Borrelia positive through Arminlabs. I am positive or not?

[ECAsson]

Hey,


So I got positive for Borrelia, EBV, Coxsackie.

Also:
Positive for Erchilia (Elispot), negative through antibodies.
Positive for Chlaymidia Pneumonie (antibodies), negative through Elispot.
Mycoplasma (antibodies, bordeline infection)

My CD 57 cell count is 32. 100-360 (normal range), that clearly indicates a chronic bacterial infection. Dr. Armin himself says that my low CD 57 value is a result of Borrelia + Erchilia.


Now the problem is that my Borrelia values are quite low. 3, being the highest.
I am not the typical Borrelia patient, I lack joint/muscle pains, severe headaches, vision problems. My problems are the hidden respiratory/urinary infections, flu-like symptoms, brain fog, memory problems, anxiety/depression.
Am I really Borrelia positive?
One thing that is worth mentioning is that I do improve on antibiotics, especially on penicillin and doxaxycline.

 

[msf]

I can´t see your Ehrlichia values - were they borderline too? If they are high, I think that increases the likelihood that you have been bitten by a tick, but there is a lot of debate about this.

 

[ECAsson]

I can´t see your Ehrlichia values - were they borderline too? If they are high, I think that increases the likelihood that you have been bitten by a tick, but there is a lot of debate about this.

It is not high either.

 

[msf]

Hmm, then I guess they could both be because the cut off point is too low. Do you know if the antibodies to Cpn and Mycoplasma are suggestive of an active infection?

 

[msf]

Oh, you didn´t say whether you were positive on antibodies for Borrelia.

 

[maryb]

I lacked joint pain and vision problems for a while too....not so now.

 

[msf]

I didn´t even know that headaches and vision problems are associated with Lyme.

 

[ECAsson]

Hmm, then I guess they could both be because the cut off point is too low. Do you know if the antibodies to Cpn and Mycoplasma are suggestive of an active infection?

They are not. CPn showed positive to antibodies, but negative to Elispot (so no active infection)
Mycoplasma's antibodies were borderline.

So my low CD57 count cannot be explained through CPn and Mycoplasma's presence.

 

[ECAsson]

Oh, you didn´t say whether you were positive on antibodies for Borrelia.

I just took Elispot + CD57 count tests

 

[msf]

As far as I recall, the one paper published on this subject suggested that the Cpn ELISPOT wasn´t as useful as the antibody test, but I might have got that the wrong way round.

This was the paper I was talking about: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3565243/ It seems to suggest that neither the LTT or the antibody tests are that useful at the moment. If you look at Table 2 though, the results of both seemed to agree fairly well in one patient population.

 

[duncan]

Neuro-Lyme sports those symptoms sometimes.

All tests will prove is exposure, hence the need for a clinical diagnosis. It helps to test positive, though, often more for the clinician than the patient.

Still, shy of a culture, there is no way of proving active infection, although a positive pcr comes close. The Elispot has an additional strike in that it is not accepted yet by mainstream Lyme interests like the IDSA - even though their accepted tests pretty much suck.

The patients keep on losing here. The only winners consistently are insurance companies.

 

[msf]

Perhaps you should get the Western Blot done then.

 

[duncan]

The WB for sensu lato - you might need to test for Bb and garinii and afzelii.

 

[ECAsson]

As you can see, I am really confused.
Dr. Armin is sure I have Borrelia.

2 facts straightening this are:

1) The low CD57 count in the absence of CPn and Mycoplasma bacterial activity.
2) My response to antibiotics.

2 facts that counterargument Borrelia hypothesis:

1) The relatively low values that are borderline
2) No history of thick bites that I can recall


I thought these tests would shed some light on my health situation, but it made it even worse

 

[duncan]

He might be right. It's nice to be sure.

 

[msf]

Yes, like a lot of people I think you have to weigh up the fact that these tests haven´t been shown to be effective by several groups against the circumstantial evidence, which isn´t easy to do and really leaves it up to the individual as to whether it is worthwhile pursuing treatment.

 

[ECAsson]

Yes, like a lot of people I think you have to weigh up the fact that these tests haven´t been shown to be effective by several groups against the circumstantial evidence, which isn´t easy to do and really leaves it up to the individual as to whether they think it is worthwhile pursuing treatment.

Yes, but I don't want to spend my life in treating Borrelia to no avail, or to believe I have Borrelia when my problem in reality could be a virus.
plus that antibiotics are not really ''vitamins'' to your body either

 

[msf]

No, it´s not an easy decision to make.

 

[justy]

Having low values doesn't mean you are 'less positive', my LTT for lyme was lower than yours and I have a clinical dx. You have Elrichia, Lyme on the LTT and a supressed immune system (CD57) I would have thought Lyme was highly likely from this scenario.

 

[ECAsson]

Having low values doesn't mean you are 'less positive', my LTT for lyme was lower than yours and I have a clinical dx. You have Elrichia, Lyme on the LTT and a supressed immune system (CD57) I would have thought Lyme was highly likely from this scenario.

No Mycoplasma and Chalamydia Pneumonie, even though tested positive?
I know that it's not really important treatment wise, as they all respond to doxycicline, but both Chalymdia Pneunomie and Mycoplasma describe my symtoms better than Borrelia