Simple Facts For A Complex Disease: Lyme In The News

2.Evidence now exists which demonstrates Lyme can be transmitted from the saliva of the tick the instant the tick bites its next victim. While some doctors in Court B will argue this fact, by saying it takes upwards of 12 to 48 hours for the embedded tick to spread B. burgdorferi. This is a lie. The new evidence supersedes the old outdated sources.

3. Scientists have long suspected, B. burgdorferi can be transferred gestationally since other spirochetes most notably Syphilis are known to cross the blood-brain barrier but also the placenta barrier, which can result in miscarriage, stillborn births, a host of birth defects. If the fetuses are viable children they are generally born with Lyme disease. B. burgdorferi  is also believed to pass Lyme disease through the mother’s milk to her infant. And as a child continues to grow, they will likely develop arthritis symptoms mirroring Rheumatoid arthritis, autoimmune diseases, and numerous food and drug allergies. As the child develops more symptoms develop, similar to those with Stage Two Lyme Disease and Late Stage or Chronic Lyme Disease. For a list of symptoms see– Symptoms of Lyme Disease and Three Co-Infections.

4. Lyme disease could possibly be a sexually transmitted disease.“The presence of the Lyme spirochete in genital secretions and identical strains in married couples strongly suggests that sexual transmission of the disease occurs,” said Dr. Mayne. Spirochetes have been found in both the vaginal fluid of women and seminal fluids of males. And considering it’s cousin Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease this only make sense Lyme disease could potentially fall into this category as well, although it is not the primary vector of the disease – Black-legged ticks are. On the east coast and in the mid west Ixodes scapularis is the primary variety and on the West Coast I. pacificus.

5. As with the above news segment with Dr. Duggan, other MDs and she are either dismissive of their patient’s symptoms or will explain Lyme disease can be easily treated with a short to 30-day course of antibiotics and in rare cases may require another dose. If this were true, there wouldn’t be so many people with the chronic form of the disease. According to the CDC, there isn’t, because chronic Lyme disease does not exist. Yet they have renamed the disease as Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome or (PTLDS). This view is the belief of the CDC, IDSA, and many MDs within the medical community.

While the CDC is firm there is no chronic form of the disease, they estimate 10 to 20 percent of those treated for Lyme disease with the recommended two-to-four week course of antibiotics continue to have symptoms they refer to as PTLDS. However, new research suggests a prolonged illness associated with Lyme disease in close to 63 percent of all patients. This chronic form of Lyme disease is more widespread and serious than previously understood.

6. With an estimated 300,000 to 440,000 new cases of the tick-borne illness diagnosed every year, the researchers determined Lyme disease costs the U.S. health care system between $712 million and $1.3 billion a year — or nearly $3,000 per patient on average — in return doctor visits and testing, most likely to investigate the cause of some patients’ lingering symptoms of fatigue, musculoskeletal pain and memory problems. These visits come after patients have finished their original course of antibiotic treatment. These figures do not take into account long-term costs of care for those with chronic Lyme because nearly all insurance companies do not cover the costs of additional treatment. From personal experience and from others treated for Lyme, costs can range from $3,000 to $10,000 a month – even more, depending on their treatment and where they receive it. If patients choose to be admitted to a clinic for treatment or travel overseas to be treated costs can be considerably more. This is per patient. Imagine if more than one person in the family has the disease, the costs could feasibly bankrupt them and cause them forgo further treatment as they would not be able to pay for care. How sad that in a society with more and more doctors especially NDs who can treat the disease and the necessary tools to do so can’t or aren’t because treatment is simply out of reach for so many people. Lyme disease is indeed one if not the most expensive diseases to treat and people are not receiving the care or treatment they deserve due to a lack of money, lack of government support, and lack of insurance companies willingness to pay for treatment. For most people reaching remission is no easy feat and it will be costly as Medical insurance does not cover treatment. Insurance may cover a limited amount of antibiotics and office visits but does not pay for the treatment beyond that.

8. The CDC admits the number of Lyme cases are under-reported and suggests there are between 300,000 to half a million new cases each year or more per year. This makes Lyme disease twice as common as breast cancer and six times more prevalent than HIV/AIDS. Yet the funding for Lyme disease is $23 million annually versus $1.3 Billion for HIV/AIDS.

9. Some Allopathic MDs may tell you Lyme does not exist in your area, when the truth is, it has been found in all 50 states. It seems they don’t account for the fact people travel in and out of endemic areas all the time. And birds and deer regularly carry the disease across state borders.

11. Diagnostic tests are problematic and often lead to misdiagnosing the disease. This is due to unreliable diagnostic tests in the early stages of infection. The body has not had sufficient time to build antibodies for the disease at this stage and interestingly don’t appear in many of those with late stages of the disease either. Test results can take weeks and often give false negative results. ELISA has a mere 30% accuracy rate. The Western Blot is required by the CDC only if a patient tests positive with the ELISA test. Testing methods need to improve in order for patients to receive a reliable test result especially if they have Lyme but no positive test. Therefore, treatment should begin immediately upon suspicion of the disease (exposure, tick bite, rash, flu-like symptoms) especially if living in an endemic area. Scientists are working on a few different testing methods for the disease – one is via urine test for the early detection of Lyme disease and the other is through a more sophisticated genetic test.

13. An accurate diagnosis can take years. I find it both curious and frustrating Lyme and common co-infections like Bartonella, Babesia, Mycoplasmosis, Anaplasmosis are not ruled out before patients are given life-altering diagnoses when Lyme is known as The Great Mimicker.  Because of Doctors ignorance, many people’s first symptoms find themselves misdiagnosed see Figure 1.

A good Allopathic doctor should leave their egos at the door and admit they have no idea what is wrong and recommend a Naturopathic Doctor with extensive Lyme knowledge. NDs have a larger arsenal of knowledge and treatment options to determine what is the underlying cause of an illness is because they will order in-depth tests for all infections, co-infections, immune dysfunctions, chemicals, heavy metals, nutritional deficiencies and gather a detailed patient history. And when completed spend time with the patient and explain each test result and if it is Lyme disease they can treat the disease and any other issues they may have discovered. The quality of life can be vastly be improved. Instead, Allopathic Doctors sends the patient who has been told they’re crazy to various specialists, and finally given a diagnosis only later to learn they have Lyme disease and co-infections.

14. Sadly, there have been Allopathic Doctors willing to help those with Lyme disease only to find themselves stripped of their medical licenses suspended or taken away even lost their practices for successfully diagnosing and treating chronic Lyme, as shown in the film Under our Skin.

16. Persistent infections, compromised immune systems, genetics, and resistant bacteria can all result in chronic Lyme disease which must be treated with aggressive treatment. Antibiotics can bring the disease into remission if treated early in certain individuals. However, in most cases, Lyme disease has gone either undiagnosed or was not properly treated early. When this occurs the spirochetes multiply and bore into various organs, while some will change forms into persister cells (cysts) with a thick coat of biofilm which prevents antibiotics from killing the cells, while others will hide in different parts of the body. Weeks, months, or years later the spirochetes can be reactivated when the body becomes stressed. When this occurs the disease has spread throughout the body creating severe and often irreversible damage. New research has found pulsing of antibiotics in test tubes can kill persister cells.“This gives you an idea that you could, in prin­ciple, estab­lish a sim­ilar reg­i­ment for treating patients for this and other chronic diseases,” said Dr. Kim Lewis of Northeastern University.

18. Most people with late stage Lyme are in no condition to work, even a good number of those with early stages find it difficult to function. It is very difficult to receive SSI disability benefits for Lyme disease because it is not recognized by the government. That is not to say a person can’t receive benefits, it is merely a bit more tricky to have the paperwork demonstrate you cannot work in your current mental and physical state and requires letter by your doctor.