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When patients come to the office with Lyme disease, many have already been treated — yet they’re still sick. Others are newly diagnosed, overwhelmed by strange symptoms and uncertain about what lies ahead. The question most often asked is: “What’s the best treatment?” There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Answer Lyme disease can affect the brain, nerves, joints, […]

Patients with Lyme disease rarely walk into a clinic with the classic bull’s-eye rash or a clear memory of a tick bite. Instead, they often present with vague, nonspecific symptoms that are easy to overlook — especially when laboratory tests are negative or equivocal. By the time Lyme is considered, many patients have already seen

A Patient’s Story from the South My patient from Florida looked me straight in the eye and said, “But Lyme doesn’t exist down here, right?” That’s what she’d been told—by more than one doctor. She had a rash. Fatigue. Joint pain. Classic signs of Lyme disease. But instead of being tested or treated, she was

It’s not uncommon for the mouthparts of a tick to break off and remain in the skin after removal. Fortunately, this rarely increases the risk of infection, including Lyme disease. Do Tick Mouthparts Increase Risk? No. If the tick’s body is removed, the risk of Lyme or other tick-borne infections does not increase. Most disease

New research into Lyme arthritis (joint pain due to an infection with Borrelia burgdorferi) is challenging long-standing assumptions about what causes persistent symptoms after treatment. For years, many clinicians believed that when patients continued to experience swollen joints, even after treatment with antibiotics, the inflammation was simply due to an overactive immune system. The body’s

How a Shower Can Help Taking a shower after being outdoors is a smart habit, especially during tick season. It can help reduce your chances of getting bitten by a tick, but it’s important to know that a shower won’t remove a tick that has already attached to your skin. Once a tick bites, it

A Patient’s Story Worth Sharing Today, I want to share a story that has stayed with me—a story about one of my teenage patients who faced overwhelming challenges after getting Lyme disease. His journey isn’t just about physical illness; it’s about resilience, emotional pain, and the life-changing power of support. Already Struggling—Before Lyme Even before

My patient had a long-standing history of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) that had been well-controlled for years. However, after being diagnosed with Lyme disease and completing a standard course of antibiotics, he began experiencing a significant resurgence of obsessive rumination. His mental health declined as he fixated on every symptom, convinced he would never recover. Post-Treatment

Lyme disease, if left untreated, can infiltrate the nervous system, leading to a range of cognitive, neurological, and psychiatric complications. When Lyme bacteria invade the brain and spinal cord, the condition is known as neuroborreliosis—and its effects can be profound. Cognitive Dysfunction: A Mind in Fog One of the most common neurological effects of Lyme

Although Lyme disease is the most talked about tick-transmitted disease, Babesia is more common than you might think. In the 2015 issue of Trends in Parasitology, Diuk-Wasser and colleagues report that up to 40% of patients with Lyme disease experienced concurrent Babesiosis. [1] This means that out of the estimated 300,000 cases of Lyme disease