igenex sensitivity

[eljomom]

Hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, but why are Igenex tests more sensitive? Does that possibly make them more sensitive in the sense that they are picking up cross-reactive things? Like some viruses that are known to also trigger positive bands on Lyme tests?

[MichaelTampa]

First of all, part of why they find more is they simply look more. There are a couple bands that the other labs simply do not test for, wherease IGeneX tests for them. These are not stray irrelevant bands, they are key bands, so key that vaccines were developed based on the proteins/antibodies involved. The other labs avoid testing to go along with CDC recommendation, which was given because CDC doesn't want people testing as positive simply because they were given the vaccine. Of course this is just stupid reasoning, the vaccine was given to a few thousand stray people over a decade ago, but that is how it happened.

 

There are other reasons, maybe they are more "sensitive", that, I have read about, but do not remember the details.

[LNN]

Under Helpful threads, there are links to some articles that may help. None of the lyme labs are foolproof - lots of reasons why. But as Michael said, Igenex is "better" than a standard lab using CDC criteria because some of the antibodies they look for are lyme specific (31, 39) and CDC western blots intentionally don't look for these due to the horribly out of date reasoning that the lyme vaccine would cause healthy people to test positive. The vaccine was a total failure and was pulled off the market after only 2 yrs in 2002(?). Many believe that if you test positive for 31 or 39, it doesn't matter how many other bands are positive. You probably have lyme.

 

The lyme path is no easier than Pandas. The "cure" is just as elusive, expensive and gut wrenching. Like Pandas, you have to learn as much as you can, sort thru hypotheses and conventional wisdom and misinformation and trust your gut. Like Pandas, all the theories in the world only take you so far. The proof is in the pudding. When they get well, you've found your answers - for either disease. In the meantime, you post on forums