immune suppression making it difficult to make antibodies or due to Lyme hiding where the immune system cannot see the germ.
Recommended Reading: How To Protect Yourself From Lyme Disease
Final Comment About Lyme Tests
I opened this article stating that Lyme is always a clinical diagnosis. Again a test does not diagnose a disease. Also be aware based on the concepts of predictive value and prevalence I present above. Based on these concepts there is a great chance of a false positive test in someone who does not have Lyme disease symptoms. For more information see How to Diagnose Chronic Lyme Disease.
Finally, I am often asked about test from a lab called DNA Connexions. This lab runs a urine pcr test for Lyme and coinfections. I do not order tests from this lab because they have not done any validation studies to prove their tests are accurate. Be aware they have done an effective job marketing to the naturopathic doctor community and some integrative medicine physicians. The reason I am very skeptical is the number of times I saw people in my Seattle practice with positive DNA Connexions testing for bartonella or babesia who simply did not have any symptoms of these coinfections. I suggest staying away from testing from this lab.
Indoor And Outdoor Allergy Test
Everlywell offers its Indoor and Outdoor Allergy Test for those experiencing or hoping to prevent symptoms of allergies, like a runny nose, irritated eyes, sneezing, congestion, headache, cough, and itchy throat. You will collect a small blood sample, and your results detect possible sensitivities to 40 common allergens, including:
- Dog and cat dander
- Two types of dust mites
- Two pests
Everlywell analyzes your blood sample for immunoglobulin E immune responses to each of these allergens, with results ranging from very low to very high. So, while this test cannot confirm allergies, it can pinpoint things your immune system reacts to.
Insider Tip: Youll get the most accurate result by collecting your blood sample when experiencing typical allergy symptoms, rather than collecting a sample when symptoms are mild or not present.
Also Check: What’s The Cure For Lyme Disease
The Clinical Diagnosis Of Lyme Disease
Misconception: Lyme disease is a clinical diagnosis that should be made based on a list of symptoms.
Science: No clinical features, except erythema migrans or possibly bilateral facial nerve palsyin the appropriate contextprovide sufficient specificity or positive predictive value. Laboratory confirmation is essential except with erythema migrans.
Choosing A Lyme Disease Test
Often the diagnosis of Lyme disease depends upon the physicians readiness to listen and ask questions and on the mutual exchange of information, beginning with the initial doctor-patient interview.
Often the diagnosis of Lyme disease depends upon the physicians readiness to listen.
Lyme disease should be diagnosed clinically, without reliance on testing. However, all too often, physicians will ignore clinical presentations if laboratory tests are negative. Yet there are numerous scientific articles documenting false negatives and low sensitivity of such tests.
There can be several reasons for the inaccurate results. The sensitivity of the tests varies greatly depending upon how long an individual has been infected and on the type of clinical manifestations. If a patient has received antibiotics in the early stage of the disease, antibody levels may be too low to be detected or nonexistent. Antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi do not appear in the blood until several weeks after the tick bite. The Lyme bacteria are not always present in the blood. The person could have been infected with a strain of Bb that is not covered in testing.
That said, laboratory tests can be used to support the diagnosis. Because of the varied presentations and necessity of relying on a patients symptoms, several tests may be helpful.
The ELISA and Western blot are the most common tests used to diagnose Lyme disease. Both tests measure antibodies to Bb, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
Read Also: What Kind Of Doctor Should I See For Lyme Disease