Ive just looked in the FAQ section and can’t see a subject relating to antibodies - although I’m sure there have been other questions about this.
I recently had to change my doctor’s practice and have today had a review of my medication. The review went fine and then I mentioned that I have an appointment tomorrow morning for my 3rd Covid vaccination and wondered how I could find out whether I had developed any antibodies. She explained that this was something she didn’t know and didn’t know where I could find out. So, I’m hoping that someone here will be able to give me some information.
Incidentally, thank you so much to all you lovely people who commented on my birthday last Saturday. I just wanted to assure you that, by the following morning, I looked more like 91 than 81 🤣
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Janann25
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The FAQs - like this forum in general - are related to PMR and GCA. There are no antibodies formed in GCA/PMR which have been identified so there are no links for that under FAQs.
However - if you look at the Related Posts list (to the right of the screen on my computer though I'm not sure where on phone) there are quite a lot of posts about antibodies.
Being part of the ZOE study does lead to various tests which are providing info for their research. You can purchase antibody tests, but you have to have the right one and they aren't particularly reliable. They haven't yet completed the research to show what level of antibodies is of any use.
Thank you. I can remember reading something about antibodies and people who are immunosuppressed not always having a good result from the vaccination. It looks very much as though this research is still very new so I won’t pursue this at the moment. There’s so much research going on at the moment, I find it hard trying to keep up with it.
Done…..but as PMRpro rightly says not sure how reliable or accurate they are….just says yes or no to whether you have antibodies. Which is an answer I suppose, but a yes response is still a bit woolly!
It has a specificity of 98.8%, meaning that out of 1000 people, 12 will receive a positive result when they've not developed COVID-19 antibodies (a false positive result). False positives may be due to the test detecting antibodies in those who have previously been infected with similar viruses.
It has a sensitivity of 99.8%, meaning that out of 1000 people who have COVID-19 antibodies, 998 will test positive but 2 will test negative (a false negative). False negatives can be due to low levels of the antibody at different stages of the immune response.
Studies suggest COVID-19 antibodies can remain six months after having the infection. It's thought that the vaccine will have a similar effect. But no vaccine or antibody test is 100% effective, so there's a chance you'll test negative even though you've had the vaccine.
Thank you for that. I’ve contributed daily to the Zoe App since it was first introduced so that’s probably where I actually read initially about antibodies.
My husband and I have both been part of Virus Watch since the beginning of the pandemic and send in information every week about how we are regarding the Covid virus. After having the vaccinations we now have to send blood samples in once a month for antibody testing as well. We get a reply by email that shows that we are showing antibodies but not a percentage. It is probably these results that they use for research to ascertain how well protected we are. We are both over 70years old.
I did the Roche test via Testing for All, a charity offering testing. testingforall.org/product/c... did the S Protein test. It was £49 and I knew the info about not knowing what level would offer protection etc but really wanted some idea. It came back with 30 U/ml which is pretty low when some produce in the thousands. We also get protection from B and T cells so it’s not the full picture. At the time of first jab I was on 15mg methotrexate weekly and 8mg prednisolone.
I’m off for my 3rd primary dose tomorrow so intend doing another antibody test in a month to see if it’s helped.
Thank you. I’ve just been for my 3rd vaccination this morning. For the first time, I actually felt the injection and my arm is already sore (didn’t have any problems with first two) so I will definitely investigate antibodies once this has settled down.
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