I wasnt clear. According to ArcPoint, my IgM was .49, and positive is above 1.

What is IgM measuring, exactly?

And how would mine be .49 without some kind of exposure/infection?

What is a typical baseline here?

Cant Think of a Name said:

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And how would mine be .49 without some kind of exposure/infection?

What is a typical baseline here?

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Your body could just randomly crank out some IgM that happen to show up on the test. Remember no test is perfect there are false negatives and positives for every test.

The only one to really know is to restest in 5-7 days. You could be presymptomatic or it could be nothing.

Assuming this is an ELISA test they are using to detect antibodies from your sample.

.49 is just the readout, probably normalized to controls if 1 is the cut off for yes/no. It could just be background and not significant, not that you have some/any COVID IgM antibodies.

I am negative too.

I guess I'll keep washing my hands. .

I'm thinking about getting my family tested. How much was your test?

TexAgs91 said:

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I'm thinking about getting my family tested. How much was your test?

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$175

I went to the same place he mentioned in the OP.

Even if you have the full Covid test, all it tells you is that you did not have it on the day tested. You could get it the next day. Even if you have the immunity, since we really do not know how long it lasts, it just means you are immune now. Maybe not by August, maybe for life, who knows..

From my email today at St Jo in Aggieland. This is IgG only they are still validating IgM.

Quote:

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We do not know about insurance coverage, and the self-pay cost is $10.15 plus the usual venipuncture.

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3rd Generation Ag said:

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Even if you have the full Covid test, all it tells you is that you did not have it on the day tested. You could get it the next day. Even if you have the immunity, since we really do not know how long it lasts, it just means you are immune now. Maybe not by August, maybe for life, who knows..

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I know that we don't know, but I feel like if you are immune today, even if those antibody levels drop some if you get exposed in six months you'll have some protection and will either not get sick when exposed again or have a mild case because your body has faced it previously. I can't remember where I read it but some scientist or maybe a texags expert said if you keep getting exposed to the virus as the pandemic goes on each exposure might act like a booster shot on a vaccine that makes you more resistant to the virus.

That makes sense.

Cant Think of a Name said:

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Ok. I retested from the same lab. Now queue Tom Petty's "The Waiting is the Hardest Part"

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You results will be interesting to see.

Got the results. Except they sent it to a different lab this time, and instead of getting the raw numbers, i just got "negative"

Whats weird is the first lab had a 1.0 AU/ml cutoff for positive on both IgM and IgG. The second lab had a 1.0 positive cutoff for IgM, but a .2 positive cutoff for IgG.

It wouldnt have changed my results from the first test to positive, but it shows the arbitrariness of cutoffs on a mew disease. At least in my humble opinion.

I'm going for another test with the Abbott test. I'll post the results.

Had the Abbott test Tuesday. Negative. This despite exposure to many patients and at least one positive co-worker. I even worked next to her the day she started running a fever. A few days later I had a bad headache, some chills, and in general just didn't feel good. Kind of surprised the test was negative, but I guess it was something else.

Incidentally discovered my liver enzymes, bilirubin, and monocytes were all elevated. So I guess it's a good thing I had some blood work done.

Had the Cellex rapid test on Sunday. Negative.

Kind of thought there might have been a chance since I had flu symptoms for several days in late February but the flu test came back negative.

Moxley said:

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Had the Abbott test Tuesday. Negative. This despite exposure to many patients and at least one positive co-worker. I even worked next to her the day she started running a fever. A few days later I had a bad headache, some chills, and in general just didn't feel good. Kind of surprised the test was negative, but I guess it was something else.

Incidentally discovered my liver enzymes, bilirubin, and monocytes were all elevated. So I guess it's a good thing I had some blood work done.

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How long ago was your exposure? Usually takes roughly 3 weeks to develop IgG, 5-7 days for IgM.

First week of April for the highest risk exposure. Felt bad for a few days the 2nd week of April.

Moxley said:

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First week of April for the highest risk exposure. Felt bad for a few days the 2nd week of April.

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Yup you had something else.

Went and got tested with the Abbott test yesterday. Will report results.

How did you identify a lab that was utilizing the Abbot test?

Called them. Quest diagnostics.

So are the Cellex tests not worth doing? My wife was positive about 7 weeks ago and I was sick at the same time. My Dr. didn't suggest getting tested because I was not having major issues. I was thinking about getting the Cellex test tomorrow because it's covered by insurance.

Negative again.

RandyAg98 said:

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Negative again.

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Gonna get your wife tested again?

I was just tested via the Cellex quick test and the results were negative. I find this hard to believe as my wife tested positive about 8 weeks ago and I was never isolated from her. I had many of the same symptoms and nagging cough for about two weeks. I never lost my sense of taste which my wife did for about 2 days. I know that has been a big indicator. It's just so weird for as contagious as this is, that I could kiss and hug a person with it and not get it. I just thought I would share my experience.

jpistolero02 said:

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I was just tested via the Cellex quick test and the results were negative. I find this hard to believe as my wife tested positive about 8 weeks ago and I was never isolated from her. I had many of the same symptoms and nagging cough for about two weeks. I never lost my sense of taste which my wife did for about 2 days. I know that has been a big indicator. It's just so weird for as contagious as this is, that I could kiss and hug a person with it and not get it. I just thought I would share my experience.

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This is the big unknown right now and some data is suggesting that the mild and/or asymptomatic cases have very low titers and likely are not immune. It is not yet proven but the trend is showing that unless you get a fairly severe case you are likely not immune according to titers.

But again we do not yet know what titer level is protective or how long that protection will last. This is a problem with new viruses.

That's very interesting. I never had breathing trouble. My symptoms were nagging cough, congestion, nauseousness, low grade fever for a few days and headaches for about a week. I suppose I could have just had something else. I never felt bad enough to not work from home the whole time. My wife had congestion, cough, low grade fever, tiredness and the loss of taste for about 2 days. She also continued to work from home. This whole thing is very interesting on the symptoms and who it impacts.