Lyme Disease: Medical Myopia & The Hidden Global Pandemic
A Patient’s Guide to Navigating the Labyrinth of Diagnosis and Treatment
Coming out on August 30, 2019
What if, at this very moment, hundreds of thousands of people were unaware that they were living in midst of an epidemic so large that it dwarfs the AIDS epidemic by sheer numbers in North America?
What if this epidemic cut across all populations: women and men, children and adults, the infirm and the fit, the very poor and the very rich?
And what if many of our best doctors in cities like New York, London, Paris, Dublin, Sydney and San Francisco were unaware of this very same problem?
This epidemic is upon us. It lurks in the most seductive of locations outside our cities – sought after vacation places frequented by urban dwellers. These are the favorite getaway spots for the often millions of people who work in our city centers, many of whom are unaware that they are at risk of infection from this insidious microbe.
The epidemic in question is a tick-borne disease, namely the spirochete bacterium Borrelia burdorferi, or Lyme disease, as it is more commonly known. Along with a number of other co-infection pathogens, including deadly viruses, this bacterium has become the scourge of the Northern Hemisphere and is now spreading into Asia and even Australia.
In this book, Dr. Bernard Raxlen attempts to answer many of those questions through the perspectives of patients and physicians from around the world, exploring the reasons for the medical myopia that blocks accurate diagnosis and treatment of tick-borne disease. He draws on his thirty years in the field and more than forty thousand clinical hours listening to and treating TBD patients and also invites other expert physicians in TBD from around the world to share their experiences and expertise. His recovered former patient, co-collaborator and Lyme advocate, Allie Cashel, author of Suffering the Silence: Chronic Lyme Disease in an Age of Denial, contributes a section of the book, illuminating life after TBD and the difficulties encountered in the post-Lyme world.
Also includes contributions from international authorities Dr. Laura Alonso Canal (Spain), Dr. Jennifer Armstrong (Canada), Michael Cook (UK), Doug Fearn (US), Dr. John Lambert (Ireland), Jenna Luché-Thayer (United Nations), Dr. Mualla McManus (Australia), Zhaneta Misho (Germany), Dr. Omar Morales (Mexico), Dr. Christian Perrone (France), Dr. Armin Schwarzbach (Germany), and Dr. Leo Shea (US); with illustrations by Rolo Ledesma.
Coming out August 30, 2019. To preorder: https://www.amazon.com/Lyme-Disease-Medical-Myopia-Epidemic/dp/1781611300
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For a great paper titled “Double Rejection of the TBD Patient With Psychiatric Symptoms,” written by Dr. Raxlen: Raxlen’s paper on TBD’s
Favorite quote:
An untreated or partially treated Lyme patient is reminiscent of a disoriented train traveler in a Kafka-like scenario. The traveler wishes to board a train on the East Coast with the intention of reaching the West Coast. However, once arrived at the train station, the traveler can’t find the “right boarding track.” The information given to him concerning “schedules and time” is hopelessly “outdated” and inaccurate. In addition, the “information booth” official continues to direct him to the wrong gate. The conductor on the platform denies the existence of such a train ever traveling to the West Coast. The traveler, hopelessly confused, finally boards the correct train that appears to head to the West Coast. Halfway through the journey, he is told that his destination has been reached. He is instructed to get off the train. Little wonder, the “traveler” is disoriented, feels crazy, and begins to doubt the reality of his/her own senses. After all, if the supposed successful course of treatment does not improve, the patient’s symptoms are no better off at the end than he was at the beginning. – Dr. Raxlen
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 