Why Aren't Doctors Educated Regarding Lyme?

It's so frustrating to see others having similar problems to those I've had with mysterious fluxuating symptoms and no answers to why they are so severely ill. Why aren't doctors educated regarding Lyme disease? The testing is so easy. The symptoms are very broad, yes. However, when you have a patient who needs help and there are no answers, why aren't you testing them?

Here is an example of an online medical help forum where the doctor didn't even think of the OBVIOUS...

Med Help Forum Link

"I got suddenly ill after a camping trip 2 and a half years ago, and have never felt the same since. My initial symtoms were flu like, but much worse, I couldn't eat for a week, and I couldn't get out of bed for at least a week... I couldn't go anywhere for 5 months...The "mono" never went away, but it got slightly better...I have such strange symptoms though, I dont know what to make of it! I am of doctors telling me its anxiety...I can barely get out of bed and am tired all the time, and also many symptoms I have could not possibly be due to anxiety."

If you look at the forum, it takes, not the doctor, but another forum member to mention Lyme. Who knows if this person ever actually received that comment to get them the help that they needed.

As this story from Michigan shows, doctors need to be made aware of the symptoms and testing for Lyme disease so that the illness doesn't become so debilitating for the patient by the time they are lucky enough to be diagnosed properly.

Link - Click Here

"He was an honor student and a star athlete. But when a mysterious illness suddenly sidelined a Roseville teenager, his parents were desperate for answers...By October, Cameron Holloway was too sick to go to school and too weak to even think about playing soccer...Amy Holloway (Mom) turned to the Internet for answers. She said she learned from a woman in Pennsylvania that it could be Lyme Disease...when she addressed the idea to doctors, they "seemed to laugh at me," said Amy Holloway... A first test was negative, but a second test confirmed Cameron Holloway had Lyme Disease...only 30 percent of people with the disease get a rash at all and it does not always look like a bulls-eye...Cameron Holloway is now being treated with antibiotics, but faces a long road to recovery. He is focused on building up his strength so he can return to school, his friends and hopefully play soccer...My knees get weak and they hurt. I have muscle pains. I get night sweats, numbness in my legs and it's been really hard," said Cameron Holloway...His parents are grateful their son is being treated, but wish his illness would have been diagnosed sooner."

Remember, if you get the symptoms as listed in my post Link Here from January 5, 2008, get the simple tests done for Lyme as listed in the same post. Additionally, remember that you are not alone. There are many of us that have suffered the symptoms that you have suffered and are here to help you through your recovery.