My Message to Dr. Phil

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

I would like to encourage everyone to light up Dr, Phil's message boards on his

show and tell him what you think. I am hoping that next time he will spend an

entire hour or possibly two shows on this disease and find more patients. Below

is the comments that I sent to Dr. Phil.

Dear Dr. Phil,

I was rather disappointed that your guests did not discuss the reason the

Western Blot test which is the standard test for Lyme is so inaccurate. The

Western Blot test is full of inaccuracies when it comes to determining the

presence of chronic Lyme disease because it tests for antibodies to the

bacteria. Unfortunately, the most chronically ill patients have such

compromised immune function that their bodies no longer make antibodies to fight

the disease. Hence they come up negative on the test, causing doctors to

erroneously assume that chronic Lyme disease does not exist. It is often the

sickest patients that have a negative blood test. A good Lyme literate doctor

knows this and bases their diagnoses on a symptom picture as well. Many LLMDs

also believe that if any bands come up positive on the Western Blot, that

combined with symptoms is enough for a diagnosis. Unfortunately, in order for a

Western Blot test to be considered positive for Lyme, multiple bands must come

up positive . Common sense tells me that an immune system is not going to make

antibodies to a disease that it hasn't been exposed to, so any bands that come

up positive should be diagnostic. Unfortunately, the IDSA board has had a

history of a revolving door relationship with both insurance companies and drug

companies. Senator Blumenthal investigated the conflicts of interest on this

board in the past and the board was removed due to these conflicts. When it

costs $100,000.00 to treat a Lyme patient with long term antibiotics, is it any

wonder that the insurance companies are putting the pressure on the IDSA to

limit costs and to not treat the chronically ill at such a high cost.

I have spent every spare minute researching this disease and after 3 years of

doctor hopping to get diagnosed I found a complimentary medicine doctor who

suspected Lyme when she heard what my symptoms were. She used the CD57 to test

my immune function which should have been greater then 60 and my score was a 3.

After treating me for a couple of months, I was able to render a positive

Western Blot test. I now consider myself to be highly educated on this disease

as I have spent practically every waking hour reading books on it and searching

the internet, buying DVDs from renowned doctors such as Dr. Lee Cowden MD and

Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt MD. Unfortunately, when it comes to Lyme disease, I

know more then the average MD who has bought into the standard of care

definition of Lyme disease treatment. I often find myself educating doctors on

Lyme. Most chronically ill patients do not get a diagnosis from their doctor

until they have been sick for quite some time, many have never had the bulls eye

rash. I didn't. They are then tested without any treatment which would allow

the immune function to return and thus render a positive test. Because of

this, most of these chronically ill patients test negative. I do think a CD 57

test is a better indicator because a low score, is generally brought about by

some kind of infection.