Lyme Science Blog

Lyme Persisters: Why Symptoms Can Return After Treatment You finished treatment. The antibiotics are done. Your doctor says you’re cured. So why do you still feel terrible? For many patients, the answer may lie in Lyme persisters—dormant bacteria that survive antibiotic therapy and can reignite symptoms long after treatment ends. The Role of Lyme Persisters […]

PANS in Teens: When Lyme Disease Triggers Sudden Change A healthy 16-year-old became unrecognizable within days. Once outgoing and confident, he suddenly developed anxiety, irritability, and repetitive rituals. His handwriting deteriorated, grades plummeted, and he withdrew from friends. Parents were told it was psychiatric. But Lyme disease had triggered PANS—an autoimmune condition where infection causes

Physician Reluctance in Lyme Treatment: Risks for Patients Dr. Sarah reviewed the file carefully. Her patient exhibited all the classic symptoms of Lyme disease and had been exposed to ticks. But the test was negative. She knew from experience that early Lyme tests miss up to 50% of cases, yet she hesitated to make the

Lyme or Long COVID? Making Sense of Persistent Symptoms Three years after beating Lyme disease, Jennifer tested positive for COVID-19. Months later, the same crushing fatigue, brain fog, and joint pain that she experienced with Lyme had returned. Was it Long COVID — or Lyme again? Doctors disagreed, and meanwhile she felt worse by the

Stopping Lyme Disease Treatment Too Soon Can Backfire After 37 years treating Lyme disease, I’ve seen patients naturally wonder when they begin to feel better: Do I really need to keep taking these medications? In Lyme disease, this question comes up often. After weeks or months of therapy, fatigue, joint pain, or brain fog may

Risk Factors for Chronic Lyme Disease While many people treated for Lyme disease recover completely, a significant number develop chronic Lyme disease with persistent symptoms that continue long after standard antibiotics. These patients often report having ongoing fatigue, pain, sleep disturbance, neurological changes, and emotional strain that disrupts their lives. Understanding the risk factors for

Low-Dose Naltrexone for Lyme: What We Know (and Don’t) Low-dose naltrexone (LDN) has gained growing attention as a potential supportive therapy for people with chronic Lyme disease and persistent symptoms that may not fully resolve with antibiotics. Originally developed as a treatment for opioid and alcohol dependence, naltrexone in much smaller doses appears to have

Lyme Disease Pain After 37 years treating Lyme disease, I’ve seen pain patterns that looked like medical mysteries. Maria came to my office with a pain map that looked exactly that way. “It was in my knee last month, then my shoulder, now it’s in my ribs,” she explained. “Every doctor thinks I’m making it

Chronic Lyme Disease Misdiagnosis: When Occam’s Razor Fails In medicine, Occam’s razor teaches that the simplest explanation is often the right one. But chronic Lyme disease misdiagnosis often reflects a deeper problem: the simplest explanation may be overlooked. In chronic Lyme, this idea is sometimes used against patients. Ongoing symptoms are too quickly explained away