Medical Revisionists Threaten Effective Lyme Treatment
Medical Revisionists Threaten Effective Lyme Treatment
by DR. RAPHAEL B. STRICKER
A small group of scientists is turning the world of Lyme disease on its head. They deny the existence of chronic Lyme disease.
They insist there is no "credible scientific evidence" for persistent infection after a short course of antibiotic treatment because the corkscrew-shaped bacteria that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, cannot survive this treatment.
Fearing "over-diagnosis," they publish guidelines endorsing an insensitive testing program that misses half the patients with the tick-borne illness.
Fearing "over-treatment," they recommend antibiotic therapy barely adequate for acute infection and wholly inadequate for chronic Lyme disease.
Soon they will publish the latest version of an already restrictive set of guidelines that will further pressure the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and academic institutions to ignore chronic Lyme disease. The guidelines will encourage insurance companies to embrace up-front cost savings inherent in shorter treatment and deny payment for longer treatment, even if the Lyme patient is still sick but showing signs of improvement.
Although the Lyme denialists claim support from mainstream medical groups, the reality is that the handful of them have managed to dictate policy to larger health care organizations through a closed process that rejects dissenting views. Unaware of this one-sided process, the rest of the medical industry blindly follows their lead while patients suffer.
Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the world. Named after the town where it was discovered in 1975, the disease is transmitted by the bite of an infected tick. Research has demonstrated that the Lyme bacteria is one of the most invasive and elusive pathogens known to man. After causing a telltale "bulls-eye" rash, the bacteria screws its way into multiple organs and tissues to produce often-debilitating muscle, joint, nerve, brain and heart ailments.
Although New England remains the epicenter of the disease, with up to 20 percent of new cases reported in Connecticut alone, Lyme disease and associated infections are popping up in new locations around the globe. Where you live doesn't accurately reflect your risk of catching Lyme disease because people travel on planes, trains and automobiles, while ticks travel on deer, birds and household pets. As a result, the risk of acquiring the disease is increasing unpredictably.
We know treatment is effective when instituted early, but fewer than half the people with Lyme disease even remember getting a tick bite or seeing a rash. The resulting infection may spread and become chronic before the victim has a chance to seek treatment.
Research over the past two decades suggests the key to eliminating chronic Lyme disease is prolonged antibiotic therapy. Lyme-treating physicians recognize this fact and studies support it.
The Lyme denialists refuse to accept this point of view.
Imagine if "AIDS denialists" had won out in the early 1990s. Doctors would have refused to prescribe antiviral medications and insurance companies would have refused to pay for them. How many millions of patients would have gone undiagnosed and untreated?
Sound scary? Welcome to the world of Lyme disease run by Lyme denialists.
Today many Lyme patients are going undiagnosed and untreated because of the Lyme denialist agenda. Although Lyme disease is usually not fatal, the disability associated with a chronic case is equivalent to congestive heart failure.
Health care providers, government agencies and Lyme patients must confront the Lyme denialists and fight for better recognition and treatment of Lyme disease.
Raphael B. Stricker, MD, of California is president of the International Lyme & Associated Diseases Society.
Hi Aardvark,
I am very surprised this brave doctor has not been hauled into court and had his license to practice medicine taken away, for being so outspoken. That is the latest DEA scare tactic, and the most recent trial involved the only Pediatric Lyme specialist. He was punished and is being "monitored", but due to the outpouring of patients flying in for his trial, other doctors who bravely testified on his behalf, and grateful parents, whose kids are alive only because of him, he kept his license.
The insurance companies, led by Blue Cross, are the driving force behind this engine of denial, even more so than the doctors. Chronic Lyme costs far more to treat that Alzheimer's.
I am not getting proper treatment for my LD because I am allergic to the antibiotics, but I could not afford it anyway. I know people who are dying slowly and horribly of LD for no other reason than they are not rich. They have seizures, they go blind, they develop dementia, or even ALS from it. I am having signs of early dementia,and am currently covered in an itchy, stinging rash. Lyme is like the 500 lb. gorilla, it does what it wants to, in any system of the body. Loads of cash is what it takes to get proper treatment when insurance won't pay for it. The cost per year can be as high as $250K in some cases, espcially when long-term IV antibiotics are needed. The only local LLMD we have where I live charges $9 per minute, and most appts. last an hour.
This is the fastest growing disease in the northern hemisphere, and more than 9 out of 10 cases are not identified until they are incurable. Right now, most cases are mis-diganosed right up until death. People should not think this doesn't affect them. Contrary to popular belief, it is in every state, mosquitos, fleas, and biting flies can carry it too, and the nymph tick that passes it, is too small to see. LD will be coming to a loved one near you.......
Hi Aardvark,
That is exactly why I keep yakking about Lyme Disease whenever I get the chance. All I have left for a purpose in what is left of my life is to try to prevent others from ending up like me.
Anyone with the following listed diagnoses should be tested for Lyme ASAP. There are only 2 labs in the US that know what they are doing, Igenex and Bowen. It is best to see an LLMD, since they know how to order the tests and interpret the results.
After the diagnoses below, I have typed the % of people with that diagnosis who have been shown to harbor the pathogen that causes Lyme when tested (Borrelia burgdorferi). Of course, this does not prove causation, but if it is present, you can bet it is a major part of your problem. They don't call Lyme "The New Great Imitator" for nothing.
"A complete screening of all study participants doing the industry standard WESTERN BLOT TEST, performed by IGeneX Laboratories, indicated that our study group, when tested for IgM and IgG, was negative. These are typical markers found in people who suffer from Lyme disease. The initial study had over a 90% eradication of symptoms and co- infections and now 3 months later, the results are quite promising."
Medical Revisionists Threaten Effective Lyme Treatment
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