Lyme disease is caused by the Borrelia bacterium and primarily transmitted through the bite of an infected tick. Typical symptoms in acute phase include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. EM ring or bullseye rash is always a sign of infection and should be treated. However, it is present only in about half of the infections. This means that the absence of EM rash shouldn't be used as a criteria to exclude borreliosis. If left untreated, infection can spread through the body and can be hard to eradicate.

Phases of Lyme disease (acute vs chronic):
•Stage 1: Early localized - days to weeks from infection
•Stage 2: Early disseminated 1 -4 months from infection
•Stage 3: Chronic disseminated

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Symptoms for a chronic situation are often quite severe and they can be mistaken for other issues or diseases including psychological ones. The symptoms in the chronic phase are so varied and so different from person to person, that this explains why so many suffering from Borreliosis go without proper diagnosis and treatment. The problem is made even worse by the problems with testing:

• Currently used ELISA antibody testing is an indirect method to measure the response of the immune system
• If the immune response has been weakened, this may result in a false negative result
• Studies show less than 50% sensitivity for the ELISA antibody testing

there aren't commercially available antibody tests for all Borrelia subspecies (at the moment 16 different subspecies known to infect humans)
• Other infections are often not tested at all. However these so called co-infections can cause just as difficult symptoms as Borrelia

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Do I have Lyme Borreliosis?

Note that lyme testing is not reliable, some of the worst cases we have seen have had diminished immune function which lead to negative antibody tests.

We recommend symptom scoring as a quick and economical way to see how probable it is that you may be suffering from a condition like Lyme borreliosis. We also recommend lab work to follow up on the scoring, but remember that the diagnosis is always clinical. Our tools page has an electronic version of the so called Horowitz questionnaire, designed by Dr. Richard Horowitz from the USA. At the page we also share another tool from our colleagues, the co-infections checklist by Dr. Armin Schwarzbach, the founder of Arminlabs which is an infectious diseases specialty lab.

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So if you are suffering from symptoms similar to this and you may have suspected of being a chronic lyme patient what next? Many chronic Lyme borreliosis patients are judged and treated poorly because often the person trying the solve the puzzle is ill equipped to do so. Modern healtcare with the speedy 15 minute consultations powering through countless patients is not suitable for a chronic multisystemic illness. Our initial consultation is 90 minutes and that timeframe is almost not enough. We have had patients with suitcases of medical files come in. Don't worry, it's normal that you may have been disbelieved.

The BIG question is that can you believe that we could help you?

We almost always can, regardless of your issue. It's a strong statement but our cases have been so complex and multisystemic that we had to develop ways to tackle quite a few things that can go wrong in your body. Below you find a graph about the progression for an average case for us. Pain level 10 means unbearable pain, fatigue level 10 means even after a nights sleep I'm so exhausted I can't even keep my eyes open. Do also read "Why Us" section if you haven't already done so for more detailed example patients, and the kind of damage we may be able to repair. We base our protocols on research and testing, validated by laboratory findings.

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Please contact us for further info about testing and treatment. The journey back to health can be convoluted but it is possible!

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