Lyme disease is the fastest spreading vector borne disease in the country. 
The question must then be asked as to why this most serious degenerative
neurological disease is essentially being downplayed, ignored and
fraudulently misrepresented?
 
Doctors across the country are dismissing and turning away thousands of
seriously ill patients.  Many doctors even refuse to consider the possibility
that those previously diagnosed with such diseases as ALS, M.S, Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome, BiPolar Depression, Fibromyalgia, Alzheimer's, etc,
may actually be infected with Borrelia Burgdorferi ( Bb... the causative
agent of lyme disease ) and other coinfections.  This microbe may be the
main cause of various autoimmune diseases and other vague conditions or
in some cases it may be a co-factor. Certain labs which look for the L
form of Bb are finding this pathogen present in much of the chronic
illness population.
 
Respected researchers , such as Lida Mattman ( author of
"Stealth Pathogens" ), are finding it more and more difficult to find blood
free of Bb for control purposes.  Bb has not only been found in ticks but
also in human tears, breast milk, semen, mosquitoes, cow's milk, fleas, mites
....even well water and african dust.  This attests to the extreme hardiness
of the lyme spirochete.
 
Almost every patient we come into contact with is reporting that doctors
are reacting very strangely when presented with the idea that the patient
may be ill with  Chronic Lyme disease.  Doctors are taught that there really
isn't such an entity as Chronic Lyme disease ( meaning chronic active
infection ).  This is a blatantly false teaching and I will list a couple of links
later in this article which will prove that Lyme can be a persistent infection. 
The theory that Yale University puts forth to the medical community....and it
is only a theory without proof to back it up ....states that after three to four
weeks of antibiotics a person is automatically cured.  They contend that if
on the 31st day , the day after treatment is stopped, then the patient no
longer has an active infection but that it has suddenly turned into a disease
of an autoimmune nature.  This theory is absurd.  Testing is so unreliable
that there is no way to prove the lyme spirochete has been totally
eradicated.  If the same symptoms persist...so should the treatment.
 
The mere mention of this disease to most doctors seems to trigger anger,
fear, sarcasm, condescending attitudes, denial and often even explosive
behavior.  Patients often leave the doctor's office in tears, feeling they
have been emotionally attacked. This of course only compounds the stress
of this legitimate illness and often weakens the patient further. Many
doctors tell the patient they are depressed and that they need
antidepressants which will solve all their problems. Many of us are
beginning to think that it's the doctors who need something to calm them
down. I'm really not trying to be sarcastic and I don't want to come across
as if I'm attacking the doctors. We realize they are also victims of the system.
It must be very frustrating for doctors to be taught one thing and then have
patients come in demanding something totally opposite to what the doctors
have been told is Truth.
 
Are doctors frightened of something that the public is not aware of or is
this abnormal behavior and resulting non treatment due to ignorance? 
Is there an intentional lack of education concerning this issue? It certainly
seems so and I will tell you why it seems so.
 
Most testing for Lyme disease is very inaccurate and therefore can not be
used reliably in the diagnosis or "ruling out" of Lyme disease.  The Centers
For disease Control states that their very restrictive diagnostic criteria
should only be used for surveillance purposes and not for diagnosis. 
However, my chief complaint is that no one is encouraged not to use this
criteria.  There is no promotion whatsoever of this stance of the CDC. 
As a result, a very large percentage of the population is left undiagnosed,
misdiagnosed and untreated.
 
The Centers For disease Control also states that Lyme disease is a
clinical diagnosis.  This means that doctors should use their own judgment
after considering the patient's symptoms and history. Laboratory testing
should only be used as an adjunct.
 
Doctors need to educate themselves as to the extensive list of symptoms
which are associated with Lyme disease and it's coinfections.  Once
familiar with the general symptom complex it is very simple, even for lay
people, to predict and conclude who is probably stricken with Lyme disease. 
Reports from young doctors confirm the suspicion that not much is taught
concerning Lyme disease, in medical school.  It's an unfortunate situation
that doctors and patients alike have to seek their information from sources
other than the mainstream. Patients are in the midst of this unprecedented
controversy and are realizing that perhaps this lack of education is
intentional. The studies and doctor's personal experiences are out there,
which show unrefutably that Lyme disease can be a chronic active relapsing
infection. The medical authorities refuse to acknowledge this and continue
to thwart proper diagnosis and treatment by refusing to educate doctors
as to the facts concerning this disease.
 
The Lyme disease pandemic is such an extreme problem in Connecticut
that a special Hearing was held in February of 2004.  The purpose of
this Hearing was to bring to light the fact that Lyme disease can be
chronic and that Lyme disease can and does sometimes remain an
active an relapsing infection. The microbe which causes Lyme disease
is pleomorphic ( changes form) and  as a result is very adept at evading
detection. There may, at times, be autoimmune factors present but this
does not exclude the fact that an active infection can be present
along with autoimmune markers.
 
The Centers For disease Control had to be sternly persuaded to
attend the Connecticut Hearing.  Attorney General Blumenthal strongly
advised the CDC to send out special warnings or notices to doctors,
labs and health departments, for the purpose of promoting and
encouraging the enforcement of their statement that the CDC criteria
should not be used for diagnosis.  I recently contacted the CDC to
ask what progress had been made in this area. I was referred to an
article in a magazine put out by the CDC which supposedly states very
clearly that doctors should not use the CDC criteria for diagnosing
lyme using the Western Blot. According to them , this is their big
effort to educate. The CDC official agreed to send me the link to
this article ...however I never received it.  I then e-mailed the CDC ,
for more specifics, and have yet to receive a reply.
 
The extent of misdiagnosis and morbidity concerning Lyme disease
is staggering.  Despite the undistributed statement regarding their
diagnostic criteria, most doctors and labs are basing their conclusions
on these very restrictive guidelines or parameters.  In addition testing
for antibodies in tertiary late stage Lyme disease is almost futile due
to many factors which interfere with the antibody response.  A more
reliable test ...such as the Bowen Test, isolates the actual L form
of the Lyme microbe.
 
Why isn't there an extensive campaign on the part of the CDC to educate
in this most crucial matter?  It makes no sense that this agency is not
doing so.  This can lead one to the conclusion that perhaps the use of
such restrictive testing criteria, keeps the extent of this pandemic
under wraps, to the benefit of pharmaceutical companies and other
corporations.
 
In the past we have held medical conferences for doctors, lab technicians
and nurses, in the local hospitals.  Invitations to all doctors were given to
the hospitals to pass out to their physicians.  In all cases doctors were
conspicuously absent.  Our speakers were very well known and
respected doctors who specialize in Lyme disease.  They offered very
valuable information to the lab technicians, nurses and patients who
did attend.  Evidently the medical doctors were just not interested,
they were pressured into not attending or they were never given the
invitations.
 
Doctors, many times, express the idea that they don't have enough
time or energy to investigate into the many diseases currently
afflicting our world. This is certainly understandable but perhaps
the root cause of many diseases involves only several microbes which
present themselves differently in each individual.  This appears to be
the case with Lyme disease...the second "Great Imitator" next to syphilis
....another spirochetal disease.
 
It is our hope that more of those in the medical profession will
take it upon themselves to investigate both sides of this issue. 
It is vitally important to keep the mind open to the experiences,
research and protocols of those lyme literate doctors who are
working in the trenches with the realities of Lyme disease. 
Experience is always the best educator.  And most important of all
....good doctors always really listen to and believe in their patients. 
Effective physicians tell how they have learned more from their patients
than from anywhere else. After all, the patients are the ones experiencing
the disease first hand. It is interesting to note that many lyme literate
doctors have experienced Lyme disease themselves and therefore
understand the enormity and complexities of the disease. Most of us are
not "just depressed" nor are we hypochondriacs.  Lyme disease can affect
every body system and as a result the number of symptoms which can be
experienced, is overwhelming.  The fact that many patients are glibly
told their symptoms are due to depression, is doing them a great injustice. 
Lyme disease can cause depression, anxiety and many many other
neurological manifestations ....but the point is ...these patients need
antibiotics ....just as syphilis patients need antibiotics...to eradicate
the source of their problems. Antidepressants just cover up the
symptoms which allows the infection to simmer and progress
below the surface.
 
I blame the medical system which appears to be educating doctors
towards their own selfish purposes.  The insurance companies and
pharmaceutical companies play a very large role in the medical
system and in the education of doctors.  We all know that
corporations don't have a conscience and don't care about
the individual.  They care about profits and that's what
motivates them.  We know that drug companies profit greatly
by promoting many symptomatic treatments for one disease
rather than a single curative treatment.  Doctors are also
divided up into so many subspecialties that it makes it very
difficult for one doctor to ever see the patient as a whole
person and to be able to discern the connectedness of the
many symptoms which present in Lyme disease.
 
For example .....a single patient may be separately diagnosed with
carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, heart palpitations, irritable
bowel, seizure disorder, TMJ, foot pain, conjunctivitis, acid reflux
....and also be separately treated for each and every condition, with
either surgery or symptomatic treatments.  This approach is extremely
inefficient, costly and very dangerous.  Many times the basic underlying
cause of all these symptoms or so called diseases, is found to be due to
one organism such as babesia, borrelia burgdorferi, different strains
of mycoplasma or even a combination of these microbes.  Why isn't testing
for these organisms routine when someone presents with a chronic illness
....especially when the patient is from an endemic area?
 
For more clues as to why the medical system is set up in this crazy
fashion, please visit:
http://congregator.net/medicalnews/tietjen/index.html
 
For those of you who are sincerely concerned about the welfare of
your patients and the future of your own family's health, please take
the time to study and ponder the following links:
 
"Lyme disease:  The Sensible Pursuit Of Answers" 
By Kenneth Leigner
http://www.lymeinfo.net/sensiblepursuit.html
 
Especially note the "Persistence File" near the top
http://www.lymeinfo.net/lymefiles.html
 
www.bowen.org