Welcome to my blog! This is a place of information and hope for fellow Canadians who are suffering from Lyme disease. I want to share with you the knowledge I have gained during my fight with this debilitating, frightening, and misunderstood illness. I hope you will be blessed.

Wednesday, May 29, 2019

Important Information to Take to Your Doctor

A few days ago, I read some valuable information online regarding Lyme treatment in Canada and I felt is was imperative to post it here for your knowledge. 

Let me begin by saying that Lyme treatment in Canada is a HUGE, CONFUSING, CONFLICTING, POLITICAL MESS!!!  Patients are sick and begging for help.  Doctors have no clue how to recognize or diagnose Lyme.  Some doctors will give antibiotics for a bulls-eye rash (ranging from 1 single pill to 10 days' worth...definitely not enough!), yet others tell their patients to "wait and see".  Doctors want to see a positive blood test before treating, yet Health Canada has published that Lyme diagnosis is first and foremost a clinical diagnosis based on symptoms.  Our Lyme testing in Canada (the ELISA test) is completely unreliable, yet doctors will not accept the results of private lab testing from IgeneX.  A handful of doctors are bold and compassionate and will treat patients until they are well no matter how long it takes, yet most won't due to the memory of those doctors who have been reprimanded or threatened with licence suspensions.  (By the way, never let a doctor to tell you to "wait and see".  See my previous post to know what to ask for if you have had a bite.)

The inconsistencies are unbelievable!  And the lack of knowledge of Lyme disease in the medical community is shameful.  I blame medical schools for not teaching it properly, but I also blame doctors for not informing themselves and furthering their knowledge in this area, even if it involves digging a little deeper than reading the latest medical journal that comes to their inbox.  They need to do their own digging; for example, reading the ILADS guidelines as a start, and then the publications of various learned Lyme doctors in the U.S., and maybe a book or two by some Lyme sufferers.  Because the majority of doctors have no clue what they are doing, they are actually causing HARM to innocent patients who are in danger of becoming sick with a life-changing illness that will potentially rob them of their livelihood and savings.  (I am a case in point.)

Lyme patients and organized groups have been lobbying the government, Health Canada, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons for many years.  Progress is at a snail's pace, and it always seems to be two steps forward, one step back.

I am posting 2 documents below (3 pages in total) so you can read for yourself what Dr. Nancy Whitmore, Registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, had to say recently about Lyme disease treatment.  This is IMPORTANT INFORMATION to take to your doctor if you need treatment.  You need to advocate for yourself, because no one else will, and doctors lack the knowledge to treat you correctly and advocate for you.  Ask your doctor to be treated according to ILADS treatment guidelines which can be downloaded here.  Knowledge is power, so do copy these letters for your physician and bring in a copy of the ILADS guidelines if he/she needs to be informed and set straight.