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C3a/C4a test back from Jewish Health


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I just got my son's c3a/c4a test back from National Jewish Health. His C3a is normal (sorry, don't know the number) and his C4a is 8374. I was shocked as my son had the same test run through LabCorp and the results were normal. (Please, don't anyone order this test through LabCorp. It is very inferior to the Jewish Health version.)

 

Anyway, I am not sure what the numbers mean. I read that normal C3a/high C4a can mean chronic lyme as stated here:

 

http://conqueringthechallenge.blogspot.com/2010/06/when-complement-is-not-compliment-role.html

 

But I also thought that c3a normal/c4a high can mean mold. If it can mean mold, can someone tell me what mold tests to order to test further for mold? I have seen Dr. Shoemaker's site, but the list is too long. Which are the important mold tests? And who do you see to treat mold? A lyme doctor? Shoemaker?

 

My son's IGENEX test was questionable and his CD57 is 100.

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I just got my son's c3a/c4a test back from National Jewish Health. His C3a is normal (sorry, don't know the number) and his C4a is 8374. I was shocked as my son had the same test run through LabCorp and the results were normal. (Please, don't anyone order this test through LabCorp. It is very inferior to the Jewish Health version.)

 

Anyway, I am not sure what the numbers mean. I read that normal C3a/high C4a can mean chronic lyme as stated here:

 

http://conqueringthechallenge.blogspot.com/2010/06/when-complement-is-not-compliment-role.html

 

But I also thought that c3a normal/c4a high can mean mold. If it can mean mold, can someone tell me what mold tests to order to test further for mold? I have seen Dr. Shoemaker's site, but the list is too long. Which are the important mold tests? And who do you see to treat mold? A lyme doctor? Shoemaker?

 

My son's IGENEX test was questionable and his CD57 is 100.

Thank you for the info. on Labcorp. We used Jewish Health the first time and this time we used Labcorp. Labcorp took forever and the doctor's office had to call them to get the results sent. Now doctor wants to meet with us over them so not sure what the numbers are.

 

The first time son's C3a was in the normal range and C4a was 2,632 (0-2,830). The most recent C4a is 139 (5 mos. later) so treatment is doing a great job. His doctor thought the C4a was probably quite a bit higher before the testing because of mold but had been lowered with treatment. The 'DNA portion' of the test revealed a low MSH (which we already knew), Borrelia and post lyme. Will look at the new test results (5 mos. later) on these tomorrow. CD57 was 24.

 

Body mold testing. The tests that son's doctor ordered were (will be looking at results of all of these again tomorrow):

 

'HLA DR by PCR+MSH+VIP; TSH+T4F+T3Free; Human Trans. Growth Fact. beta 1; Venipunture.'

 

You can find info. on these on-line as well as in Dr. Shoemaker's book (I believe he has some added to this list).

 

Son has been in old portables at his school for 6 years and there was some removed/found in our house so not sure where all the exposure was coming from. Asked the doctor if mold removed years ago could be part of the problem and she thought that was possible. We also found a bit more (not large amounts) after doing some remodeling and found some on the back of an artist painting that had traveled to S. Africa, a bit in the kitchen and bath.

 

Home Mold Testing. The first and least expensive thing to do is a thorough investigation of your home. Bathrooms/kitchens/crawl spaces/attic are hot spots for mold. Make sure area is completely sealed off before removal and cleaned thoroughly afterwards before opening to the rest of the house. A very good respirator is also necessary when doing the work. There are a couple of books for this on Amazon.com but we did not order them. Could have used them years ago when other mold was removed before we were more educated about the process. My dh did all the work and did a much better job this time around after the education. Then, once you are satisfied that the house is in order (or before, if you want to find out quickly) is order an ERMI test for $300. PM me if you need more info. but there was a recent thread that had the website on it.

 

My son's ND is treating him for the 'mold exposure/illness' and ordered some of the tests recommended by Dr. Shoemaker. She had a phone consult with him to decipher the test results since his research is pretty newly published and is some of the most up-to-date info. that you will find. My son's dr. did have a few different opinions about Shoemaker's info. but was impressed with his overall research.

 

Maybe, Familyof5 will chime in (or you can look at some of her threads on the forum) here as she has actually been to see Dr. Shoemaker and has been a valuable source of information for all of this. (Thank you Familyof5 - you are a gem!)

 

Best wishes on recovery!

Edited by JuliaFaith
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Thank you so much for the info.

 

What are your son's symptoms of mold? My son's only real symptom of anything has been severe OCD. He is 100% healthy. The only other symptom he has is that he does get cold very easily when he goes outside (especially his hands)--unusually so for his age.

 

Did your son have lyme and mold? Is it pretty common to have both?

 

Also was wondering if you (or anyone else who's reading this) ran the visual contrast sensitivity (VCR) test through the Surviving Mold website.

 

Wishing your son a speedy recovery too!

Edited by Christianmom
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What are your son's symptoms of mold? My son's only real symptom of anything has been severe OCD. He is 100% healthy. The only other symptom he has is that he does get cold very easily when he goes outside (especially his hands)--unusually so for his age.

 

Did your son have lyme and mold? Is it pretty common to have both?

 

Also was wondering if you (or anyone else who's reading this) ran the visual contrast sensitivity (VCR) test through the Surviving Mold website.

 

Wishing your son a speedy recovery too!

My son's symptoms have been different from a lot on this forum and I finally figured out why. He does not seem to have Bartonella. You can see the list of his diagnosis on the signature line. It is only common to have lyme and mold if you have lyme and mold. Not everyone has mold issues and not everyone has lyme issues, just ones who are living/working etc. in a moldy or water-damaged environment have mold issues. It just seems that if you get lyme, for example, it can affect your immune system, which in turn, lets a lot of things in your body mutliply etc.

 

Lyme and mold have similar symptoms. My son's symptoms are flu-like (got rid of cough and tic earlier in treatment). They are getting less and less but he is not fully there yet after a year of treatment. We only found the mold issues (although dr. kept mentioning them) 5 months ago after blood tests, so started more treatment for mold at that point. Have read (somewhere) that mold illness can be worse than lyme.

 

My son is very warm most of the time so asked dr. and she said it was the lyme so not sure about your son being cold.

 

Just posted a new topic on mold which is a short outline of Dr. S's ideas if you are interested. Hope these answer your questions.

Edited by JuliaFaith
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Hi- yes, Julia and family of 5 really have the great info. and knowledge of mold.

I have been dragged into the mold issue kicking and screaming.

My C4a was unGodly, 19,440. My Dr. said it could be my chronic Lyme, or mold.

I believe <2,500 or so is 'normal'.

In an effort to save us money, since we pay cash for everything as this point, my dd did not have the C4a test done yet, but, she did have the HLA test done, and came back with the 'dreaded gene type', meaning she does not detox mold or Lyme well- also 2 other tests, one a stool test, one a Zyto test done by a very gifted individual, indicated high mold for her-

We are both detoxing mold with a CMS powder (Rx)

My LLMD is very knowledgeable about this whole issue-is handling it.

We had a mold inspection, an area in our garage under the water heater fixed, 2 years ago I finally got rid of a moldy front loader washing machine, and tomorrow I send in our EMRI test kits.

I had the Shoemaker eye test done at my Dr.s office, will find out in a few weeks how I scored, but I don't think I did to well on it.

By the way, my dd and I are the only people in CA without seasonal allergies, never sniffles, never coughs.

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We had a mold inspection, an area in our garage under the water heater fixed, 2 years ago I finally got rid of a moldy front loader washing machine, and tomorrow I send in our EMRI test kits.

 

We moved to the house we are in 3 years ago. It is the newest house we have ever owned, built in 1990. It doesn't appear to have any mold issues. Basement stayed dry even through a recent hurricane. My son's sort of "strange acting" that was his first signs of OCD actually started before we moved into our current home. How do we know which home caused him to get a mold reaction? Is it possible it was our last home? Or since we moved from that home, would it have to be our current home that is causing my son's problems?

 

Our church, however, has mold problems as the basement floods every year. Could our church be the problem? How would we know?

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My experience, with myself, my husband, and all my children, is that if you are sick enough to find your way to this forum, it is generally not a place you may visit once or twice a week that is making you sick. It is a CHRONIC, long term, exposure that has made you ill. It is more than likely the place where you are spending the most time. I spent a lot of time accusing the school of causing my dd's illness, when in reality, it turned out to be my home. None of us want to believe that the home we feel safe in, and is our pride and joy and largest life investment could actually be making you sick. Believe me, it can. Look everywhere until you find it. Our mold looked like dust on our attic rafters. Dust. For years we just though it was dust, but it was actually toxic mold. Without obvious visual mold, ERMI testing is your best starting point.

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How long did it take to get your results back? We are waiting for our results which were drawn 4 weeks ago through Labcorp. My son's first tests were through Jewish Health so it is somewhat frustrating that these will not be a clear comparison since it's going to be a different lab. I think I saw on our last labs that going forward, Labcorp would be doing the tests at their own lab?

 

 

Thank you for the info. on Labcorp. We used Jewish Health the first time and this time we used Labcorp. Labcorp took forever and the doctor's office had to call them to get the results sent. Now doctor wants to meet with us over them so not sure what the numbers are.

 

 

Edited by justinekno
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ERMI testing is your best starting point.

 

Can I do ERMI testing myself, or do I need to get a professional involved? Should I wait until further mold tests (MSH, HLA, etc.) are run on my son to make sure it is mold and not lyme or something else causing the elevated c4a?

Yes - you can easily do the ERMI test yourself. I did not know that and spent a bunch of time looking for someone to do it only to eventually find out from Mycometrics that it was very easy to do yourself and send in the test results.

 

If you are not sure about mold exposure/illness I would wait until more tests are done on your son but in the meantime start looking around at your home very closely to see if anything is noticeable. Energy testing was our first indicator and then we used petri dishes from Home Depot (house looked o.k. with these), then when mold kept showing up in ART testing, we did ERMI, found a higher mold count, then did MSH, HLA, VIP, etc. tests on son.

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How long did it take to get your results back? We are waiting for our results which were drawn 4 weeks ago through Labcorp. My son's first tests were through Jewish Health so it is somewhat frustrating that these will not be a clear comparison since it's going to be a different lab. I think I saw on our last labs that going forward, Labcorp would be doing the tests at their own lab?

 

After 4 weeks, I asked doctor's office to call them. They called and immediately were faxed the results. It does sound like they do the test themselves now. Our recent results were in line with treatment.

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