From urine therapy to vitamins: study warns of untested Lyme disease ‘cures’
[CanLyme note: What is not addressed in this article below is that if patients were being properly handled within the Canadian health care system, they wouldn’t be so desperate to try anything to get their life back.
The article also infers that the CDC PHAC tests are good enough to determine a person does not have Lyme disease. Research is abundantly clear, current testing cannot rule out Lyme disease in neither acute or late stage Lyme disease, and anyone who suggests it can is misleading the public. There is no reason to doubt that private labs are giving better results and our experience at CanLyme is quite clear – in terms of patient outcome a person is far better off with private testing that looks for more strains of the Lyme causing bacteria than they are relying the narrow focused Canadian/US CDC/IDSA testing model.
Lyme remains a clinical diagnosis, as admitted by Health Canada, but doctors are not allowed to use their best clinical judgment on the Lyme file… we are now approaching 100% of Canadian physicians that publicly became known for diagnosing and treating Lyme, who have been sanctioned and have either given up their medical licence under duress because of ongoing harassment, or have had to stop seeing Lyme patients by order. Doctors are forced to follow very poorly contrived and extremely controversial guidelines, or else.
Less than 2% of all doctors receive any sanctions, so Lyme doctors are clearly targeted and perhaps that needs to be investigated by an independent body that would include patient representatives. Doctors and patients deserve to have laws protecting them from this abuse similar to laws put in place in several US states to specifically protect doctors who diagnose and treat Lyme disease, allowing them to use their best medical judgment without persecution from their medical policing entities who police by agenda, not good science.]
The article starts here.
Helen Branswell, The Canadian Press
Published Tuesday, May 26, 2015
TORONTO — A range of untested and unorthodox treatments for Lyme disease are being advocated or sold on the Internet, according to a new study that raises concerns about the appeal of these therapies to people who believe they have a controversial condition called chronic Lyme disease.
Urine therapy — as in drinking one’s own — magnet therapy, stem cell transplants and a $13,000 device purported to rid cells of bacteria by beaming light through the skin are just a few of the more than 30 alternative treatments being promoted for Lyme disease on the web, the study reports.
When its authors checked the medical literature for proof the therapies actually work, they found no good evidence….
This article is not coming up for me.
Good to see a response from Canlyme on this article
Great rebuttal, Jim. After such disregard for people who have lyme, and paying out of pocket in the thousands and thousands of dollars for treatment, people are tired and angry and confused and hurt.
The term “desperation medicine” is sometimes the only thing left to try. Anything to regain one’s health.
Thank you Jim for stepping up and addressing this issue. Until we get the Canadian government onboard with patient treatment they will continue to search for themselves. Let’s hope that new initiatives and the Canadian government willing to look at treatment options will help us get better.