Chronic Pain in Lyme disease Doesn’t Follow the Rules Maria came to my office with a pain map that looked like a medical mystery. “It was in my knee last month, then my shoulder, now it’s in my ribs,” she explained, frustrated. “Every doctor thinks I’m making it up because nothing shows on X-rays.” This […]
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In medicine, Occam’s razor teaches that the simplest explanation is often the right one. But for chronic Lyme, this idea is sometimes used against patients. Ongoing symptoms are too quickly explained away with theories that don’t fit the real experience. The simplest answer—that the infection may not have been fully cleared—deserves more careful attention. The
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The Winter Myth That Puts People at Risk Many assume freezing temperatures wipe out ticks. As a Lyme disease specialist, I can tell you this isn’t the case. Ticks survive winter in the Northeast by sheltering under leaves, soil, and snow, allowing them to reemerge as soon as conditions warm. This means Lyme disease is
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Why Lyme Antibiotic Resistance Matters Lyme antibiotic resistance is an emerging concern in patient care. While resistance is often discussed in the context of hospital-acquired infections or global health, it also affects those with tick-borne diseases. Patients with Lyme sometimes require multiple antibiotic courses, especially if the infection is diagnosed late or involves the nervous
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Lyme disease in adolescents doesn’t always start with the classic bull’s-eye rash. Rashes can appear as solid red patches or unusual shapes, sometimes mistaken for spider bites, eczema, or skin infections. Teens may also show signs like fatigue, irritability, headaches, or limb pain. Because symptoms vary so much, misdiagnosis is common. That’s why healthcare providers
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A new study has revealed alarming trends in chronic pain across America — prevalence jumped from 21% in 2019 to 24% in 2023, now affecting 60 million adults. While researchers attributed about 13% of this increase to long-COVID, a significant portion remains unexplained. As a physician specializing in tick-borne diseases, I believe we’re missing a
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Spinal Taps: A troubling trend I’ve noticed a troubling trend in Lyme disease care. Some patients are being told they need a spinal tap (lumbar puncture) to “rule out neurological Lyme disease.” While spinal taps are important in cases like suspected meningitis, their role in evaluating Lyme is much more limited. Too often, patients go
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Why Lyme Rash Misdiagnosis Happens When most people hear “Lyme disease,” they imagine the classic bull’s-eye (erythema migrans) rash. In reality, that textbook image is the exception, not the rule. Fewer than half of patients develop the bull’s-eye pattern. Instead, the rash may appear as a simple red patch, multiple spots across the body, or
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Abandoning Lyme patients violates the core principles of medical ethics. A woman in her 40’s came to me after months of searching for answers. She had been a successful business executive, traveling weekly and leading a large team. Now, she could barely get through a video meeting without losing her train of thought. Fatigue left
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Why Lyme Disease and Exercise Deserve a Second Look In my clinical practice, I’ve worked with patients who could barely walk across the room—let alone exercise. But I’ve also seen those same patients regain strength, mobility, and hope when we introduced the right kind of movement at the right time. When Lyme disease is part
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