Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
March 28, 2024, 07:01:18 pm

Login with username, password and session length


Members
Stats
  • Total Posts: 772946
  • Total Topics: 66310
  • Online Today: 441
  • Online Ever: 5484
  • (June 18, 2021, 11:15:29 pm)
Users Online
Users: 0
Guests: 331
Total: 331

Welcome


Welcome to the POZ Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and others concerned about HIV/AIDS.  Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning:  Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

  • The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own physician.

  • All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

  • Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators of these forums. Click here for “Do I Have HIV?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ community forums.

  • We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are true and correct to their knowledge.

  • Product advertisement—including links; banners; editorial content; and clinical trial, study or survey participation—is strictly prohibited by forums members unless permission has been secured from POZ.

To change forums navigation language settings, click here (members only), Register now

Para cambiar sus preferencias de los foros en español, haz clic aquí (sólo miembros), Regístrate ahora

Finished Reading This? You can collapse this or any other box on this page by clicking the symbol in each box.

Author Topic: Labs are in, but...???  (Read 3790 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline livingpositively

  • Member
  • Posts: 369
Labs are in, but...???
« on: July 06, 2006, 08:09:32 pm »
I got my 2nd set of lab results today.  ??? ??? ???

Drawn 6/23/06 midafternoon:

CD4 530
CD4% 29
VL 83,800

First labs were drawn 3/23/06 midafternoon:

CD4 555
CD4% 28
VL 13,000

So YAY!!!, my % went up.  CD4 count, although less, probably insignificant.  VL...ouch...but I realize not a "WTF amount".  So, I'm ok with this......for now.   :-\

My question is the first VL test was PCR and this last one was "HIV Ultra Sensitive".  Is the "Ultra Sens" the same as bDNA?  Does anyone know.  And if that's the case, because the PCR apparently returns a VL double that of the bDNA, then I'm kind of saying, "WTF?!".  Doc doesn't seem too terribly concerned about it, and I know with only two draws, I haven't been able to establish a trend etc, etc, etc.  Really just wondering if anyone knows if this ultra sensitive test equates bDNA.

Thanks all,

Shane
4/6/07   CD4 450, % 23, No VL
2/19/07 CD4 487, % 26, VL 47,500
1/4/07   CD4 357, % 27, No VL
10/3/06 CD4 500, % 26, VL 18,000
7/6/06   CD4 530, % 29, VL 83,800
4/6/06   CD4 555, % 28, VL 13,000

Offline newt

  • Member
  • Posts: 3,900
  • the one and original newt
Re: Labs are in, but...???
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2006, 08:27:49 pm »
There's 3 types of viral load test:

* Reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test
* Branched DNA (bDNA) assay test
* Nucleic acid (NASBA) assay test

Ultra sensitive will probably refer to a PCR test that counts down to 50 copies or less. But it could, eg mean a bDNA test like the ultra-sensitive Quantiplex 3.0 or sommat. Ask.  It's important because a straight comparison test on test really needs the same (kind of) assay each time.

Vira load on PCR varies by a factor of 3 so your 2 VL results could easily mean a level number.

- matt
« Last Edit: July 06, 2006, 08:30:09 pm by newt »
"The object is to be a well patient, not a good patient"

Offline livingpositively

  • Member
  • Posts: 369
Re: Labs are in, but...???
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2006, 10:15:06 pm »
Thanks, Matt:

I didn't realize that there were two separate PCR tests, one just being more sensitive than the other.  If that's the case, I feel much better.  I will definitely be calling my doc tomorrow to get that clarified.

Thanks again,

Shane
4/6/07   CD4 450, % 23, No VL
2/19/07 CD4 487, % 26, VL 47,500
1/4/07   CD4 357, % 27, No VL
10/3/06 CD4 500, % 26, VL 18,000
7/6/06   CD4 530, % 29, VL 83,800
4/6/06   CD4 555, % 28, VL 13,000

Offline lydgate

  • Member
  • Posts: 1,022
  • Virgin, can't drive
Re: Labs are in, but...???
« Reply #3 on: July 07, 2006, 01:44:04 am »
There are many versions of PCR VL "assays" -- some used in research labs are ultra-ultrasensitive and can detect down to 1 copy. The two most commonly used commercially have detectability thresholds of 400 copies and 50 copies respectively; so "undetectable" means something different depending on which test has been used. The 400-threshold test is cheaper, so if that's an issue, and if you're not going on HAART, you can stick to that one.

I agree that the CD4 difference is not significant at all. But the VL is greater than three times your previous result. Were you experiencing a transient infection at the time the blood was drawn (like a cold) that could have affected the results? All in all, though, these are good, solid numbers. What you've told yourself about only two blood draws and trends is bang-on; I wouldn't worry.

Jay
Her finely-touched spirit had still its fine issues, though they were not widely visible. Her full nature, like that river of which Cyrus broke the strength, spent itself in channels which had no great name on the earth. But the effect of her being on those around her was incalculably diffusive: for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.

George Eliot, Middlemarch, final paragraph

Offline Ann

  • Administrator
  • Member
  • Posts: 28,134
  • It just is, OK?
    • Num is sum qui mentiar tibi?
Re: Labs are in, but...???
« Reply #4 on: July 07, 2006, 04:10:22 am »
Shane,

Don't stress that VL too much. Mine have been all over the place since I've been monitored. They've never been over 50-60,000 something, except for one time when it came back at 90,000 something. Turns out that time they were using a different test that time. Your CD4 and % are great and you could go for years without meds on numbers like those - I have. Nine years now, to be exact. Hang in there!

Ann
Condoms are a girl's best friend

Condom and Lube Info  

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Offline livingpositively

  • Member
  • Posts: 369
Re: Labs are in, but...???
« Reply #5 on: July 07, 2006, 11:00:44 pm »
Thanks Jay and Ann,

I'm working on not stressing the vl too much.   :)  I have read enough on here, thanks to eveyone's generosity of self in sharing their stories and experiences, to know that little "shit" happens here and there and I don't have enough labs to have established any trends - and that seems to be what's important.

These forums not only provide a family and support network, but what an education as well.  Thanks all.

Shane
4/6/07   CD4 450, % 23, No VL
2/19/07 CD4 487, % 26, VL 47,500
1/4/07   CD4 357, % 27, No VL
10/3/06 CD4 500, % 26, VL 18,000
7/6/06   CD4 530, % 29, VL 83,800
4/6/06   CD4 555, % 28, VL 13,000

 


Terms of Membership for these forums
 

© 2024 Smart + Strong. All Rights Reserved.   terms of use and your privacy
Smart + Strong® is a registered trademark of CDM Publishing, LLC.