Re:B. garinii testing in US

[Guest guest]

I haven't found anyone as yet and look forward to someone posting about this

area now being tested in (North) America. I live in Canada but was infected in

the UK/Ireland...

Perhaps what you can do is contact Dr. @ Igenex to query about German

strains of Lyme AND any associated co-infections they screen for, as

'co-infections' can be worse than Lyme and some MUST be treated first (i.e.

Babesia) .

There is a lab in Germany that many on Eurolyme have been using and according

to their website, " The MELISA® currently costs 160 euro " which is on par with

the basic Igenex test.

http://www.melisa.org/borrelia-lyme-disease.php

When I sent my sample off to them, they also tested me for Erlichia and

Bartonella and not sure what else. Tests showed both: Bartonella henselae

(Cat-scratch disease) and Bartonella quintana (Trench fever) - the later is from

my understanding from sheep/cattle ticks... which in the UK is the Ixodes

ricinus tick that also carries Lyme.

My only other suggested is to make sure that if you have any 'co-infection'

testing done, that it is BEFORE any treatment is started. If you start off with

Igenex and it comes back a strong positive, then my feeling is that is a good

indicator that there are other infections at play. Igenex holds your sample for

about 30-days after your testing so if you need any 'co-infection' testing done

they have a 'clean' sample (i.e. no abx in your system).

Unfortunately my initial LLMD thought that we'd look into co-infections AFTER

tackling Lyme Disease, when in fact I had several 'co-infections' that were

causing problems with my treatment. Because abx. had been started and my German

tests were not done for an additional year... it was hard to tell if, for

example, my HME Erlichia that showed up as a 'past infection' had improved

because of the 1-year of abx. treatment, or if it truly was an 'old' infection

that I had somehow picked up as a stand alone infection.

Good luck!

/ Charolette :-)

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[Guest guest]

I do not know about garinii testing, but I do get regular C6 Peptide tests

drawn. After treatment they are supposed to be under one. At diagnaoses i

was 5 something, had oral and one month of IV antibiotics, by the time I had

the second IV therapy I was at 8 something, it went back down to 5 afterwards

lingered a little bit and then went right back to 7 and higher. I also had

numerous PCRs usually considered the best way to test for Lyme DNA, but mine

stayed negative. The really high numbers of the C^ did however make my doctors

put me back on IV all over again, they felt that the C6 Peptide antibody

test is a more accurate way of meassuring what the Lyme germs are doing, and

that they are indeed still present. The PCR test only besomes positive when

the

germs are aught as they are multiplyinig and shortly migrating through your

body fluids. You could have tons of hidden Lyme germs missed by PCR, but C6

will show how your body fights Lyme.

Dagmar

sick since 3-06, lots of neuro issues, doing IV the 3rd, hopefully final time

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