14 year old suicide victim, trying to understand blood tests.

Hello all,

I could greatly use some help and insight here. My 14 year old stepson
committed suicide three weeks ago. He had been suffering severe
depression and had made a suicide attempt 2 months prior. His
biological father and custodial parent had ignored the situation for
nearly two months before finally taking him to see their family doctor
for some routine blood work. The test results came back on the day he
killed himself. My question is regarding one of the areas that did come
up abnormal, and I have been having a heck of a time figuring out how
to interpret these results.

He was tested for CMV and EBV antibodies. The CMV was negative. The EBV
however was abnormal. These are the results from the lab that performed
the tests.


EBV Ab VCA, IgM - 11

EBV Ab VCA, IgG - 928

EBV Nuclear Antigen Ab, IgG - 1631

To the right as the reference interval it specified 0-99 as negative,
100 - 120 as equivocal and 120 or greater as positive. Everything I
seem to read refers to "titters" such as 10:1 etc... The physical who
had treated him stated that it simply meant that he had at one time had
Mononucleosis but that there was no current infection. I then asked
what would the next course of treatment had been had he not killed
himself and she stated "Nothing". That just kind of threw me. I would
think generally if a child is suffering from severe fatigue, depression
and had a prior suicicde attempt that there would be more specific
tests that you would run. Or is this just me being a greiving parent?
Do you usually just tell the kid "You're find, you must just be crazy.
Suck it up?"

Anyway, the point is can anyone provide an opinion as to how to read
these numbers? Should I be reading them as .928 and .1631? I won't
ramble further but any insight would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

On 17 Nov 2006 16:52:36 -0800, "mrconfusednumbdude"
<strakatwo@cox.net> wrote:

>Hello all,
>
>I could greatly use some help and insight here. My 14 year old stepson
>committed suicide three weeks ago. He had been suffering severe
>depression and had made a suicide attempt 2 months prior. His
>biological father and custodial parent had ignored the situation for
>nearly two months before finally taking him to see their family doctor
>for some routine blood work. The test results came back on the day he
>killed himself. My question is regarding one of the areas that did come
>up abnormal, and I have been having a heck of a time figuring out how
>to interpret these results.
>
>He was tested for CMV and EBV antibodies. The CMV was negative. The EBV
>however was abnormal. These are the results from the lab that performed
>the tests.
>
>
>EBV Ab VCA, IgM - 11
>
>EBV Ab VCA, IgG - 928
>
>EBV Nuclear Antigen Ab, IgG - 1631
>
>To the right as the reference interval it specified 0-99 as negative,
>100 - 120 as equivocal and 120 or greater as positive. Everything I
>seem to read refers to "titters" such as 10:1 etc... The physical who
>had treated him stated that it simply meant that he had at one time had
>Mononucleosis but that there was no current infection. I then asked
>what would the next course of treatment had been had he not killed
>himself and she stated "Nothing". That just kind of threw me. I would
>think generally if a child is suffering from severe fatigue, depression
>and had a prior suicicde attempt that there would be more specific
>tests that you would run. Or is this just me being a greiving parent?
>Do you usually just tell the kid "You're find, you must just be crazy.
>Suck it up?"
>
>Anyway, the point is can anyone provide an opinion as to how to read
>these numbers? Should I be reading them as .928 and .1631? I won't
>ramble further but any insight would be most appreciated.
>
>Thank you.

I am so very sorry for your loss.
I cannot interpret the blood test results but your stepson's
depression put him at greater risk of suicide.
Sometimes we search for answers and there is no "right" answer, no one
to blame.
If he had good psychiatric care things may have been different. Then
again, he still may have felt without hope.
Allow yourself to grieve.
Meryl

"Meryl" <meryl.nNOSPAM@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:em5tl252m5ifufnap9p7msiog9v5jublci@4ax.com...
On 17 Nov 2006 16:52:36 -0800, "mrconfusednumbdude"
<strakatwo@cox.net> wrote:

>Hello all,
>
>I could greatly use some help and insight here. My 14 year old stepson
>committed suicide three weeks ago. He had been suffering severe
>depression and had made a suicide attempt 2 months prior. His
>biological father and custodial parent had ignored the situation for
>nearly two months before finally taking him to see their family doctor
>for some routine blood work. The test results came back on the day he
>killed himself. My question is regarding one of the areas that did come
>up abnormal, and I have been having a heck of a time figuring out how
>to interpret these results.
>
>He was tested for CMV and EBV antibodies. The CMV was negative. The EBV
>however was abnormal. These are the results from the lab that performed
>the tests.
>
>
>EBV Ab VCA, IgM - 11
>
>EBV Ab VCA, IgG - 928
>
>EBV Nuclear Antigen Ab, IgG - 1631
>
>To the right as the reference interval it specified 0-99 as negative,
>100 - 120 as equivocal and 120 or greater as positive. Everything I
>seem to read refers to "titters" such as 10:1 etc... The physical who
>had treated him stated that it simply meant that he had at one time had
>Mononucleosis but that there was no current infection. I then asked
>what would the next course of treatment had been had he not killed
>himself and she stated "Nothing". That just kind of threw me. I would
>think generally if a child is suffering from severe fatigue, depression
>and had a prior suicicde attempt that there would be more specific
>tests that you would run. Or is this just me being a greiving parent?
>Do you usually just tell the kid "You're find, you must just be crazy.
>Suck it up?"
>
>Anyway, the point is can anyone provide an opinion as to how to read
>these numbers? Should I be reading them as .928 and .1631? I won't
>ramble further but any insight would be most appreciated.
>
>Thank you.

I would reiterate Meryls sentiments in that I'm very sorry to hear of your
situation. I am a medical provider and order EBV (or Epstein Barr Virus)
tests or Titres all the time. The 3 different tests tell different levels
of EBV in the blood, and all of them, when looked at together can tell if
the infection is acute or latent (past infection). These numbers indicate
that your son had been exposed to EBV at some time during his life, and he
probably never developed Mononucleosis Over 95% Of Americans have been at
some time and would have similar numbers to your son's. I assume his
physician checked both the CMV(cytomegalovirus) and the EBV levels to try to
explain and organic cause of yours sons depression. Both would cause
symptoms of depression if active infection was found but not severe enough
to have suicidal ideations. Hope this helps. Love and light to you.
Scott

On 17 Nov 2006 16:52:36 -0800, "mrconfusednumbdude"
<strakatwo@cox.net> wrote:

>"You're find, you must just be crazy.
>Suck it up?"

Those are the most harmful words available to a parent of a child who
panics. You can't just "suck it up". It isn't fear. It is irrational,
uncontrolable, and potentially fatal. You can treat a person who is
afraid of spiders by grading up exposure and education. Panic/anxiety
is not a matter of stress or fear (especially fear of any particular
thing(s)). Fear simply happens. It is NOT fear OF something. It is
simply the biological reaction of fear reacting, at least in "classic
cases", to nothing whatsoever.

Concerning your parenting, you did some good things. You did some bad
things too, but that, from what I'm hearing, is not your fault. It
takes time and education to deal with a panic victim. If a child is
crying out for help, he should be heard. If a child wants to die, he
will terminate his life. You were not parent long enough to know that
your response must have been immediate and involuntary
hospitilization.

I know it won't ease your pain at the moment, but your experience
hopefully will help train other parents. You did nothing wrong. It is
human nature to try to "love a child through his pain". It sounds like
you just came into the situation too late. The original parent,
however, I would look into finding a lawyer and charging with neglect
and wrongful death.

Blood tests cannot check for suicide, depression, anxiety. Only
post-mortem and very experimental tests can begin to understand this.
Don't look for an excuse. Just understand that you are not to blame.
Psychologically, it sounds like this child was harmed and in torment
before you stepped in. Physiologically, however, there's nothing you
could have done.

Grieve. Blame. Accept. Share. Let his death mean something. Don't
become a martyr, and don't ignore what happened. This sounds like a
story that needs to be shared, but only after you have dealt with it
yourself. He's not the only misunderstood p/a victim out there, and
he's not the last of its victims to take their own lives before life
has a chance to begin.

Love.