You find a bull’s-eye rash around a tick bite. If you get to the doctor quickly, get a Lyme disease diagnosis, and take the standard antibiotics, everything will be fine, right?
Not for a sizable percentage of Lyme patients. And not for our protagonist in this episode, Siri. She’s a seventeen-year-old Nordic ski racer from Vermont who’s suffered repeated bouts of pediatric Lyme disease.
Siri trains for cross-country ski racing at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Vermont, boosting her mood and stamina. But when she has deep fatigue, brain fog, and poor balance, training is often impossible. “There were many days,” says Siri, “that I just sat on the couch with my head between my legs.”
Siri’s second major onset of Lyme symptoms occurred at age 11. Perhaps due to previous infection and treatment, she does not test positive for Lyme then, so her doctors would not prescribe antibiotics. Yet her symptoms persisted, setting Siri and her mother, Kara, on a research and treatment odyssey.
Our expert commentator for this episode, Dr. Steven Phillips, finds this is often the case for people with chronic Lyme and Lyme related symptoms. “[In] most cases of Lyme, the subjective features vastly outweigh the objective features. Subjective means what the patient feels, what the doctor can't see versus what the doctor can see,” says Dr. Phillips. He’s a Yale-trained physician and author of the book, Chronic, about his personal struggle with Lyme and professional efforts to better understand the disease.
“What is very well recognized,” says Phillips, “is that a large percentage of patients develop chronic symptoms after acute Lyme disease.”
In Siri’s case, that meant trying a wide range of alternative therapies, some of which she’d rather forget.
Will Siri escape the physical and emotional depths of chronic Lyme? Can aerobic exercise like Nordic skiing help people with Lyme and other chronic conditions?
Tune in to learn more about Lyme disease and the rewards and challenges of cross-country skiing on this first episode of season two. And meet exceptionally resilient Siri, her devoted mother Kara, and a Nordic skiing family on an odyssey of twists, turns, and steep uphill climbs.
My Body Odyssey is a Fluent Knowledge production.
Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney.
Show Notes:
Experts:
Steven Phillips, MD
Steven Phillips Website
Steven Phillips Book (2020): Chronic: The Hidden Cause of the Autoimmune Pandemic and How to Get Healthy Again
Resources
Organizations:
LymeDisease.org
LymeNet.info
ILADS Medical Society
Further Readings:
"Chronic Lyme Disease vs Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome"
Chronic Lyme Disease: An Evidence-Based Definition by the ILADS Working Group
“Evidence assessments and guideline recommendations in Lyme disease: the clinical management of known tick bites, erythema migrans rashes and persistent disease”
"Lyme Disease (Borreliosis) in a Saint Bernard Dog: First Clinical Case in Turkey"
"Metamorphoses of Lyme disease spirochetes: phenomenon of Borrelia persisters"
"Review of evidence for immune evasion and persistent infection in Lyme disease"
"Recent Progress in Lyme Disease and Remaining Challenges"
"Hyperbaric oxygen therapy as an effective adjunctive treatment for chronic Lyme disease"
"Novel Diagnosis of Lyme Disease: Potential for CAM Intervention"
“The effectiveness of Samento, Cumanda, Burbur, and Dr. Lee Cowden's protocol in the treatment of chronic Lyme disease"
“Function and evolution of aquaporin IsAQP1 in the Lyme disease vector Ixodes scapularis"
“Comprehensive Review of Herbal Supplements Used for Persistent Symptoms Attributed to Lyme Disease”
"Supervised Resistance Exercise for Patients with Persistent Symptoms of Lyme Disease"
NIH: Chronic Lyme Disease
More at www.mybodyodyssey.com
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