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Please do NOT post here any MD's names .. and How to Find a Lyme doc
Just as a reminder, there are many areas in the country where state and local medical boards insist on MDs following the CDC approach to Lyme diagnosis and treatment, which is a couple of weeks of doxycycline and you're good to go, and any continuing symptoms are simply your immune system over-reacting to a now-gone infection.
No, no, no! If Lyme is caught very early in the infection (and many of us never knew when we were bitten), doxycycline can work, but only against Lyme: perhaps half of all 'Lyme' ticks also carry other diseases unrelated to Lyme which do NOT respond to doxycycline at all. These infections include bartonella, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis and others, and are often referred to as a group as 'co-infections'.
MDs who specialize in Lyme disease and who follow the diagnosis and treatment guidelines of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) understand this issue, and they treat Lyme and any co-infections aggressively to ensure the best chance for a complete cure.
You will see the acronym 'LLMD', which is not a title or degree, but is simply patient slang for 'Lyme-literate MD', meaning an MD who understands that Lyme and its possible co-infections to require, based on your symptoms, different testing and often different medications.
Lyme and its co-infections are treatable and curable, and the sooner the better. If you would like a referral to an LLMD near you, you can go to the ILADS website and type in your location.
Fair warning: there is not (to my knowledge) a test for an MD to be placed on the ILADS referral list, so like any other MD referral, you may not get a doc that suits you the first time around and will need to try again. Lyme is a difficult and still-developing area of medicine, so wear your 'skeptical' hat at all times.
You can also post here a message like 'Need LLMD near [Detroit MI]' and see what 'private messages' you may get back recommending a good doc nearby. If you need help sending or locating a 'private message' here, let us know, but basically just click on 'My MedHelp' in the blue bar at the top of the page, and the drop-down menu includes 'Inbox'. If you have a private message waiting for you, there will be a number there: 'Inbox (1)'. You can then correspond if you wish with the person who sent you that message.
Best wishes to any and all who find themselves here! There are good docs who truly understand Lyme, and that is the first step to diagnosis and treatment. Go for it!
No, no, no! If Lyme is caught very early in the infection (and many of us never knew when we were bitten), doxycycline can work, but only against Lyme: perhaps half of all 'Lyme' ticks also carry other diseases unrelated to Lyme which do NOT respond to doxycycline at all. These infections include bartonella, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis and others, and are often referred to as a group as 'co-infections'.
MDs who specialize in Lyme disease and who follow the diagnosis and treatment guidelines of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) understand this issue, and they treat Lyme and any co-infections aggressively to ensure the best chance for a complete cure.
You will see the acronym 'LLMD', which is not a title or degree, but is simply patient slang for 'Lyme-literate MD', meaning an MD who understands that Lyme and its possible co-infections to require, based on your symptoms, different testing and often different medications.
Lyme and its co-infections are treatable and curable, and the sooner the better. If you would like a referral to an LLMD near you, you can go to the ILADS website and type in your location.
Fair warning: there is not (to my knowledge) a test for an MD to be placed on the ILADS referral list, so like any other MD referral, you may not get a doc that suits you the first time around and will need to try again. Lyme is a difficult and still-developing area of medicine, so wear your 'skeptical' hat at all times.
You can also post here a message like 'Need LLMD near [Detroit MI]' and see what 'private messages' you may get back recommending a good doc nearby. If you need help sending or locating a 'private message' here, let us know, but basically just click on 'My MedHelp' in the blue bar at the top of the page, and the drop-down menu includes 'Inbox'. If you have a private message waiting for you, there will be a number there: 'Inbox (1)'. You can then correspond if you wish with the person who sent you that message.
Best wishes to any and all who find themselves here! There are good docs who truly understand Lyme, and that is the first step to diagnosis and treatment. Go for it!
Think of the party we will all have when Lyme is gone and done for, always, forever, permanently! Yeah!!
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