How often is a Positive ELISA correct?

[Hope75]

I have tried to google for answers to this question, but I can only seem to find how often there are false negatives with the ELISA. Mine is positive, so how often are there false positives?  Does anyone know?  Thanks:)

[Hope75]

Certainly you can put your two cents in!:) Yes, I have called them every day and left a message on their voice mail over the weekend.  They will tire of me calling I hope and call me back!

[jason80]

yup, it's a possibility. I need an identical twin with same illness so I can see what/if any changes occur when I take meds.

[patsy10]

I have to wonder...If you have lyme, did the steroids set it off??  I guess it's a question many of us ask all of the time....Do we or don't we have it??

[JackieCalifornia]

I hope you don't mind my putting in my 2 cents here.  You say:

"I guess the moral of the story is I have to get that Western Blot done.  My neuro hasn't called me back yet, so I pray he will order the test.  I think he will and I will update with the latest."

Please call his office and follow up until it gets ordered.  Dr's offices are not known for keeping track of all this -- they are on overload already, and there is NO one in the world who cares as much about getting that test ordered as you do.  

Don't be shy about calling.  Every day if necessary.  Politely.  But persistently.  You go, girl.

[Neuros in general have a reputation for not 'believing' in Lyme .....]

[jason80]

The 1-week oral prednisone reduced my 8mo long headache to the point where it effectively got rid of it for ~ year.  I also had a couple of corisone shots (one in my foot and one epidural) a couple months later to minimize pain due to a pinched nerve and bulging disk, respectively. A couple months later after that I began getting various neurologic symptoms that I still have.

The problem is that I don't have a good control so I cant really say I would be better or worse either way. The only thing that I can point to is that it seemed beneficial for helping with my headache.

[Hope75]

I will go read it now.  I have just been googling lyme ELISA and didn't even think about adding false positive.  I guess the moral of the story is I have to get that Western Blot done.  My neuro hasn't called me back yet, so I pray he will order the test.  I think he will and I will update with the latest.  Thanks and take care!

[patsy10]

Maybe in the short term because of the anti-inflammatory effect.  Steroids suppress the immune system so in diseases like lupus, where the body attacks itself, the steroids stop or lessen the auto attack.  With lyme steroids suppress the immune system which leads it to not be able to fight the infectious disease.  Thereby letting the spirochetes multiply unchecked.  So I think in the short run there could be a brief period of improved symptoms.  I have also read and my doctor told me about the anti-inflammatory effect of doxy.  Did you by chance get worse physically after the prednisone?

[jason80]

Can you give more explanation about getting worse on Lyme if it were steroid. I can see that one's immune system becomes more suppressed, but I also thought that the anti-inflammatory portion tends to probably make those with Lyme or Lupus both feel better in general (at least in short term?). I've heard that doxy also has an anti-inflammatory benefit which is why it may be beneficial. I have chronic headaches and I went on a stint of prednisone that eliminated it for several months. I was debating trying it again to see if this might help.

[patsy10]

I read the article.  So you see she also had an elevated sed rate and the outcome was lupus not lyme.  She also responded well to steroids which is typical in lupus but not lyme. She would have gotten worse if it were lyme.

[speechgeek]

This link has a research article that states only 2.3% of the time there was a false positive http://www.springerlink.com/content/u5x746x241880563/. I found numerous articles when I googled "ELISA false positive lyme."

How are you? Have yuo had a western blot yet?

Rebeccah