• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

High IgGs...what does it mean?

Messages
20
I have high IgG for EBV and CMV, but normal IgM.

My Dr says that its ok and no treatment is needed.

Is he right?
 

cfsme23

Senior Member
Messages
129
Location
England
People will interpret those results in varying ways but one suggestion is that the IgG relates to a past infection and so your body is still pumping out antibodies to the EBV and CMV. IgM relates to more recent infection, and so the high IgG levels suggest that whilst you are not in the midst of a current, acute EBV/CMV infection, for whatever reason your body has not calmed down with the antibody production.
 

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
I would read this article from Holtorf:

There is controversy regarding the presence of active infection in these conditions because physicians, including infectious disease specialists, do not understand that the standard way to diagnose acute infections, an elevation of IgG and IgM antibodies, is not a sensitive means of detecting chronic infections in these patients (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 ,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21). With an acute infection, the body will start producing IgM antibodies against that infection and then start producing IgG antibodies after a few weeks so there is an elevation of both IgG and IgM antibodies. Chronic reactivating infection, such as those mentioned above, do not stimulate IgM anti- bodies as they are not new infections but rather intracellular reactivating infections, so most doctors, again including infectious disease specialists, will tell patients who have elevated IgG antibodies that they had an old infection or previous exposure and that there is no evidence of or they do not have an active infection because that is what they learned in medical school. This standard way of detecting active infections has clearly been shown to be inaccurate and miss the overwhelming majority of patients with active infections (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,1 1,12,13,14,15,16, 17,18, 19,20,21).

http://www.holtorfmed.com/index.php?section=downloads&file_id=46
 

Timaca

Senior Member
Messages
792
For some doctors, it depends on how "high" your results are. For example, with the doctors I see, if the result is 1:320 or higher then they are suspicious that I may have a chronic infection of that pathogen.

Or if the result is reported in a different way, such as 5.74, the doctors are not concerned, because even though this is "high" as far as the lab is concerned, it just means past exposure and doesn't indicate active infection.

So, to answer your question, it depends on how high your lab results are.

For further info (on HHV-6 testing which will give you some idea of what I mean) see: http://www.hhv-6foundation.org/patients/hhv-6-testing-for-patients

Best, Timaca
 

Timaca

Senior Member
Messages
792
Well, if it is >8, then that seems to indicate that it is as high as the lab measures (indicated by the ">" sign). So I would look more closely into EBV as a possible reason for your illness. Do you have any other tests for EBV, such as an EA (early antigen)? What was your CMV result?

Best, Timaca
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,086
Location
australia (brisbane)
smash it with antivirals and if u feel better then its a viral issue, tests indicate it could be an issue.
Did u have a full blood count and are lymphocytes high and or neutrophils high or low as these can indicate ongoing infections?
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,086
Location
australia (brisbane)
Normal lymphos + neutros
If u can get a lymphocyte sub set test, i guessing your cd8 t cells will be high, its also an indicator of active herpes infections, otherwise the only way to know is to treat it and see how u respond. all we know is testing is a guide??
 
Messages
20
If I were to treat with anti-virals....what would I use

Valtrex is not enough, right?

I would need either Valcyte or Famvir? Which is better/cheaper?
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,086
Location
australia (brisbane)
If I were to treat with anti-virals....what would I use

Valtrex is not enough, right?

I would need either Valcyte or Famvir? Which is better/cheaper?

Famvir is alot, way, heaps cheaper and less toxic but maybe not as strong as valcyte and valcyte needs regular blood work done because of toxicity. I think famvir is generally easier to handle and i think the best one to start off on. Famvir isnt indicated for cmv or hhv6 but there is enough of us on here who have used the drug and seen viral testing improve as well as symptoms from famvir. dosing of famvir though seems to vary alot amongst everyone using it. myself i found 250mg twice a day enough, some have used 1000mg 3 times a day but generally i think most are using 500mg twice a day. It has a long intracellular half life so dosing more then twice a day i dont think is neccessary for these viruses.
http://www.magicpharma.com/index.php?cPath=33_188&osCsid=2a274a31fbeae61a3acfb6d14b700d54
 
Messages
20
What is the general consensus on LDN in conjunction with antivirals? Does it improve immune function or natural killer function? How does it compare to the other "immune boosters"?