Chronic lyme is a fake diagnosis. Since many people nevertheless think
that they suffer from chronic lyme, however, there is a market for ‘treatments’,
and a whole cottage industry has popped up to take advantage of the situation.
Even a number of real MDs have joined that bandwagon – these even have their
own moniker “lyme literate doctors”, and are organized into the International
Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), one of the most dangerous and
aggressive quack organizations that has ever existed
– claiming that the symptoms experienced by their
patients are due to chronic persistent infection with B. burgdorferi (or
other Borrelia species of bacteria that can cause Lyme disease), and
prescribing long term antibiotics as treatment; or, since long-term antibiotics
will do nothing for the symptoms, various types of quackery that work equally
well. And no, there is no evidence that chronic Lyme disease exists (this is not really controversial), but there are several randomized
clinical trials that unambigously show very clearly that long term antibiotics does not help and is harmful.
Elena Frid
is one such “lyme literate” doctor. Frid is a New York-based
neurologist and clinical neurophysiologist and has been a prominent champion
for getting (chronic) lyme disease recognized as “a human rights concern”
– several media outlets, such as Huffpo
(not a trustworthy source on medical claims), have promoted her work. So why
does medical consensus
disagree with her? Frid blames the tests: “the test that we have now is up
to 50-70% inaccurate in some instances. Intern, if you test negative for Lyme
disease on regular blood work – it doesn’t mean you don’t have Lyme.” Frid
(and her associates) has her own tests that yield far more positive results –
don’t you worry; Frid will find lyme.
Then there is this,
though we emphasize that we don’t know the context.
Diagnosis:
Yes, she’s got credentials. That doesn’t entail that her claims about lyme
disease are evidence-based – they clearly aren’t. Avoid.
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