Questions To Ask Lyme Disease & Associated Diseases Health Professionals Before Seeing Them As A New Patient
After you've asked for a list of health care providers, you'll find you're now at the mercy of calling a long list of potential candidates that you're considering hiring as your care provider.
Here is a tips list to help you sort through the names as you choose who your new doctor will be.
Please e-mail me anytime you learn something new about doctors on this list. It will really help me.
It can be an overwhelming process sorting through the doctors on the list I provide, and so this tips list is designed to help you organize the process.
Here is some advice to help narrow down the list based on my experience:
Begin with choosing 5 names off the list.
Choose them by whatever criteria attracts you to their name.
Call each one, and follow this process below:
Starting the conversation:
When you call each office, tell them you're considering becoming a new patient but that you have questions of concern before going in for a consult. (After all you don't want to waste your time or money,or the doctors time, if you aren't sure this doctor is right for you. Be a medical consumer and an advocate for your care) -
Do they meet the standards listed below. The names used below are fictional examples. The questions to ask: -
First ask the persons name that answers the phone. When you know their name, say hello Jason Is Dr. Richards taking new patients? (Using the persons name helps create a connection between you and the person you're speaking to. The other person will be more receptive to your questions, and more willing to reveal information they may not usually reveal otherwise.) -
Jason, is Dr. Richards a member of the International Lyme And Associated Disease society, also known as ILADS? If he's not a member, does he subscribe to their methods for extending treatment if necessary for Chronic Lyme Disease and associated infections? Many doctors that treat Chronic Lyme Disease are not ILADS members, but the still follow the guidelines, or at least something similar. -
Which insurance carriers do you accept? (if the person says none: ask how much the cost is for the first consult, phone consults, and follow up appointments. -
Are out of office or in office tests included in that price? -
Tell the person you're speaking to: Jason in this example -- that you'd like to talk to the doctor yourself, or have him or her return a phone call so you can speak directly with him/her so you can decide whether you want to invest money and driving time in a consult. -
If the office has a policy that you can't talk to the doctor directly, then ask the office staff (Jason in this example) which words they'd use to describe the doctors level of care and would they see the doctor themselves if they or a family member were ill? -
At this point pay attention to tone and attitude. If they get irritable, indifferent or apathetic write a note that this is a sign of problems. -
If Jason does answer with positive words like compassionate, open minded, intelligent, a good listener etc. then you know this is a strong choice. Words like "fine, good, or ok or anything that seems forced or unenthusiastic tells you things aren't likely going to work. -
Ask Jason (example name) How does this doctor feel about dealing with a controversial or poorly understood disease(s)? (Let them respond for a moment) then continue and say "Like Chronic Lyme Disease." -
Many physicians will not tell you they accept patients with Lyme Disease by phone, as they are under scrutiny, so approach it indirectly. -
Once the person starts talking about it openly, then you'll be safe to tell your story briefly, that you have Lyme Disease, or other associated diseases, and need treatment as soon as possible. -
Ask Jason if the physician treats patients who have Lyme Disease or associated infections with long term antibiotics - both oral and IV - beyond the conventional 6-8 weeks time period, if the patient requires it. -
What laboratories are commonly used? If they don't know, ask if they can find out. -
If they use only Lab corp, Quest, this can be a problem. You can press further by asking if they use specialty labs like Igenex, Medical Diagnostic Laboratories, Central Florida Research, or Fry Laboratories. If they use any of these, that's a good sign. They may use others as well, which are effective but not listed here. -
Also ask if the doctor takes Co-infections seriously, and is he or she willing to test for these and treat these? -
Ask Jason if you can fax, or e-mail a one to two page summary of your situation to the doctor once you've decided that you'll see this physician.
E-mail:
'If the doctors e-mail is included on the list I sent you, then you can avoid making the phone call above all together. I personally would do both, call and write. Most Lyme specialists who have E-mail also tend to make themselves more available to their patients, which is important.
Write the doctor directly. Give him/her a short bio history of who you are, what you're illness is, and symptoms, only 1 or 2 paragraphs at most, keep it concise and factual. Ask the same questions you would ask the office staff. Those questions are listed above.
Additional advice:
Try to work with a "Medical M.D" or NP (Nurse practioner) before turning to holistic, DO, ND, or other alternative practitioners" -- I say this because, you need a diagnosis from a medical physician or NP in order to have credible records for insurance and or medical care, especially if you're disabled or may be filing for it.
Additionally, antibiotic therapy is the first line of defense and shows the greatest improvements in the average patient based on the available science, vs. these other forms of care which aren't entirely understood.
However, it's also true antibiotics only get most patients so far who have chronic Lyme or it's co-infections before they need to consider employing alternative practitioners who are using cutting edge techniques or herbal treatments.
In late stage cases or cases involving Bartonella or Babesia (Which are very common and must be taken seriously) the entire body is ill, requiring nutritional care, detoxification, as well as therapies aimed at killing the infection (s) and so on.
The body has been exhausted so long, that the specialist also needs to be aware of those facts too and treat them. I don't discount using the other forms -- in-fact, I'm certain many of them work. If you choose to work with an M.D. and that physician likes to combine therapies such as antibiotics/antimalarial, or so on with say Samento, Cowden, Rife ect, light therapy,Infared Sauna, Photon Therapies.
These can be useful in tick-borne illness. It doesn't hurt to see a DO or ND in combination with an M.D. either, since treatments can be combined and two heads are better if they specialize in Lyme.
When you're done, please report back to me how each health care provider/office responded, or how you felt. Also your experience with the health care provider after the appointment would be helpful. My e-mail is at the bottom.
I try to record as much information as I can so that the next patient who comes asking for help has a comprehensive first hand account of the staff and doctor.
You can use ratemd.com to look up each doctor as well. Some will be listed, some won't. The page allows you to see what other patients thought about the doctors level of care. If the doctor has less than 4 as a rating, then I wouldn't bother seeing them. (Again just my opinion)