This Medscape post entitled Lyme Testing Gets Fast and Easy really caught my attention.

Namely, because Lyme testing is anything but fast and easy.

It is challenging and confusing for patients and practitioners, alike, and has also been quite expensive.

So, if we can get away from the confusion and arrive at a more clear method of diagnosis, then that’s fantastic!

In fact, many ‘Lyme-literate’ docs (those who really specialize in Lyme) often have had such little faith in the diagnostic testing, they they have succumbed to calling Lyme a “clinical diagnosis.” Meaning, testing can be helpful, but how the patient presents with symptoms should trump any positive or negative test results.

Now, it is true that sometimes a ‘clinical diagnosis’ is the best we can do. But it is always superior to be able to do an objective biological test that can confirm or rule out a disease. This is especially true with inherently confusing diseases like Lyme, whose symptoms seem to mimic dozens of other possible causes.

You can easily see how, if someone has a whole bunch of unexplained symptoms, and all the ‘regular testing’ has been negative, that the patient might then become convinced that they must have Lyme. Since, after all, Lyme can cause almost any symptom.

The diagnosis of Lyme consumes obscene amounts of money, time, physical, emotional and mental energy – and it affects families and relationships as well. Some folks end up on a long and extremely expensive journey of antibiotics, IVs, and a million other meds and supplements for a supposed clinical diagnosis of Lyme.

I don’t mean to harp on the Lyme community too much, here. I’ve certainly treated a lot of folks whom we really thought had Lyme. When we are struggling with debilitating symptoms, we become desperate to try nearly anything. And doctors share in that desperate desire to want to help their patients.

I am sincerely hopeful that this Medscape post is correct. I would really LOVE to have an accurate, reliable test that helps physicians to arrive at the proper diagnosis. We’ll see where this goes.