What would you pay for great health? What about just good health? Most of us take our health for granted when we feel great and everything is working properly, I know I did even when I was working hard to stay fit and eat right.
Americans typically pay a lot of money for health insurance and may even still have co-pays when visiting a doctor. Quite frankly if we’re paying that kind of money we expect to get good care and an accurate diagnosis.
Nothing is free in life, unless of course you agree with my eight year old son who very quickly responded to that statement by saying, “Yes there is, babies are free because they’re homemade.” Well, how can one argue with that?
Seriously though, one of my biggest frustrations when trying to help someone understand what they need to do if they suspect they have Lyme Disease is knowing that it will cost them a lot of money to find out and even more money to treat it if they do.
Lyme doctors and Lyme specific labs do not take insurance, they can’t. You can read my post Testing For Lyme Disease to find out why.
If you think you might have Lyme Disease and you’re not getting the diagnosis or testing that you need from your doctor, you’re going to have to go to a Lyme Literate doctor (LLMD) or Naturapathic Doctor (LLND) to really know for sure.
It can be equally difficult to get treatment for acute (early) Lyme infections. Even when a patient finds a tick doctors may drag their feet until it’s too late and they become chronically ill. That only takes about 4 weeks from the initial bite by the way. Oh, and please never accept 1 or 2 Doxycycline (200 mg) as a treatment for early Lyme. We did that with one of my daughters and she is now going on 6 years of chronic illness, at times she has been seriously ill and bedridden.
Most of the time when I talk to others about their options, they choose not to go to a LLMD or LLND initially because they’d rather have their insurance pay for their doctor’s visits and tests. I totally get that, but from my experience it’s a waste time and money. By the time a person realizes they’re not going to get anywhere with their doctor or specialist, their health has deteriorated to a point where they become desperate for answers and are then ready to take the right steps.
The typical route a patient would take after a tick bite or are having symptoms but don’t know what’s causing them, would be to visit their primary doctor. Their primary will send them to up to 5 different specialists, who will run thousands of dollars of tests only to be baffled in the end and decide to diagnose them with a disease they probably don’t really have but kind of fit the mold for.
I know there are exceptions and I’m always thrilled when I hear of a doctor who takes appropriate action in diagnosing and treating Chronic Lyme Disease. This really is the exception.
The majority of doctors get squeamish when you even mention chronic Lyme. I’ve experienced this personally, they very quickly redirect you or shut you down with statements like, “there’s no such thing as chronic Lyme”, “It’s just inflammation”, or “you couldn’t have Lyme if you’ve never had a bulls-eye”.
It took me over two years to get an accurate diagnose for myself and my children. This could have been prevented if my doctor and I had known about Lyme Disease and that treating a tick bite with 21 days or more of antibiotics could prevent a chronic infection. Instead my children became chronically ill and were misdiagnosed even though a history of tick bites was on their medical records.
I spent two years of jumping through hoops, seeing specialists, getting blood tests, x-rays, CT scans, having physical therapy and seeing therapists. The entire time, I insisted my children had chronic Lyme but I was dismissed. In the meantime, their symptoms grew worse until they were either bedridden or completely overcome and not able to function as a normal child. They missed school and time playing sports and being with friends.
By the way, their diagnosis didn’t come from a doctor who accepted health insurance. I had to leave the system. I had to seek out a medical doctor who understood tick-borne infections and knew how to treat them. Until we found someone who understood we couldn’t regain our health. It has taken much longer than 21 days of antibiotics for my children to heal. They are still battling this disease and may have symptoms come and go for a long time.
It costs a lot to have good health. The cost may be disciplining ourselves to eat healthy and exercise or it may be financial. Either way, how do you put a price on good health? How do you put a price on the health of your children?
If you suspect tick-borne infections or have a number of unexplained symptoms for either you or your child, I will always recommend seeking out a physician who understands and is trained to diagnose and treat them, even if the financial costs are high.
These physicians are not closed minded or kept in a regulated box. They are risking it all to treat in a manner that is against the recommendations of the system. They are losing their licenses because they know that what they’re doing is helping people.
These doctors will not accept insurance in order to be free from the limitations of what health insurance dictates, because of this they can objectively look at everything that may be going on including tick-borne diseases.
You can’t put a price on health and until tick-borne diseases are recognized as the epidemic they really are and accurately diagnosed, you will need to seek out those who can help you get on a path of true healing and that may cost you.
If you’d like to learn more about Lyme Disease read Lyme Disease! What It Is & Why You Should Care
Find a doctor in your area by visiting ILADS Physician Referral
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