Igenex western blot 188.189 this week

[Bill]

Hey Folks,

In my determination to leave no stone unturned I'm going to do a Igenex western blot this week. My Doc is just a regular but caring and competent GP. She is getting rather intrigued however. My question; I sure want to get this right. Can anyone offer me their opinion on whether the LLMD's prefer a washout period first or continue pulsing?? Im doing 200 mino MWF along with some potentiators.

 I have read that some LLMD's  like to challenge with some abs but not sure what they suggest? Any opinions,educated guess's or stuff to read would be most helpful. I do not want to blow this one. Was planning on drawing Mon or Tues but could wait until next week if needed. Please chime in with any advice. Will be posting results.

Much obliged,

Bill

Ra- 2years, first like a train in the night, Much better now but ready for next level. 200 mino MWF. Nattokinase, serrapetase, bromaline, curcumin,grapeseed ext, garlic, daily juicing, clean organic food as much as possible,plenty of sleep,caprylic acid, mucho probiotics. Undenatured whey protien, coconut water – milk, berries.L-glutamine,N.A.C

[Maz]

[user=15]Bill[/user] wrote:

In my determination to leave no stone unturned I'm going to do a Igenex western blot this week. My Doc is just a regular but caring and competent GP. She is getting rather intrigued however. My question; I sure want to get this right. Can anyone offer me their opinion on whether the LLMD's prefer a washout period first or continue pulsing?? Im doing 200 mino MWF along with some potentiators.

 I have read that some LLMD's  like to challenge with some abs but not sure what they suggest? Any opinions,educated guess's or stuff to read would be most helpful. I do not want to blow this one. Was planning on drawing Mon or Tues but could wait until next week if needed. Please chime in with any advice. Will be posting results.

Hi Bill,

Sounds like a prudent next step in your road back…to leave no stone left unturned.

With the actual western blot (test numbers 188/189 for IgM and IgG), it's not necessary to have an antibiotic washout, as the test is looking for antibodies, rather than the DNA of the organism, as in PCR testing.

That said, however, borrelia burgdorferi does tend to go into hiding, when under constant antibiotic attack, and reverts to cystic forms which display reduced outer surface proteins. It's these proteins – or antigens – that the body is responding to with specific antibodies, which is what is being measured by the western blot. E.g. the tail of the spirochete has its own outer surface protein and the body responds with a specific antibody, which on the test is called Band 41. The cystic form of borrelia has no tail, as it is just a hard cyst-like structure and so the body may not be producing antibody to this antigen.

Lyme docs do like to tease out the spirochetes with long pulses of antibiotics, believing that constant bombardment only causes them to revert to these dormant cysts. For instance, my LLMD now has me on a month of Mepron and azithromycin with 2 week washouts. Each time I reintroduce my two antibiotics, I experience herxing within 10 days, which is classic for Lyme. The goal with this type of herxing is to reduce the pressure of the antibiotics to draw the cystic forms out of hiding and then hit them again. Boy does it work! 😯 Over time, however, the populations of bugs should be lowered. This kind of pulsing, I found, was too hard in the beginning, but now I'm doing so much better, this is much easier to navigate…not pleasant, but easier.

So, if you were so inclined to try this type of thing, with your doc's knowledge and agreement, of course, you could do a washout period of a week or so prior to having the testing done.

The gold standard for treatment of Lyme and coinfections are Burrascano's Lyme Treatment Guidelines, which he updates every year or so:

http://www.publichealthalert.org/pdf/LYMDXRX%202008-October.pdf

And, the ILADs treatment guidelines here:

http://ilads.org/lyme_disease/treatment_guidelines.html

If your doc is open to consulting with an experienced LLMD on your behalf, then I could send you the contact info of my doc who is on the medical advisory board of the Turn The Corner Foundation and also helped co-author the ILADs treatment guidelines. He may even suggest your doc attend the ILADs physician training workshop. Nothing about Lyme treatment is a perfect science yet, so much of how LLMDs treat is based upon their assessment of clinical symptoms. This is described in Burrascano's link above.

Hope this helps, Bill?

Peace, Maz

[Bill]

Maz ,

Thank you so much for the excellent advice. Yes my Doc has already signed off on the Igenex paperwork and ordered the blood draw along with other tests from quest. Then I'll fed X it in. She is quite interested to see the results. I kind of brought her kicking and screaming into the Ap thing but my dramatic improvement has really caught her attention. So she is a bit more willing to entertain my “out of the box” requests. I will no doubt have to explain to her the proper interpretation of the bands but that is ok she is a Gem who truly cares about her patients.

 If the bands are indicative of Lymes I'm sure she would be interested in speaking to a Doc open to talking to her. Now she may decide to send me to an LLMD for the actual treatment but Im sure she would be cooperative in a supportive role at least.

Thank you so much for your opinion here Maz It is utterly invaluable. I will read the links, thank you for those. of course I'll post the results when received.

Oh and Maz, it was the fine example of you, Lynnie, Kim, Parisa, Cheryl and others that taught me to leave no stone unturned and showed the way to rationally and effectively proceed down that otherwise daunting road. Confirming in a practical way my inner belief that “there is always an answer, always a solution” if one wants it bad enough and believes.

 Thank you all so much for that. Many including myself are truly  in your Debt.

Peace and Blessings, and Thank you again,

Bill

[Maz]

[user=15]Bill[/user] wrote:

 If the bands are indicative of Lymes I'm sure she would be interested in speaking to a Doc open to talking to her. Now she may decide to send me to an LLMD for the actual treatment but Im sure she would be cooperative in a supportive role at least.

Bill, thanks for your really lovely post. All kudos go to you, though…you're the one doing the work! 😉

I'll send my doc's contact info so you have it to hand just in case it's needed when you get your results and also in case your doc is willing to go ahead and seek a consult on your behalf. My doc has the full ILADs LLMD list, too, so may be able to offer her good insight on which docs would be an option in central TX (or if you'll need to travel). We have the list, too, but these LLMDs all travel in similar circles and get to know one another. Your doc really does sound like a gem…maybe one day she'll allow us to add her to our AP doc list?

Peace, Maz

[Author]

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