What else causes low CD57?

[Todd36]

it seems like there are a lot of people with questions related to CD57.  It would be nice to have a doctor give an overview of the marker, eh?

anyway, i got my CD57 back today and I clocked in at 40 but I'm still waiting on western blot.  My dr said that it wasn't that low but it was lower than average.  The scientific literature says 60-360 is the normal range.  My white blood cell count is normal, EMG and NCS are normal, brain and C-spine MRI normal, and neurological exams are normal, but I'm still dealing with strange, diffuse pain and muscle twitching with the recent development of eye and throat pressure.

Besides lyme disease, what else does a low CD57 point to?  I know it can be low for HIV but that's out of the quesiton for me as I've been married for 10, and I had an HIV test before I was married and I haven't have blood transfusion.  SO...what else does a supressed CD57 indicate?  High CD57 is indicative of cancer, but low????

your input is appreciated.

Thanks,
Todd

[JackieCalifornia]

Jenna,

You might want to also start a new thread so this new post is sure to be noticed.  You could say that a while back there was a long thread called 'What else causes low CD57', and this new thread is Part 2, so people can go back and read the earlier conversations for more background.  That way you reach everybody.  Just a thought.  (Your botox question is a good one.)

[Jenna522]

I don't know if anyone is still following this thread but if so, to anyone that had a low count on a CD57 test -- did you ever have Botox injections (or any other brand name for botulinum type A,  like Dysport) for any reason whether medical or cosmetic prior to becoming ill?

[jacali]

Very interesting that you ask that question.  I was perfectly healthy prior to having the injections, came down with flu symptoms and then got fibromyalgia 2 months later.

[JackieCalifornia]

Welcome to MedHelp Lyme --

I am sorry to learn of your son's illness.  

I have not read much about CD57 lately, and it is my impression that CD57 has not been has useful as hoped in diagnosing and tracking the recovery from Lyme disease.  Some physicians will still test for it, I think in order to gather as much information as possible, but it is apparently not the "always reliable" indicator it was hoped for.

Some physicians will follow a purely herbal treatment approach, as your son seems to be using, but other physicians in the US prefer to use antibiotic medicine.  My physician treated me with antibiotics only, and it worked well.  

I had Lyme and also babesiosis.  Has your son been tested for other infections often carried by the Lyme ticks (in addition to Lyme)?  They often require different medication than Lyme does.

Best wishes to your family -- please let us know how we can help.

[josalberts1961]

This a very old post. I've actually discovered this forum as I just received the CD57 value of my son who has been diagnosed with Lyme (and co-infections) three times in a row over the last 15 months.

Somebody advised me to check his CD57 levels. They just came back 209 !
No question that he has Lyme and for over 4 months now he is on a protocol of AB, Samento / Banderol / Cumanda & Reishi.......

The test was taken about two weeks into the above protocol, but he was already using Reishi - rather high level. Currently I'm reaching out to people with Lyme and low CD57 to try Reishi and see if it has a similar impact on them.

I have no other explanation than Reishi for this extremely highly CD57 level. The boy has been really, really sick for over 15 months and even unable to attend school at all for almost 4 months (19 year old now)

[JackieCalifornia]

I think how you treat an illness and what you treat an illness with makes a difference.  Different bacteria and viruses have different weaknesses that allow specific medication or herbs or radiation or whatever to kill the invader.  The human immune system is not born with all the antibodies needed to kill all the bacteria and viruses in the world, whether existing now or evolving in the future (like AIDS did).  The immune system can learn to fight particular infections, but it is not born with those specific antibodies in place.

[Kateaaaa]

I think it is a pea soup.  There is an article that postulates  how all of these chronic diseases like CFS, Fibro, Lyme, MS, Parkinson's, etc actually have multiple overlapping symptoms and none have a single definitive test.   Typically one or more pathogens are implicated but not consistently the same pathogens.  The article postulates that each disease is caused by multiple pathogens that have turned off the immune system as a survival mechanism.  This invites in still more pathogens.  The symptoms in each condition differ slightly based on the individual's particular pea soup recipe, which includes not just exposure to specific germs but also genetics and environment (toxins, physical trauma and surgery, nutrition, emotional stress, etc).  This makes sense to me.  The solution is in repairing our immune systems so our body can fight the invaders once and for all.  It doesn't matter what your diagnosis is ---if you have been ill for 20 years, is almost certainly a dysfunction of your immune system, or you would be over it by now.  The article is "immunostimulation in the era of the metagenome".
http://mpkb.org/home/publications/proal_molecular_2011

I have now been diagnosed with CFS, Fibro, and now Lyme.  They all feel the same to me.  :). Hopefully treating one treats them all.