The vast majority of patients coming to see Dr. Horowitz have remained ill for long periods of time because of lack of awareness of the clinical presentation of Lyme disease and associated tick-borne co-infections, as well as not addressing overlapping medical factors that are responsible for ongoing symptoms. Patients with chronic symptoms after classical treatment for Lyme disease have multifactorial causes for their illness. Dr. Horowitz calls this syndrome Lyme-MSIDS. MSIDS stands for Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome, and represents sixteen potential overlapping medical problems contributing to persistent symptoms in the Lyme patient. The first point on the MSIDS map is infections. Ticks are now containing multiple bacterial, viral and parasitic infections which can be transmitted simultaneously with Borrelia burgdorferi, the agent of Lyme disease. Patients infected with Lyme disease and associated co-infections are much sicker and resistant to standard therapies. Patients with Lyme-MSIDS also have evidence of associated immune dysfunction, inflammation, environmental toxins and heavy metal burdens, detoxification problems, nutritional deficiencies, hormonal abnormalities, sleep disorders, mitochondrial dysfunction, food allergies and sensitivities, deconditioning and imbalances in their autonomic nervous system. All of these factors can keep the patient chronically ill. There is a commonly held belief in medicine, called Pasteur’s postulate that there is “one cause for one illness”. This does not apply to patients with chronic Lyme symptoms. The term “chronic Lyme disease” needs to be redefined as Lyme-MSIDS to more accurately reflect the multiple underlying etiologies responsible for persistent symptoms. A diagnostic and treatment model for Lyme-MSIDS will be therefore be presented as a 16 point map, so that health care providers have a broad understanding of how to approach and treat these patients with complex presentations who have failed classical therapies.
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