Is increasing igg levels a sign of chronic infection/active infection?

[ChookityPop]

When it comes to all kinds of virus and bacterial infections? Like increasing ebv, mycoplasma, herpes, borrelia, babesiosis levels etc.

Is there any sources that backs this? I love that idea, but I just heard about it. I would appreciate if someone could bring some studies or some science backing this claim.

 

[duncan]

Confirmation bias sucks. Google it. It's not rocket science, despite insurance companies....

Relative to Borrelia, the official word, last I heard, was, if you ever test positive, you may always test positive. This is theory only. Theory. BUT. If you test positive, your titers should decline, If I recall and understand correctly. if they rise......

If your titers decline and then shoot up.....Eh. Find an infectious disease doctor that knows how to stand on his own two feet.

 

[ChookityPop]

Confirmation bias sucks. Google it. It's not rocket science, despite insurance companies....

Relative to Borrelia, the official word, last I heard, was, if you ever test positive, you may always test positive. This is theory only. Theory. BUT. If you test positive, your titers should decline, If I recall and understand correctly. if they rise......

If your titers decline and then shoot up.....Eh. Find an infectious disease doctor that knows how to stand on his own two feet.

I think its difficult to find the answer when I google it honestly. What should I search after? does increasing igg levels mean active infection? There doesnt seem to much info on it. Or I am a bad google detective.

These are my borrelia labs and it went slowly downwards from 2014 until it went from up again in 2019. What I just noticed now is that correlates with my disease severity. I got Sick in 2014 right before the test showing 31. I actually took two months of doxycycline a few weeks prior to that test. In 2018 I begain working again and I worked out like a mad man until I got sicker then I have ever been in 2019 when I got severe blood pooling in my legs, dysautonomia.
Whats interesting is my borrelia levels rose in 2019 when I got sick again. They are the highest at both the start of my sickness and when I got sick again! Maybe that would be the case with all viruses I have in my body? maybe EBV titers also went up in the same periods etc, sadly I doesnt have those tests.

My borrelia titers is the lowest they have ever been in November 2020. But Im sicker than ever. I have good energy, but my body just doesnt work, blood pooling etc. But as you said testing for borrelia is terrible. So the fact that my titers went up in 2019 is maybe the most interesting thing here?

What is your thoughts on this? You seem to be well versed about these things.

11.2020 20 * NEG
05.2019 36 * NEG(<10) 1-2 months after getting sick again.
10.2015 23 * NEG(<10)
09.2014 27 * NEG(<10)
08.2014 31 * NEG(<10) two months after I got sick

 

[5vforest]

I see that you numbers vary (from 23 at the lowest to 36 at the highest) but honestly that's not too much variance. Not enough to stake a diagnosis on. I think it would be a lot more elucidative if your titers went up by 3x, or 5x, or 10x.

 

[duncan]

Geez, what kind of Lyme test is that? It's not a C6, It's not a Western Blot. Is it an ELISA? The cutoffs are different than I normally see.

So, the theory is if you contract Bb, and you test positive, you potentially MAY test positive for the rest of your life. But, if your body resolves the infection, or you are successfully treated, your Bb titers are supposed to decline, if only a little, even though you still test positive - this according to what I have been able to deduce over the years. But I'm no doctor, so who knows?

Variable responses can be due to any number of things. Like different laboratories, different technicians, the state of your immune system, etc etc.

There is a school of thought in Lyme world that suggests provoking a response. The patient has to be prescribed abx by a doctor. The patient gets a baseline conventional ELISA or C6 and a Western Blot. By baseline, the theory means no abx for at least 30 days before labs. The patient gets tested. Then he/she goes on abx for a doctor-prescribed period. They stop abx ten days to 14 days before the next blood draw. They have labs done. If no change or it goes down, cool. If Bb levels go up, it - in theory - is suggestive of an active Bb infection. The logic appears to be that the abx kill enough of the spirochetes that debris enters the body and induces an immune response peculiar to Lyme, ie, more Bb-specific antibodies. This also is THEORY.