Find the Right Lyme Doctor
The first step into Lyme is a doozy - finding the right doctor and treatment protocol for you, your budget, your insurance, your geographical location, and your particular body with Lyme.
Starting out, find the best, most qualified Lyme doctor using natural treatments you can find.
No matter what state he or she is in and how hard it is to get there.
What matters to start with is that they are conquering Lyme the best way possible and having success doing it.
There are a dozens of LLMDs now, but not all of them use enough variety of treatment to tailor the protocol to each individual.
There is a handful of doctors using outside the box treatments and no antibiotics and having great success.
You can't be choosy based on where they are - just on how they are doing.
I would then find a local doctor of natural bent that could support this long distance treatment and that you could use for quick short term checkups.
Building this team is crucial.
Absolutely crucial.
Both these doctors need to understand detoxification and how Lyme works.
If they don't know about neurotoxins and ammonia damage and Post Lyme Syndrome and avoiding herxing then RUN FOR THE DOOR.
Interview different doctors and have them lay out their protocol recommendation for you or your loved one.
Compare and contrast their protocols then go back and ask questions about the discrepancies to fully understand where they are coming from.
Be sure about their comprehension of the human body and the Lyme.
Ask them for testimonials and success rate.
When you are in the lobby of each doctor's office (every time) make friends.
I introduce myself to everyone who comes into the lobby of my doctor and I talk to them, really talk to them.
You don't know me so you don't know how hard this is for me because I'm not a "love talking to strangers" kind of person.
It is critical for you to know the success rate and treatment protocol of other patients and if they are feeling better.
Later, I realized I must keep up the "talking to everybody phenomenon" because the newbies, like I was, need to hear about success and that they picked the right place.
It is incredibly encouraging to hear from patients "this place is healing me".
We are on this journey to encourage one another.
The husband of a friend of mine has some horrible form of cancer that I cannot pronounce and she said the other patients in the traditional cancer program where they are is depressing.
No one in the program is getting better and she sees death everywhere they go and every time they are there.
SCARY! I would run for the hills.
Every program is not for everyone, but the wellness numbers should safely be in the 80% and 90% to be sure the doctors know what they are doing.
The bad news I have to break to you before we even get into this fight, is that you will not find cooperation from your health insurance carrier in the battle.
Finding even a traditional MD that insurance will cover all the treatments and services is rare.
It sucks, but I have to be honest with you so you are not caught off balance and surprised.
Almost all of us are paying cash or going in debt to get through this thing.
To the insurance company's defense (I have no idea why I'm defending their position) most of these treatments against Lyme are ground breaking and have only been used for a few years.
Anything that new, insurance companies are scared to death over providing funding for.
Just accept this fact and be delightfully surprised if yours will pay anything: Insurance will not cover this.
Insurance will not cover most of these treatments.
Insurance is built around traditional medicine and unless you find an M.
D.
who can code things in a gray area, your insurance is going to buck.
If it's not a pill and it's not administered in a hospital- then good luck.
I'll take a step back at this point and apologize for my abruptness.
I am a rip-off-the-bandaid-in-one-fell-swoop kind of girl, so I tend to be direct and to the point.
When you are as sick as most of you are, you don't have time to beat around the bush either.
So I'm shooting straight.
The good news is that the world changes rapidly and responds to consumer demand.
So, as the demand for good Lyme care is increasing and the treatments are becoming more well known, then who knows what can happen.
Starting out, find the best, most qualified Lyme doctor using natural treatments you can find.
No matter what state he or she is in and how hard it is to get there.
What matters to start with is that they are conquering Lyme the best way possible and having success doing it.
There are a dozens of LLMDs now, but not all of them use enough variety of treatment to tailor the protocol to each individual.
There is a handful of doctors using outside the box treatments and no antibiotics and having great success.
You can't be choosy based on where they are - just on how they are doing.
I would then find a local doctor of natural bent that could support this long distance treatment and that you could use for quick short term checkups.
Building this team is crucial.
Absolutely crucial.
Both these doctors need to understand detoxification and how Lyme works.
If they don't know about neurotoxins and ammonia damage and Post Lyme Syndrome and avoiding herxing then RUN FOR THE DOOR.
Interview different doctors and have them lay out their protocol recommendation for you or your loved one.
Compare and contrast their protocols then go back and ask questions about the discrepancies to fully understand where they are coming from.
Be sure about their comprehension of the human body and the Lyme.
Ask them for testimonials and success rate.
When you are in the lobby of each doctor's office (every time) make friends.
I introduce myself to everyone who comes into the lobby of my doctor and I talk to them, really talk to them.
You don't know me so you don't know how hard this is for me because I'm not a "love talking to strangers" kind of person.
It is critical for you to know the success rate and treatment protocol of other patients and if they are feeling better.
Later, I realized I must keep up the "talking to everybody phenomenon" because the newbies, like I was, need to hear about success and that they picked the right place.
It is incredibly encouraging to hear from patients "this place is healing me".
We are on this journey to encourage one another.
The husband of a friend of mine has some horrible form of cancer that I cannot pronounce and she said the other patients in the traditional cancer program where they are is depressing.
No one in the program is getting better and she sees death everywhere they go and every time they are there.
SCARY! I would run for the hills.
Every program is not for everyone, but the wellness numbers should safely be in the 80% and 90% to be sure the doctors know what they are doing.
The bad news I have to break to you before we even get into this fight, is that you will not find cooperation from your health insurance carrier in the battle.
Finding even a traditional MD that insurance will cover all the treatments and services is rare.
It sucks, but I have to be honest with you so you are not caught off balance and surprised.
Almost all of us are paying cash or going in debt to get through this thing.
To the insurance company's defense (I have no idea why I'm defending their position) most of these treatments against Lyme are ground breaking and have only been used for a few years.
Anything that new, insurance companies are scared to death over providing funding for.
Just accept this fact and be delightfully surprised if yours will pay anything: Insurance will not cover this.
Insurance will not cover most of these treatments.
Insurance is built around traditional medicine and unless you find an M.
D.
who can code things in a gray area, your insurance is going to buck.
If it's not a pill and it's not administered in a hospital- then good luck.
I'll take a step back at this point and apologize for my abruptness.
I am a rip-off-the-bandaid-in-one-fell-swoop kind of girl, so I tend to be direct and to the point.
When you are as sick as most of you are, you don't have time to beat around the bush either.
So I'm shooting straight.
The good news is that the world changes rapidly and responds to consumer demand.
So, as the demand for good Lyme care is increasing and the treatments are becoming more well known, then who knows what can happen.