One of the frustrating things about Lyme (and it’s many misunderstood co-infections and co-conditions) is what’s called “two standards of care”.
One standard of care is developed by the Infectious Disease Society ofAmerica (IDSA) and driven by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) – which basically says Lyme is easy to diagnose and treat, but further says that if you still have symptoms after 28 days of Lyme treatment, then you have Post Treatment Lyme Disease (PTLD) and will be sick the rest of your life.
That’s it. They offer nothing more. Just a suffer.
Most mainstream doctors receive very little training on tickborne diseases – they rely on the IDSA/CDC guidelines for diagnosis and treatment.
And they are wrong.
The International Lyme and Associated Disease Society takes a more comprehensive and thorough approach to understanding tickborne disease and treating patients thoroughly.
Doctors and scientist trained through or working with ILADS are the experts.
Lyme is a clinical diagnosis, meaning symptoms are the critical to diagnosis. Proper testing can support diagnosis, but does not necessarily rule it out.
They also recognize chronic (or persistent) Lyme disease. They know that treatment as per the IDSA/CDC guidelines does not always eradicate tick disease. And they are the only doctors who are able to effectively manage a chronic patient. (Doctors who treat outside the IDSA/CDC guidelines are subject to lawsuits and license suspension or revoke.)
Last year, a scientific working group developed a new term for chronic Lyme: Infection Associated Chronic Illness (IACI).
The group is looking at commonalities across several chronic illnesses (including Lyme, long covid & MS).
It seems the term Lyme IACI will bridge the gap between PTLD and Chronic Lyme.
There will be a focus on Lyme IACI starting July 11. I look forward to the outcome and hope mainstream doctors will begin to identify patients who may have chronic Lyme.
You can read more at the link below:
PhilippiJoy 