I couldn't finish reading this article unless I subscribed to the Wall Street Journal. I found it in The Australian. It quotes good doctors, like Aucott, Fallon, etc. You can click on an article about Lyme disease in Australia, too. I helped a friend there find a doctor many years ago.
I think you have to subscribe and pay to read the article.
Posted by Ann-Ohio (Member # 44364) on :
Try again. Hope it works. I did not have to subscribe.
Posted by hiker53 (Member # 6046) on :
Ann-OH, it is asking me to subscribe as well.
Posted by Ann-Ohio (Member # 44364) on :
This is a round-about way to see what the article was all about. Gordon Medical is a group in California - I am not promoting them. See the quote below.
"Fatigue, pain, cognitive changes, and neurologic dysfunction are common complaints, but they don’t always show up on standard labs, and conventional treatment often offers limited relief.
For years, this has placed patients in a gray area of medicine, where they are not always clearly diagnosed, not always believed, and often left without a meaningful path forward.
That’s why the recent Wall Street Journal article, “Chronic Lyme Disease Was Once Dismissed. More Doctors Are Coming Around,” marks a meaningful shift.
Researchers from leading institutions, including MIT, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, and Columbia, are now taking a serious look at post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS),
bringing long-overdue attention to the biological reality of persistent symptoms and the individuals experiencing them.
Here’s a Quick Breakdown of What the WSJ Article Covers:
What’s being studied:
The biology of Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) is a condition characterized by ongoing fatigue, pain, and brain fog that persists well after standard antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease.
Who is doing the research:
Institutions like MIT, Johns Hopkins, Tufts, and Columbia are leading the way, with support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Their work focuses on uncovering immune changes, microbial remnants, and neurological dysfunction that may underlie PTLDS.
Key findings so far:
In one study led by Johns Hopkins, 14% of patients treated early for Lyme still had significant symptoms one year later. Among matched controls (people who never had Lyme), only 4% reported the same issues.
Why this is happening now:
The rise of Long COVID has made the medical community more aware of post-infectious syndromes, conditions where the original infection is gone, but symptoms linger. Lyme is now part of that broader conversation.
The patient perspective:
The WSJ profiles Gretchen Dunoyer, a patient who experienced fatigue, vertigo, and brain fog long after Lyme treatment. For years, she felt dismissed, until participating in an MIT study helped validate her experience and connect it to objective changes in brain function.
What is being tested:
Trials are underway to assess targeted antibiotics, immune-modulating therapies, and even vagus nerve stimulation to relieve symptoms like brain fog and dysautonomia. While no treatment has emerged as definitive, the research is moving toward better options.
There is still no gold-standard test to diagnose PTLDS, and treatment remains individualized."