After decades of providing solutions for the chronically ill, we have come to understand consistent truths about Lyme disease.
- A bullseye rash is not required for symptoms of Lyme Disease.
- Lyme Disease is found in every state, as well as most countries around the world.
- Lyme Disease is highly political and fraught with differing opinions on how to treat or diagnose.
According to mainstream medicine, utilization of antibiotics within 14 days of exposure, is the gold standard treatment once a diagnoses of Lyme Disease is established. By going this route, symptoms should subside, leaving you medically “cured.” Unfortunately, most Lyme Disease sufferers are not aware they’ve been infected within 14 days of being bitten. It is typical to go months, or even years, without a diagnosis. With antibiotic resistance and more research, we now know that antibiotics have a better chance of success with acute infections, not chronic.
Most of our patients have had Lyme disease for more than six months – often for more than five, ten or even fifteen years. In western medicine, an acute infection includes the time between the date of infection and the fourth day after exposure. The sub-acute category includes the time between the fourth and fourteenth day, leaving anything beyond this time frame to the post-acute category. Most patients at the Institute for Restorative Health have had years of debility, mostly caused by Chronic Lyme Disease or other unknown chronic illnesses.
Physicians and Ph.D. researchers struggle with the term Chronic Lyme Disease due to the fact that certain antibodies are often missing during initial testing of the patient. When specific antibodies of the bacteria Borrelia Burgdorferi are not present, Chronic Lyme Disease may not be properly diagnosed, often times leading to a missed diagnosis and thus, improper treatment.
The infamous five co-infections of Lyme Disease – Babesia, Bartonella, Rickettsia, Mycoplasma, and Ehrlichia – are not even considered while searching for Lyme, let alone a diagnosis of Chronic Lyme. Doctors have now gotten behind a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia; yet we know it is a set of symptoms with no known cause. That being said, it does beg the question as to why the presence of Borrelia Burgdorferi is necessary for the diagnosis of Chronic Lyme Disease.
There is a new term floating around the halls of research and medicine known as Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome or PTLDS.1, 2 Now that it’s been given a name, it will likely increase the chances of a Chronic Lyme diagnosis. What will this do for the patient? I do hope naming it leads to better detection, and thus, better understanding of this misunderstood disease.
We must understand that mainstream medicine requires specific criteria for reaching objective results rather than allowing for a subjective understanding of this illness. The problem is, Chronic Lyme disease is very often a subjective illness. With this being said, you may have all of the symptoms of Chronic Lyme Disease, without having the objective data they require.
But there is hope.
At the Institute for Restorative Health, we evaluate each patient’s case through the lens of our proprietary BioRestorative MethodTM. We go beyond standard lab tests and utilize tools to objectively show that you, indeed, do not feel well. You may have very common symptoms associated with Chronic Lyme disease – migraines, dizziness, mental confusion, brain-fog, numbness, pain, random rashes, crippling fatigue – all very important symptoms that give us the necessary information about your current health.
Research is always updating, making it very difficult to stay current. Even so, the collective research and reporting on topics such as Chronic Lyme are among our core values at the Institute for Restorative Health. We recently discussed a study written for the Journal of Infectious Diseases Oct 2018 stating a 22% increase in adverse events for Chronic Lyme patients when using IV antibiotics, and a 17% increase in adverse events with oral administration.3
This seems a scary shot in the dark for Lyme Disease. When patients indicate that they’ve been advised to begin antibiotics, I become concerned for their health and the outcomes I have come to see in post-antibiotic therapy. I would never sway someone away from something that might help them, but I also do not like the odds of playing Russian Roulette with antibiotics.
My wife and I battled together against the Chronic Lyme she faced for years. When I read research from the classically educated, indicating this chronic illness doesn’t exist, it certainly lights a fire inside of me.
I want to create mass change in how Chronic Lyme Disease sufferers are treated by society, and more importantly, by the medical community. So many, like my wife, have gone years without a voice. They deserve to be seen and heard. This is one reason we created the Institute for Restorative Health. We know that Chronic Lyme is real, it’s here to stay, and we need to create change in an industry that is still waiting to name it.
At the Institute for Restorative Health, we view you as a person, not a diagnosis. With compassion, understanding, and support we can help you find a path toward healing. Identifying a patient by their diagnosis, only, rarely helps to create understanding or compassionate care. For this reason, we are dedicated to our patients, not a “diagnosis” or lack thereof.
Are you wondering if our program might be a fit for you or your loved one? Contact us for a complimentary case review.
We also invite you to watch Dr. Streit’s video presentation below with more info on this topic.
- Goodlet, Kellie J, and Kathleen A Fairman. “Adverse Events Associated With Antibiotics and Intravenous Therapies for Post-Lyme Disease Syndrome in a Commercially Insured Sample.” Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 30 Oct. 2018, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29672671.
- “Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome | Lyme Disease | CDC.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/lyme/postlds/index.html#targetText=Although%20most%20cases%20of%20Lyme,Lyme%20Disease%20Syndrome%20(PTLDS).
- “The Lyme Disease Complication You Don’t Know About-but Should.” Health.com, www.health.com/lyme-disease/chronic-lyme-disease-post-treatment.
