Why Can't I Get Better? Solving the Mystery of Lyme and Chronic Disease: Solving the Mystery of Lyme and Chronic Disease

Book came on time & in perfect condition. I was diagnosed at age 5 with Rheumatoid Arthritis & had a couple unexplainable medical problems but was overall a healthy child. I suffered from eating disorders from 14 until I just say 21 because I don't know exactly when at 20yrs old I overcame, by then just Bulimia. I accomplished that in under a year after 7 & 1/2 weeks of inpatient treatment & continued outpatient therapy only to find myself with debilitating horribly awful lower abdominal & back pain attacks along with diarrhea at times up to 30X a day. That happened in less than a year of eating normally & I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. Many more chronic illnesses were to follow that I tried everything modern medicine & alternative treatments had to offer. Autoimmune diseases being my biggest problem. I had Graves Disease that went undiagnosed for I don't know how many years which after a few years on medication I was told my best option was to radioactively ablate (kill) my thyroid with no mention of the word Hypothyroidism. I have never even had a year of being healthy & quite honestly I don't know what that would feel like. I thought I finally discovered my problem after around 7yrs of seeing one specialist after another with no improvement but a ton of different diagnosed diseases & medical conditions. I thought it was under treatment of Hypothyroidism & found a doctor that treated in an entirely different way than the Endocrinologist & D.O. I had been seeing. I felt as though someone has turned the lights back on but I was far from healthy but was told I had a year ahead of me to heal my immune system. After only 3 months I had a horrible setback that left me in more pain than I had ever been & unable to even sit or stand for any amount of time, constant headaches that were coming from my neck feeling as though it had turned to stone, dizziness, lightheaded, extremely low blood pressure & much more. Finally the new doctor tested me for Lyme which came back positive for 3 bans or strains. I haven't been able to get my thyroid hormone levels back to what they were for those 3 months so that causes fatigue, pain & a list of symptoms too long to write. I have done a lot of research & joined the Lyme Disease Group on Facebook which is where I first heard of Dr. Horowitz. Anyone that has Lyme Disease should read his book because there is a war going on between the Infectious Disease MDs & ilads which Dr. Horowitz is one of the cofounders of. He has dedicated his career to helping people with Chronic Lyme Disease & all that comes with it, which is what I have but is not recognized by modern medicine. Lyme has become an epidemic & many people are misdiagnosed with everything from MS to Bipolar Disorder. Many people think you must get the bullseye rash to have Lyme but many such as myself do not. I have been in treatment for 9 months now & have never been so sick. I have tested positive for one coinfection but blood tests are unreliable so a good LLMD, Lyme Literate MD, should be able to treat them according to symptoms which currently I don't have a good LLMD. I have heavy metal poisoning also which is common since the bacterial infection that is Lyme weakens your immune system leaving you defenseless to fight off common toxins we all come in contact with. Lyme can trigger autoimmune diseases so I believe I was infected as a child but I will never know when. I have found a good LLMD but can't make the 7 plus hour round trip until my thyroid hormone levels are better which takes months when they are as off as mine are. I have been told too many times to count that I'm not in the medical books, I do the exact opposite of what the medical books say & the best is, this is just impossible. For those suffering from chronic illnesses that never get better despite doing everything & anything to get better I highly recommend this book & going to ilads.org to find a LLMD to get tested. They call Lyme "The Great Imitator" because it can mimic so many diseases. I have a long road ahead of me & there is no cure for Chronic Lyme but I'm told there is a life to be lived as a survivor. I haven't done much living for the past 24yrs, just a lot of existing. Lyme is curable if caught & treated correctly but sadly most people that go through their local hospital or Infectious Disease MD are not cured & told they have to live with the effects of Post Lyme Syndrome, I believe that is correct. To be left with catch all diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, sleep disorders, depression, anxiety..... My memory has been affected along with depression & anxiety. Lyme attacks your entire body including your mind.

I read this book alongside watching Dr. Horowitz's series of videos on YouTube, which I also recommend highly. One of the best is his latest 35 minute video of Lyme & Co-infection diagnosis and treatment testimony to the Belgium Senate. It serves as an overview for patients and primary care doctors alike. It and this book explains the controversy about diagnosis, testing, long-term treatment, along with all the straightforward recommendations for diagnosis and treatment, based on a his large database of patients and his years of interaction with a field of colleagues pursuing similar work. The book materials are prepared and contextualized in a comprehensive and organized approach that will readily translate into a more policy ready, practice practical, yet patient and consumer-friendly format which should greatly help the transition to more formal and widespread public and medical uptake and adoption. Bravo, and very wise to be preparing this book and latest materials with medical and public policymakers in mind. I say this as an experienced government policymaker and health scientist and as a patient. As a patient, I find that there are many sections and sets of materials that I hope to use to make the communication with my Lyme specialist physician even more efficient and streamlined, as well as reassuring that me we are up to date, and making the best choices going forward. I will update on that in the future.I would recommend that future editions of the ebook have direct links embedded to video presentations by Horowitz and other key Lyme researchers, practitioners, advocates, and patient experiences. For just one example, the series of videos by legendary pathologist Dr. Alan McDonald on borrelia and similar slow-growing bacteria in chronic infections are deeply illustrative of the survival mechanisms of these bacteria, and informative about the advances in detecting them--and they demonstrate the constant innovation and ongoing progress being made in the science. I found McDonald's perspective helpful in making doctors better understand what they are up against and for patients to visualize the same during their treatment. I would also be bolder and include links to the statements and views of more traditional IDSA thought leaders for comparison. I personally found that taking the time to listen to those viewpoints directly helped me to better grasp the flaws in rationale pointed out by ILADS members and supporters, and captured the selectivity in using evidence that informs and flaws the IDSA perspective.Finally there are some good review articles showing up in the peer reviewed literature that should be cited as a follow up reading resource for those wanting more detail on the science, and again some of these articles have helpful takeaways for practitioners and patients. One such review is Keith Berndtson's 2013 article in International Journal of General Medicine entitled "Review of Evidence for Immune Invasion and Persistent Infection in Lyme Disease." Offering an appendix of such materials for readers that gets updated with new editions will be useful; the current section on recommended reading is much too brief and should be enhanced and annotated. Another appendix that would be useful would include more in depth tables addressing variations on the medication combos provided throughout the book (the current Tables are appreciated, but would be helpful to provide more detail on many more viable permutations, along with common dosage levels). Also more detailed advice and lessons learned about how and when to ramp up, when to lower what medications safely for what periods of time as needed while maintaining some therapeutic effectiveness would be helpful. Detail on what is effective as pulse therapy over what time frames for drugs like Tindamax and Flagyl would be well-received as there is much variability in the field on that, ranging from warnings against to regular pulses. That is all difficult territory for doctors and patients to knowledgeably navigate as Herxheimer, die-off reactions occur. Perhaps a more general section or appendix discussing polypharmacy with antibiotics and using antibiotics with slow growing organisms with chronic illness would be an asset, helping to increase practitioner understanding and confidence as that represents a different set of practices and principles than what is taught and that is routine for acute infection. It has become apparent that it is the multi-antibiotic approach along with other forms of system support from conventional and alternative medicine that will be needed for Lyme recovery, yet that is a boundary that I think is difficult for primary care physicians to cross, and forces patients to search for difficult to access specialty care.With much gratitude, I thank you Dr. Horowitz for your continued work and dedication.

This is the book the uk docs and I used to treat my child who had the head of a tick left in him. It was a long journey but the appendices in this book together with careful documentation of symptoms are fantastic in helping you navigate a path back to good health. I believe it is the “cocktail” of drugs that is the key. We had to change the cocktail according to the symptoms every few months. It took a couple of years of treatment. A lot of medicine! But that is Tick disease for you..... thank you Dr Horowitz.

I accidentally wrote my review for this book under Why Can't I Get Better which I haven't received and so can't review.I'll try to retrieve the accidental review and post it here...

Incredibly helpful book for those navigating the shark-infested waters of Lyme Disease and co-infections. Have even given one to my doctor. Here are answers that are hard to find and put together from reading all over about Lyme and co., with the benefit that he has treated thousands of patients so this info can be trusted. Should be read by all doctors in my opinion!

5 star superb...Nothing more to be said.

If your ill or a relative is and it's Lyme and Co infections then this book is an absolute must buy. There's so much help and information and he's well respected by GP's in the 'know'.