A 42 year old friend of mine committed suicide recently. I am convinced he had untreated, chronic Lyme disease.
The leading cause of death for humans living with chronic Lyme disease is not the bacterium itself, but suicide. I have probably had Lyme for 45 years and I have often teetered on the brink of despair due to “idiopathic” i.e. unexplainable by Western medicine, nausea, vertigo, fatigue, pain, brain fog, frequent viral infections, etc. For a very immediate example, writing this article has taken many hours because I have to lie down and rest frequently. In August 2024 I told Dr. Jody Taylor that I had chronic Lyme Disease. She looked in my records and over the last 12 years of seeing all the doctors at the Denman Medical Clinic, there was no mention of my Lyme diagnosis. They could have at least said the patient thinks she has Lyme. One doctor spent over 30 minutes of your taxpayers money trying to convince me to take anti-depression drugs because the cause of all my symptoms was depression.
When my friend went to the BC Center for Chronic Disease Program (CCDP) he was “merely” diagnosed with the following: fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, myofascial pain, central sensitivity syndrome and chronic idiopathic vertigo. THESE ARE ALL SIGNS OF LYME DISEASE. To be more precise, they are symptoms of NEUROBORRELIOSIS, Lyme infection of the central nervous system.
The CCDP program has had very poor reviews because their main focus is on “self-management.” Unfortunately, to self-manage, a patient must have extensive medical, social, financial and mental health supports. There has never been official support to help cope with the loss of employment and the resulting poverty, the shame of being poor and needy, or with the total lack of care from BC Medical. I spoke with a CCDP director today and she said they will ask for more feedback about how to improve their services. However, she seemed to insinuate that no doctor in that program will mention Lyme Disease unless the patient has blood work to prove it. So you have to pay 1,000.00 dollars to get tested. And then you have to pay the naturopath who ordered the tests because a regular MD will not do that. And then you pay for the naturopath’s time while he weighs the pros and cons of all the alternative medicines and herbs that may not even help.
In 2017, I suggested to my friend that he get tested at a US lab for chronic Lyme. He said he would, based on what he found out after going to the CCDP. As far as I know, and according to his parents, at no time did any of those health professionals ever suggest that he get tested for Lyme.
On their website they claim: “A study done by the Chronic Diseases Study Group could find no difference between patients with symptoms attributed to CDD (I assume that means Chronic Lyme Disease, although they also use the terms Post Lyme Disease and Late Lyme Disease) and those with ME/CFS.” ME stands for Myalgic Encephalitis (inflammation of the brain and central nervous system). CFS stands for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Their website states that they “will not see patients with Late Lyme Disease” unless they have positive serology. There are no lab testing for Lyme disease in Canada or anywhere else in the world that are covered by BC Medical. The recent tests I had for Lyme disease were done in the US and cost me 1K. Is the high potential testing costs to Health Canada and the fact that there is no allopathic “cure” for chronic Lyme disease the reason why they do not suggest or order tests for patients with symptoms of chronic Lyme disease? Ask your local current politician these questions and their eyes will glaze over in denial and ignorance.
Our medical system failed my friend. Most of his last 15 years on this planet were a brutal nightmare. Neuroborrelios in my friend also caused vertigo, hearing loss, mood swings, personality changes, and psychiatric disturbances.
If you know anyone who has any of the above symptoms, please relay this information. You can and might help them stay alive.
