[charlangas]

Both of my sisters (currently mid-30s) have had their lives on pause for over 10 years due to chronic Lyme disease because doctors in Mexico hadn't ever even heard of it. It took 4 years of pain for the first of them to be diagnosed. Not sure when, if ever, they'll be cured because when you don't treat Lyme disease within a few months of infection, it digs in and is incredibly difficult to kill.

[Aurornis]

> Not sure when, if ever, they'll be cured because when you don't treat Lyme disease within a few months of infection, it digs in and is incredibly difficult to kill

FYI, the idea that active infection continues to exist in hiding within the body is a fringe theory.

The linked article talks about one of the current theories for why some patients have persistent symptoms after the infection is treated. The theory involves certain components of the past infection lodging themselves in the liver where they persist and can cause symptoms.

This is a difficult topic because some alternative Lyme treatment providers will tell patients they have a persistent infection and then subject them to years of high-dose antibiotics with no scientific basis, which can create a separate set of problems without addressing anything.

[elric]

> This is a difficult topic because some alternative Lyme treatment providers will tell patients they have a persistent infection and then subject them to years of high-dose antibiotics with no scientific basis, which can create a separate set of problems without addressing anything.

I know someone who has been suffering from what they call "chronic lyme" for years. These people are painfully well aware of the unlikeliness of antibiotics fixing them, and they're very much aware of the problems being caused by antibiotics. But the alternative ("doing nothing") isn't helping them either, so they cling to the hope that the antibiotics will do "something".

It doesn't help that they're stigmatised. They're "lazy". They're "faking it". It isn't a "real disease". None of that helps them. Maybe the antibiotics don't help them either, but at least they have a chance of doing something.

[thedougd]

Yes, and they use non-specific testing that will produce a positive result in most people.

There's a massive scam industry around Lyme and it's a shame because it interferes with legitimate suffers' ability to get honest treatment. Or worse, sends those who don't have Lyme down a rabbit hole where their actual condition is never treated.

[e40]

I read an account here years ago of someone that tried everything and as a last resort did a 2-3 week fast under doctors supervision and it cured it. I always thought I would try this if I got LD.

[pembrook]

Sorry to be so blunt, but it’s extremely unlikely both your sisters would have a rare chronic condition related to Lyme that wouldn’t respond to the standard course of antibiotics. The hysteria around Lyme on the internet is ridiculous.

Unfortunately nobody wants to say it to your face, but among females, you can never rule out social contagion when confronted with extremely coincidental outcomes like this.

Or, it could be a genetic condition they both have being misdiagnosed as chronic Lyme via internet research.