Loss of IGG antibodies

[imsickbro22]

Hey, im new here and just wondering if anyone else has had this same problem with losing igg antibodies to certain viruses or other infections. So in my case i have lost the VCA IGG antibodies to EBV, they have basically disappeared when for over a year this was positive and now I'm only testing positive for the IGM antibodies, which in normal people would mean an active acute infection. However I've been IGM positive for almost 3 years now and am not improving so far.... My doctors are baffled and have no idea why this is happening as supposedly these antibodies are lifelong lol. Does anyone have any ideas on why this might happen? Does it mean my immune system has been weakened or does it signal some kind of immune deficiency ?
thankyou!

 

[Judee]

EBV and other viruses can be stealthy and work to shut off the immune system that would work against them. At least that is my understanding. I've also read about EBV hiding in B-cells.

I am IgM deficient so it wouldn't help me but I wonder if IVIG therapy would help you. ??

 

[Treeman]

I have low IgG, IgM and IgA and was diagnosed with panhypogammaglobulinamie. I underwent a vaccine challenge and whilst I have an initial good response when tested, shortly after the immunity disappears. They don't know why.

I've been receiving immunoglobulin therapy for around 8 months. After a few months I started to notice some improvements but then I caught an infection and I've yet to recover from it. I'm suspecting it may have been COVID.

Have you undertake a vaccine challenge?

 

[heapsreal]

Losing igg antibodies to ebv was a common finding in Dr Dan Petersons cfs pts in the mid to late 80s, which is outlined in the book Olsen's Web.

I also have no igg antibodies to ebv after initially having igg antibodies and don't have iga,igm,igg immune deficiencies.

With a constant igm positive to ebv does your dr say you have a chronic infection? Do you have any other immune tests showing an active infection like high or low neutrophils and or high total lymphocytes?
Has the dr put you on antivirals to try and treat ebv??

 

[imsickbro22]

With a constant igm positive to ebv does your dr say you have a chronic infection? Do you have any other immune tests showing an active infection like high or low neutrophils and or high total lymphocytes?
Has the dr put you on antivirals to try and treat ebv??

@heapsreal Yeah so multiple doctors think i have a chronic ebv infection and have put me on valtrex and famvir. The valtrex helped a bit but then stopped working and then i tried famvir and that didn't seem to have much effect, I've also tried spirinolactone as it apparently has some anti ebv effects but it didn't help me. Low dose IVIG briefly too but it was too expensive to continue.

The crazy thing is I've had extensive immune tests done and they have all come back normal like IGG subsets, NK cells, CD4/CD8 etc, been tested for every infection under the sun and there's nothing abnormal at all besides well, EBV.
I'm at a loss

 

[imsickbro22]

Have you undertake a vaccine challenge?

No, I've never done this but would be interested in doing it. Not sure if they do it here in Australia because i feel like my docs would have mentioned it being me/cfs specialists. I've also probably caught covid recently and its been a setback.

 

[Treeman]

No, I've never done this but would be interested in doing it. Not sure if they do it here in Australia because i feel like my docs would have mentioned it being me/cfs specialists. I've also probably caught covid recently and its been a setback.

It's usually administrated by an immunologist.

As another point they did find EBV antibodies when they tested me.

 

[heapsreal]

@heapsreal Yeah so multiple doctors think i have a chronic ebv infection and have put me on valtrex and famvir. The valtrex helped a bit but then stopped working and then i tried famvir and that didn't seem to have much effect, I've also tried spirinolactone as it apparently has some anti ebv effects but it didn't help me. Low dose IVIG briefly too but it was too expensive to continue.

The crazy thing is I've had extensive immune tests done and they have all come back normal like IGG subsets, NK cells, CD4/CD8 etc, been tested for every infection under the sun and there's nothing abnormal at all besides well, EBV.
I'm at a loss

Was the nk testing a function test or measuring nk cells. There's research showing cfs pts having low nk, cd8 and recently cd4 function even though numbers can be normal. Otherwise maybe something to keep an eye on?? Good luck👍