Herb or supplement taken before blood draw ?

[Reno]

What Herb or supplement taken before blood draw is used to increase the chances of Lyme showing up in the Advanced labs, basic test ? And dosage/ time befor draw?

 

[minkeygirl]

I'm not aware of anything to take that would make an infection more detectable

 

[Reno]

I'm not aware of anything to take that would make an infection more detectable

Ok... Thanks for letting me know that you aren't aware..?..?

 

[justy]

Hi Reno, I think a course of antibiotics is normally recommended - not just a single dose before a blood draw. Anecdotally I have heard of people becoming very positive after months of treatment, when their tests had previously been negative, but I think it's a complex area and cant remember where or what I read about it.

I presume taking herbs that are used for Lyme from the Cowden or Buhner protocols might have the same effect

 

[Reno]

Hi Reno, I think a course of antibiotics is normally recommended - not just a single dose before a blood draw. Anecdotally I have heard of people becoming very positive after months of treatment, when their tests had previously been negative, but I think it's a complex area and cant remember where or what I read about it.

I presume taking herbs that are used for Lyme from the Cowden or Buhner protocols might have the same effect

Thank you Justy, I'll look into those protocols. As for antibiotics, Advanced laboratories specifically told be to stop taking them for 4 weeks if I was currently.

I wish the naturopath that told me about the herbs wasn't such a flake and would send me the protocol she recommended. I guess i shouldn't expect a naturopath to be any less flakey than the rest of the allopathic Dr's i've seen in the last 6 years...

 

[justy]

Hmm, is complex - you are supposed to stop abx before testing - its just that some people only become positive after they have been an a lYme protocol for a while.

 

[valentinelynx]

Hmm, is complex - you are supposed to stop abx before testing - its just that some people only become positive after they have been an a lYme protocol for a while.

I think the difference is that Advanced Labs is a culture test, so they want you to be off of antibiotics so there are as many live organism around to culture as possible.

On the other hand, for the standard, antibody based tests (e.g. Western Blot) a course of antibiotics may help boost antibody levels (increasing chances of a positive test) by killing the bacteria and releasing more antigens from dead bacteria into the bloodstream to stimulate antibody production. I believe that is the theory, anyway.

I cannot think of how any supplement could increase your chances of a positive culture test. The best advice I can come up with is to try to time the blood draw for when you feel your sickest, as this is likely to be the time of highest presence of live bacteria in your bloodstream. If you have a fever, even better.

Hope that helps some.

 

[justy]

I think the difference is that Advanced Labs is a culture test, so they want you to be off of antibiotics so there are as many live organism around to culture as possible.

On the other hand, for the standard, antibody based tests (e.g. Western Blot) a course of antibiotics may help boost antibody levels (increasing chances of a positive test) by killing the bacteria and releasing more antigens from dead bacteria into the bloodstream to stimulate antibody production. I believe that is the theory, anyway.

I cannot think of how any supplement could increase your chances of a positive culture test. The best advice I can come up with is to try to time the blood draw for when you feel your sickest, as this is likely to be the time of highest presence of live bacteria in your bloodstream. If you have a fever, even better.

Hope that helps some.

Thanks for stepping in and bringing some much needed facts to my clumsy attempt to discuss this subject.

 

[Reno]

I think the difference is that Advanced Labs is a culture test, so they want you to be off of antibiotics so there are as many live organism around to culture as possible.

On the other hand, for the standard, antibody based tests (e.g. Western Blot) a course of antibiotics may help boost antibody levels (increasing chances of a positive test) by killing the bacteria and releasing more antigens from dead bacteria into the bloodstream to stimulate antibody production. I believe that is the theory, anyway.

I cannot think of how any supplement could increase your chances of a positive culture test. The best advice I can come up with is to try to time the blood draw for when you feel your sickest, as this is likely to be the time of highest presence of live bacteria in your bloodstream. If you have a fever, even better.

Hope that helps some.

Do you have any links or documents I can verify what you are saying, it's a $600 test! and would like to do everything possible to eliminate Lyme as a possibility. As for the getting the blood draw when feeling bad unfortunately?/ fortunately? i have been doing really well for almost a month but i stopped taking everything for the test so the pain, fatigue and fog may be returning. But i'm not certain what i was taking was actually why the symptoms started to go away.

Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.