Best Lyme Disease Treatment Clinic
What is Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease, a bacterial infection caused by several members of the Borrelia burgdorferi species complex, is the most common and fastest-growing vector-borne disease in the United States.
How do you get Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of infected black-legged ticks and possibly other insect vectors.
It is usually reported in the spring through fall, with peaks in June, July, and August. In California and other similarly temperate areas, the “seasonality” of Lyme disease is less pronounced, with cases diagnosed throughout the year.
How Common is Lyme Disease?
- The CDC estimates that more than 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease yearly.
- The BMJ Global Health estimates that 14.5% of the world’s population has, at some point, been infected with Lyme disease.
- Lyme disease affects all age groups, with particularly high occurrences among children ages 5-14 and adults 45-65, with a slight male predominance in early infection.
What are Lyme Disease Co-Infections?
Because insect vectors can carry multiple pathogens, it is not unusual for Lyme disease patients to be infected with numerous co-infections in addition to Borrelia burgdorferi after a single tick bite.
The most encountered pathogenic co-infections include Babesia, Ehrlichia, Bartonella, Anaplasma, and various viruses.
Signs of Lyme Disease
“Classic” signs of Lyme disease are not always apparent and clinical presentation often varies depending on the organ or tissue infected with Borrelia Burgdorferi or other co-infections.
In the US, less than 30% of patients with Lyme disease recall getting a tick bite, and the vector (e.g., Nymph ticks) may be tiny, <2mm, so not always readily visualized or identified!
Chronically Lyme disease patients may also have non-tick related infections such as:
- Epstein Barr Virus (EBV)
- Cytomegalovirus (CMV)
- Human Herpes Virus 6 (HHV6)
- Mycoplasma
- Chlamydia pneumoniae
- Parvovirus
- Candida
- and more
Therefore, a diagnosis of Lyme disease should be made on a clinical basis, taking into account the patient’s medical history, symptoms, signs, and tick exposure risk.
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Mon: 10am-12pm & 1pm-4pm
Tues-Thurs: 9am-12pm & 1pm-4pm
Friday: closed
1700 California Street, Suite 520
San Francisco, CA 94109
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Common Lyme Disease Symptoms
Common Lyme disease symptoms may include but is not exclusive to the following:
- Erythema Migrans rash (EM)
- Fatigue, malaise
- Flu-like symptoms, including fever, headache, arthralgias, myalgias
- Stiff neck
- Dysesthesia
- Lymphadenopathy
- Severe headaches
- Facial nerve dysfunction leading to weakness or paralysis of facial muscles (often mislabeled as Bell’s palsy)
- Joint swelling and/or pain
- Neuropathic symptoms – nerve pain, numbness, hot/cold sensations, tingling
- Cognitive dysfunction
- Memory impairment
- Unprovoked pain which may interfere with sleep
- Palpitations or chest pain, shortness of breath
- Lightheadedness, fainting
- Gastrointestinal symptoms
- Psychiatric symptoms- including depression, anxiety, and mood changes
Lyme Disease Treatment Testimonial
Lyme Disease Testing
Widely used Lyme disease tests have been found to be insensitive and unreliable.
The CDC adopted and standardized these antibody tests for surveillance purposes in 1994, using IgM and IgG Western blots.
Since then, several scientific articles have argued that ELISA (aka. Lyme titer) testing has only between a 33% – 49% accuracy.
Cases of negative ELISA tests, even with serial measurement of antibodies, has been well documented despite the presence of disease (Engstrom, Dattwyler).
These tests’ low accuracy rates have led to many patients being misdiagnosed or undiagnosed.
We use a more comprehensive and accurate method of testing for Lyme Disease that avoids the issues with these older tests.
Conventional Lyme Disease Treatment
Early antibiotic treatment can cure Lyme disease. However, in practice and the scientific literature, it has been observed that many patients do not return to their pre-Lyme health levels with short courses of antibiotics and may instead require longer-term antibiotic treatments.
Furthermore, according to the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), ten to twenty percent of patients treated for early Lyme disease remain ill following antibiotic therapy.
A Better Lyme Disease Treatment Approach
Many patients with chronic Lyme Disease have underlying health issues preventing them from fully recovering.
At Anatara Medicine, we emphasize a patient-centered, person-specific care approach and the importance of careful assessment of the complete clinical picture to guide treatment decisions.
There are many newer and innovative approaches to treating Lyme disease and co-infections without antibiotics which can be discussed with our doctors.
Our objective is to strengthen the whole body, remedy any underlying health conditions and deficiencies, and effectively treat the Lyme disease infection.
This thorough and systematic approach results in a very high level of success in treating Lyme Disease.
Contact Us for Effective Lyme Disease Treatment
Please contact us if you would like more information about Lyme disease and its treatment considerations. We look forward to seeing you!
Call (415) 345-0099 or submit an online inquiry.
Frequently Asked Questions
We, unfortunately, do not take insurance. Our proprietary treatments, therapies, and diagnostics are exclusive, offered by only a few practitioners in the US. As such, insurance companies do not cover these yet.
Yes, we offer Telehealth services to many locations.
Making a trip to our lovely city of San Francisco does not need to happen right away. Based on your initial consultation, what testing has come in, our doctors will tailor recommendations for you, and we will do our best to work around your schedule.
We begin with an in-person or Telemedicine consultation with one or two of our doctors. The doctor(s) will typically recommend conventional and state-of-the-art, leading-edge tests based on the consultation. Some of these tests will likely require a blood draw. Once the test results are back, we will schedule an appointment for the doctor to review your results with you in detail.
The doctor may recommend you begin specific therapies during your initial visit before your labs have come back in certain circumstances. The doctor will discuss any such recommendations with you in detail.
Because Anatara is a leading and cutting-edge treatment center, most therapies will be received at our center in San Francisco, however, where possible, we will work with partnered centers across the country to accommodate your schedule.
Therapies are tailored for you by the doctor and Anatara team based on many variables. We offer individual targeted therapies and some treatment packages, and we will be happy to review those in detail with you once they are recommended. Many of our treatment plans include IV (intravenous) therapies, a very efficient way of administering medications and nutrients into your bloodstream to get to the tissues and cells. Some IVs only take ~ 1.5 hours, while others can take 3.0-4.0 hours, based on the tailored treatments the doctor has recommended
References:
- Engstrom study: Immunoblot interpretation criteria for serodiagnosis of early Lyme disease. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7714202/)
- Dattwyler study: Seronegative Lyme disease. Dissociation of specific T- and B-lymphocyte responses to Borrelia burgdorferi. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3054554/)
- https://www.ilads.org/research-literature/lyme-disease-basics-for-providers/
- Higher impact if we also quote worldwide stats: BMJ 2022: “A new study published in BMJ Global Health estimates that 14.5% of the world’s population has, at some point, been infected with Lyme disease”
Contact Us
Mon: 10am-12pm & 1pm-4pm
Tues-Thurs: 9am-12pm & 1pm-4pm
Friday: closed
1700 California Street, Suite 520
San Francisco, CA 94109
Become a Patient
"*" indicates required fields
