posted
Are there truly any LLMDs in VA? Especially in/around Richmond, VA? I have seen some listed docs in many specialties, so, how does anyone know that any of them can address the myriad of health issues I have? I am in severe pain, which I am sure most who read this are, and very frustrated with my family doc, retinologist,etc. If I don't have to knock on every door on planet Earth, I would be so grateful! Please let me know! Thank you
Posts: 1 | From Mechanicsville, VA | Registered: Oct 2015
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
Since nobody from Va has answered you yet, I will tell you that I do not know of any lyme doctors in southern VA that I would recommend.
There are some lyme specialists in northern VA. The lyme doc I recommend to folks in our area is right outside of D.C. in Maryland. He is very good. He can address all of your many health issues. He had lyme himself.
He will do monthly telephone appointments after the first in-person appointment. So, you would not have to travel much to be his patient. Let me know if you want his name and all the info and patient reports I have on him.
Generally, once you go south of D.C. it is very difficult to find a lyme doctor and the few that exist are not as good as the ones in the D.C. area and northern states. We have a lot of lyme from D.C. and above, so we have a lot more lyme doctors and much better doctors.
I would advise you to consider the doctor I recommend. Let me know.
The other thing you can do is contact the lyme support groups near you. See Support Groups on the left side of this page. Contact those in your state and nearby states. They can tell you which doctors are helping people.
Until you get to a true lyme specialist, you can expect to be VERY frustrated. Once you get to someone with a lot of expertise in lyme, everything is different.
Just know that a lyme specialist (meaning that their medical practice is nearly 100% lyme disease or totally lyme disease) can be an internist, rheumatologist, etc.
Once a doctor gets lyme himself, or a close family member gets it, then the doctor begins researching the disease for himself. He sees that what he has been taught about the disease is incorrect. Then, he often becomes a lyme specialist.
So, that is how most of our lyme doctors came to be lyme doctors. There is no official medical specialty called lyme specialist. The medical profession has assigned infectious disease doctors to be the specialty that treats lyme. However, ID doctors are generally the worst enemies of lyme patients because they all (or almost all) toe the party line created by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
If you don't know about the huge medical controversy surrounding lyme disease, then watch the following TV special:
A Boston TV station did a show on the lyme disease controversy a few years ago. Here is the Boston Chronicle video on YouTube:
I suggest you watch this video a few times. It explains the lyme disease controversy and the role the IDSA plays in making it difficult for a person to get good lyme treatment.
And, the very best document you can read to understand this disease (which is actually a number of diseases) is the Burrascano Lyme Treatment Guidelines found here:
Before he retired, Burrascano was the #1 lyme doctor in the world. They came from every country on the globe to be treated by him.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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You need to be evaluated and treated by a Lyme-literate doctor (LLMD). Non LLMDs have no clue about this horrible disease or its complex treatment!
A LLMD is one who has treated Lyme disease and the co-infections which come with it for many years and has gotten patients well. A good one will follow Dr. B's Guidelines, the "gold standard" for Lyme treatment.
Unfortunately, LLMDs are far and few between. You need to go where they are.
Also most LLMDs do not accept insurance due to the politics surrounding this horrible disease. Read poster TF's explanation, "Why Lyme Doctors Don't Take Insurance":
Btw - please break up your posts into 2-3 sentence paragraphs, as there are people on Lymenet who cannot read large blocks of text due to neurological problems from Lyme. Thanks.
Posts: 8984 | From Illinois | Registered: May 2006
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