Lyme Disease: Looking Outside the Box

Working with Lyme disease patients is always a challenge. They can have different as well as specific symptoms. Over the years, I have discovered information that has raised questions and concerns for me about the treatment of Lyme disease.

If a new patient tells me they have been treating their Lyme disease for five years or more without relief of symptoms, I begin looking beyond the diagnosis for other possible answers.

Why? Many Lyme patients who have come to me have had symptoms for years. They have often undergone the typical rounds of antibiotics, and some felt better for a short period of time only to have their symptoms return. Others received antibiotics intermittently for years.

Today, we know that some patients can continue to experience symptoms after recommended treatment for Lyme disease. The reasons for these prolonged symptoms are not yet fully understood, which makes it important to consider other possible causes when a patient is not improving.

With long-term Lyme patients, some of the additional issues I have encountered in my practice include:

1. Heavy metal exposure

2. Specific nutritional deficiencies

3. Other infections, microorganisms, or underlying health concerns

   
   

These findings do not necessarily mean that these issues are responsible for a patient's Lyme symptoms. However, they have taught me the importance of looking at the whole patient rather than assuming every ongoing symptom is caused by Lyme disease.

Here are three cases observations from my practice.

Patient #1

This patient had approximately 15–20 seizures per day for the past seven years and had been seen by some of the top Lyme specialists in the U.S.

She had received anti-seizure medication, hyperbaric oxygen, vitamin C IVs, and several years of antibiotic therapy, but her seizures continued.

I found that her sodium levels were low and urged her to see her Lyme doctor about IV saline therapy. She saw him and shared my recommendation, but the information was not acted upon at that time.

The patient later became very ill and was admitted to a local hospital. The diagnosis was low sodium levels. She was given a saline solution intravenously, and according to the patient, her seizures stopped.

After seven years, she reported that she was no longer experiencing the seizures or the symptoms she had previously attributed to Lyme disease.

This case reinforced for me the importance of considering other medical explanations when symptoms continue.

Patient #2

This patient was an electrical engineer who had been unable to work for the past 22 years because of symptoms attributed to Lyme disease. He had been undergoing therapy for Lyme disease for those 22 years with no improvement.

When I saw him in my office, his history led me to consider other possible explanations for his symptoms.

I learned that before he became too ill to work, he had melted lead every day as part of his job for years. Testing during his evaluation indicated elevated levels of lead.

The patient subsequently began treatment for lead toxicity with a physician experienced in this area and later reported feeling much better.

His case demonstrated to me why occupational and environmental exposures should also be considered when evaluating a patient with longstanding, unexplained symptoms.

Patient #3

This patient was a child with PANDAS as well as a previous Lyme disease diagnosis. The child had been treated for six years for Lyme and PANDAS symptoms with no improvement, according to the family.

During my evaluation, I identified nutritional concerns as well as elevated levels of lead, mercury, and nickel on testing and concerns involving the gut microbiome.

I placed the child on a nutritional protocol and worked with the family and healthcare team to address these additional findings.

The family reported that his behavioral issues began improving. Six months later, they reported that he was doing very well in school and that his behavioral and health concerns had improved significantly.

As with any individual case, it is not possible to determine from these observations alone which intervention or combination of interventions was responsible for the improvement.

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Looking Beyond the Diagnosis

These patients are examples of why I believe it is important to look beyond a single diagnosis when someone has been struggling with symptoms for years.

This does not mean that Lyme disease isn't real or that appropriate Lyme treatment isn't important. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection, and antibiotics are the established treatment. Most patients treated with recommended antibiotics recover, although some people experience prolonged symptoms afterward.

For patients who continue to experience symptoms, I believe it is important to look at the entire health picture and consider whether something else may also be contributing.

Sometimes the most important question we can ask is:

What else could be going on?

Medical Note: These cases are historical observations from my practice and should not be interpreted as evidence that a particular intervention treats Lyme disease. Individual outcomes cannot establish cause and effect. Lyme disease and persistent symptoms should be evaluated and treated by qualified healthcare professionals.