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Hello, Ruffian:
I would suggest CRP, ESR, HLA B27, ANA, and RF for starters.
I don’t know very much about EBV testing, but nearly everyone who fails the ‘spittle’ test does seem to have candidiasis.
Spittle test: In room-temperature distilled water (clear glass), first thing upon awakening in morning spit onto surface of this water and place the glass in a cool dry place away from disturbances/vibration. Check every four hours to note whether there are ‘tendrils’ or filaments extending from the surface to or towards the bottom of the glass. For some reason, the way the fungus seems to manifest is to grow into such thread-like structures. I have not failed this test, but many others have produced the threads and seem to have some issue with this fungus, which is involved with EBV and mono in CFS (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).
HEALTH,
John@Ruffian wrote:
When wanting a full gamut of tests, I’d like to be armed with knowledge. The AP doctor close to me I hear is great when you are proactive. So I want a list of tests to print out.
If my problems are pain, inflammation, and fatigue….where do I begin?
As always, thank you to the moon and back!
Hi Ruffian,
In addition to Dragonslayer’s wise input, there is actually a link on the main site for salient lab tests to have while on the therapy:
https://www.roadback.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=studies.display&display_id=184#Anchor-Appendix-7638
My doc doesn’t actually bother with ESR and has only tested it a couple times for me…he feels cardio-CRP is a more accurate gauge of inflam in real time. That said, my ESR has both times been normal when my CRP was elevated – go figure – so would start with both and, if both are elevated, then I’d probably want to watch both.
Some folk also like to have infectious disease work-ups that include mycoplasma testing and Lyme testing. The thing about mycoplasma testing, though, is that one test is probably not worth the paper it’s written on, as most of the world’s population will have been exposed to some strain of myco or another and only a few strains are tested. Brown used these tests by checking on them regularly over time to watch titers coming down with the therapy, but this is just too expensive an exercise today, unfortunately. With so many seeminly exposed to Lyme, however, it’s just prudent to have this checked out, as untreated Lyme coinfections can keep us sick and it would help to determine which type of doc to see – a LLMD or AP doc (for which RBF retains both lists). To save time on this, you can call IGeneX labs and have them mail you a testing kit to your home to take when you see Dr. R, so he can sign off on the lab requisition, which requires a doc signature. The basic western blot is test numbers 188 and 189 and costs around $200.
http://www.tarci.net (the lab Brown used for myco testing)
If you want a full diagnostic work-up to look for rheumatic disease, would also suggest a Lupus panel and anti-CCP test in addition to ANA. Anti-CCP can be a more accurate gauge of RA, if it’s actually positive, as RF can be elevated with age and infections and other conditions, too. The ANA test, as described below can help to figure out what type of rheumatic disease might be implicated…the various ANA patterns are described at the RBF link below, but you can find more about the test on http://www.labtestsonline.org Thing is, one can have seronegative rheumatic disease symptoms…so one might have RA, but be ANA negative, too. Complicated, I know…but if you want to look at everything, then a visit to a rheumy might give you a fuller picture of diagnosis. This is where they come in handy. 😉
https://www.roadback.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=studies.display&display_id=184#Anchor-Appendix-7638
PS…just thought of the obvious, too….complete blood count and metabolic panel with liver and pancreatic enzymes. This would provide a nice baseline of all the regular tests you’d want to have checked routinely.
@Ruffian wrote:
You both are angels.
Thank You!
I would also test for Vitamin D deficiency which is very common with rheumatic illness, but often overlooked by doctors.
i had to suggest same to my Rhemutologist, which came back borderline low at 22.If your CFS is related to fibromyalgia (don’t know if you have this) then checking for Chlaymida Pneumonia would be important. Maz gave me a great site a long time ago on this that led to a postitive test result for my daughter who has CFS pain and Fibromyalgia and Positive lyme bands. It has some very interesting information.
Marianne
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