I’ve been sick over 2 month.

Posted by kellymata3 @kellymata3, Sep 29, 2023

I’ve been sick for over two months with er dr saying I have Lyme disease. Went to see infectious disease specialist last week . Did blood work. Now my mychart coming back with all the results. I’ve googled the red flags and my mind thinks leukemia .
EBV Nuclear Antigen Ab, IgG Over 600

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Lori, Volunteer Mentor | @loribmt | Sep 29, 2023

Hi @kellymata3 Welcome to Mayo Connect. It’s awful you’ve been feeling so ill for two months so I’m sure you’re desperate for answers. But searching Dr. Google is leading you down a rabbit hole filled with stress. As a former leukemia patient who’s read a ton of blood reports, your blood numbers are pretty much in the normal range and not reflective of leukemia. So you can exhale.

However, if your EBV antigen level is elevated that means you have either an active or reactivated Ebstein Barr Viral infection. It can make you feel horrible and has a number of nasty side effects.

~Information about EBV
https://www.healthline.com/health/epstein-barr-virus

Here’s a discussion in the forum from @ish who had the same results you received with your EBV antigen level, along with replies from other members:
Epstein Barr Nuclear AG AB IGG result of over 600

https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/epstein-barr-nuclear-ag-ab-igg-result-of-over-600/

You’ve also mentioned that you tested positive for Lyme disease. Just because you didn’t see a tick bite or feel anything doesn’t mean a thing. The nits or babies of a black footed tick or deer tick are incredibly tiny and often negligible but just as dangerous as the adults. You may not have gotten the recognizable bullseye rash or any other indication of the bite if it happened in an area such as your hair where you wouldn’t be aware of the bite. If you did test positive, your doctor will put you on a course of antibiotics, most likely doxycycline for several weeks to a month. Recently a young friend of mine went through similar. She was getting progressively more ill for weeks. Tests showed she was positive for Lyme. With medication she is now fine.

Have you had a followup visit with the infectious disease doctor yet or just looking at your numbers from the portal? Have you started treatment for the Lyme disease?

kellymata3 | @kellymata3 | Sep 30, 2023

Yes I been on 2 rounds of antibiotics. I see the ID specialist in two weeks.

Lori, Volunteer Mentor | @loribmt | Sep 30, 2023

In reply to @kellymata3 "Yes I been on 2 rounds of antibiotics. I see the ID specialist in two weeks." + (show)

It’s good you’ve started the antibiotics. Hopefully it takes care of the Lyme’s disease and knocks it out of your system. It will be interesting to meet with the infectious disease specialist to see if they can narrow down what’s going on in your body.
If you have both Lyme’s disease and a relapse/activation of EBV you’re getting a double whammy. From my understanding, because of the virulence of Lyme’s in creating an immune system response and the potential lowering of immunity, it can allow the re-emergence of ‘reactivation’ of some latent viruses. Basically, when our bodies get weakened by illness, then viruses in our system can resurface. I went through that with my bone marrow transplant. My donor had CMV, another virus. I didn’t, so when I got his cells I inherited his latent virus. It did re-emerge but as my immune system grew stronger it controlled the CMV and put it to rest again. So hopefully that will happen for you with the EBV.
Will you let me know what you find out from your ID specialist?