If you have been watching my Lyme Disease Awareness videos this month, you have learned that there is no official treatment for chronic lyme disease patients.

When a patient does not respond to the typical 30-days of antibiotic treatment, they are usually just told then that there is nothing more than can do for them.

When conventional medicine fails you, you have no other choice but to seek out alternative treatments that are not covered by insurance.

My family was spending over $10,000 a year to find treatments that could help me.

This is why it is so important that, if you can, to contribute to chronic Lyme disease research and help families get effective treatments!

Here is a list of some Lyme disease organizations on Instagram that you can donate to, to help raise awareness, research, and grants to suffering patients:

💚 @lymelightfoundation

💚 @focusonlyme

💚 @projectlyme

💚 @livlymefoundation

💚 @lymediseasechallenge

Please share in the comments any other Lyme organization that is out there helping others! These organizations are helping so many people, they need to be highlighted and need funding, please help raise awareness!

Hey everyone, so if you have been following my lyme awareness videos for the past week, you have learned about the symptoms and different illnesses it can cause, and that there is a chance that you have been exposed to it.

So how can you get diagnosed with it?

Typically, a doctor can order a blood test for you that will check for lyme antibodies, such as the ELISA or Western Blot test.

UNFORTUNATLY, these tests are often known to produce false negatives, missing up to 50% of Lyme cases. There are multiple strains of Lyme disease, and these tests usually only detect one antibody strain 💚

SO DO NOT RULE OUT LYME IF YOU HAD A NEGATIVE RESULT!

A Lyme-Literate doctor, or LLMD, will be able to provide you with more accurate testing. Be warned though, these tests are usually not covered by insurance. Pretty much any chronic lyme treatment is not covered by insurance, but more on that later.

There are also no official tests to determine if the Lyme is gone. When I was first diagnosed with lyme, I asked my infectious disease specialist to schedule a follow-up appointment with me when I was done with the 30-days of antibiotics. He said “No. There is no need to.” I asked him, “but don’t you need to check to see if the antibiotics worked and the lyme is gone?” He said, “No, it will be gone after 30 days. There is no need to come back here.”

Obviously, I was still sick after the 30 days was over. It did not treat my lyme symptoms whatsoever. I’ll talk more about my effective treatments later.

But anyway, he said this because there was no way for him to actually determine if the lyme bacteria was still active in my body. Because it tests for antibodies, the tests could likely always show up positive if you have ever had lyme disease.

I was diagnosed with Lyme through the typical Western Blot test and the test from iGeneX. What Lyme test did you use?

Today I am talking about why Lyme Disease is called “The Great Imitator”

Lyme Disease “attacks” the weakest part of the body, which is different for everyone. That is why Lyme can cause a variety of symptoms, like I talked about in my last video post.

Because of this, Lyme Disease can be mistaken for other medical conditions and illnesses.

For example, if you are predisposed to weak joints, then Lyme will attack the joints, and cause symptoms like Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome or Arthritis. If your autonomic nervous system is weak, then the lyme will exploit this and cause autonomic disorders.

Lyme “mimic” or “causes” symptoms of almost any medical condition or illness, including:

▫ ALS ▫ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome ▫ Fibromyalgia ▫ Multiple Sclerosis ▫ POTS/Dysautonomia ▫ Parkinson’s ▫ MCAD ▫ Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome ▫ Lupus

➡ and MANY more.

If you have one of these conditions and don’t know why, it is possible that Lyme disease is the culprit! 💚

I have met too many people who have chronic illnesses and don’t seem to care what is the root cause of it. They are totally fine without knowing why they are sick.

But the body doesn’t just malfunction for no reason! There is always a cause, and it is possible that cause could be Lyme disease.

Do you have a medical condition being caused by Lyme? I did! And I will talk more about it in a future video post, so please follow, subscribe, and turn on post notifications so you won’t miss it! 💚

Early symptoms of Lyme disease can include:

Rash (many times in the shape of a “bullseye”), Fever and flu-like symptoms Joint and muscle pain, Headaches, Fatigue, and malaise

Or NO SYMPTOMS AT ALL!

Many Lyme patients believe their Lyme remained dormant for years, after recalling a tick bite from years or even decades earlier.

Also, Lyme disease is frequently misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. Lyme disease attacks the weakest part in the body, making symptoms unique to each Lyme patient.

When this happens, it turns into Chronic Lyme disease (Which I will talk more about in a later video!)

Chronic Lyme symptoms can include:

▫ Fatigue ▫ Joint pain ▫ Neck pain/headache/TMJ ▫ Seizures ▫ Facial paralysis ▫ Sensitivity to light/sounds/smells ▫ Nausea/GI problems ▫ Muscle pain/cramps ▫ Difficulty breathing ▫ Heart issues/tachycardia ▫ Pre-syncope/fainting ▫ Peripheral neuropathy ▫ Insomnia ▫ Mood swings and “Lyme rage” ▫ Anxiety, depression, and emotional sensitivity ▫ Brain fog/difficulty concentrating ▫ Unexplained weight loss/gain ▫ Cold/heat intolerance ➡ and MANY more

If you have an unexplained collection of any of these symptoms, there is a possibility of Lyme being the cause.

💚 LYME PATIENTS: What is your worst symptom? 💚

Today I am talking about how people get Lyme disease.

Lyme Disease is caused by a bacterial infection, which is traditionally known to be transmitted by certain types of ticks (tiny little bugs that bite you).

However, Lyme has been reported in areas where these ticks do not live, suggesting that any blood-sucking insects (mosquitoes!) can transmit the bacteria 💚

Lyme is NOT contagious, meaning that you can not catch it from another person like a cold (through airborne) or mono (through saliva).

If family members have Lyme, it is most likely that they were both bitten by infected ticks, and did not infect each other. The only exception to this is the possibility of gestational Lyme, which is when Lyme is transmitted through the womb and the baby is born with Lyme disease.

Some researchers also suggest Lyme can be sexually transmitted, however, there is currently no solid evidence of this. There are also suggestions that you can catch lyme through donated blood, however, there has been no definitive proof of this happening. However, there have been some people who have caught lyme co-infections through donated blood, I’ll talk more about these co-infections later.

So, although you can’t catch lyme disease from someone coughing on you, if you have ever gone outside or been exposed to the outdoors, then it is very possible you have been exposed to the ticks and other insects that carry the disease. You are at risk for lyme disease. more on this tomorrow!

So, how do you know if you have Lyme?

That is another fact for another day. So, if you want to find out, please follow, subscribe, turn on post notifications, whatever, to learn more about Lyme disease this Lyme disease awareness month!

And please share in the comments about how you think you got lyme disease!