TREATMENT GUIDELINES

 

Healthcare providers have the responsibility to inform their patients about the different treatment options. Physicians should provide patients sufficient information about the benefits or risks of each one of the treatment options available. Their collaboration should lead to an informed decision, based on patient’s circumstances, beliefs and preferences.

 

The ILADS guidelines are what most of the Lyme physicians choose to go by.

Note that ILADS and IDSA have opposite approaches when it comes to Lyme treatment.

 

ILADS regards Lyme disease as a chronic condition caused by a persistent infection and promotes long term treatment. They suggests that diagnosis can be based on clinical diagnosis. ILADS recognize that it is challenging to diagnose and treat Lyme. According to them the treatment plan should be individualized and based on severity of the symptoms presented by the patient, the presence of co-infections and the patient response to treatment.

 

IDSA dismisses the idea Chronic Lyme completely. They prefer a different term: Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS). They state that Lyme disease can be cured with a short course of antibiotics, that the Borrelia infection has no chance of survival after the antibiotic treatment.

 

Lyme treatment guidelines have changed in the past years. Below are some of the guidelines available online. For more in-depth, please check the following links: