An eye-opening new National Lyme Report poll reveals that fatigue, joint pain and “detachment from reality” are the Top 3 worst symptoms reported by patients who are battling chronic Lyme disease.

But that’s not even half the story.

Because the 861 respondents who answered the question: “What symptom of chronic Lyme is most difficult to live with?”- also named five more problems that are tough to cope with. They are:

- Brain fog …

- Stiff neck …

- Muscle pain …

- Headache, and …

- Cyclical“ups” and “downs”. This, of course, is the well-known “roller-coaster effect” of feeling okay for a few days or weeks and then relapsing, not just once or twice, but regularly, like clockwork.

Some patients report seeming “complete recovery” from Lyme for long periods, only to suddenly fall ill with symptoms as severe as any they experienced in the initial phase of the illness.

As Lyme patients know all too well, getting a diagnosis of Lyme from a general practitioner or infectious disease specialist can be difficult if not impossible because - and let’s not mince words here - many doctors are ignorant of Lyme symptoms or too fearful of insurance companies and the FDA to stick their necks out and:

1. Tell a patient he or she has Lyme, and,

2. Submit an insurance claim that proves they believe the patient has Lyme.

This refusal to stare Lyme in the face delays treatment, which can be deadly or, at the very least, debilitating for Lyme patients as they travel from physician to physician seeking help for their “mystery disease.”

That’s why increasing numbers of Lyme victims and other patients turn to herbs and supplements. For one thing, they can’t find a doctor who will give them antibiotics, so the alternatives are their only means of treating the illness.

A second reason patients choose alternative therapies is a matter of personal integrity that’s in keeping with their philosophical opposition to pharmaceutical drugs in general, and antibiotics in particular.

Back to doctors and the precribing of antibiotics, a National Lyme Report survey of 100 clinically-diagnosed Lyme patients in April 2007 indicated that just six out of 10 received a course of antibiotics even after their doctors had diagnosed Lyme.

Those who did get antibiotics said their MDs had prescribed the drugs for anywhere from three days to three years, indicating how Lyme treatment can vary doctor to doctor for reasons that often are unclear.

An “appropriate dose” as endorsed by federal authorities at the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health, among others, is three to four weeks - although not everyone agrees that that is sufficient to defeat early-onset Lyme, much less treat the disease in its chronic stages.

Many patients argue for the long-term or open-ended prescription of antibiotics, and the issue is both emotion-charged and steeped in controversy.

For the record, National Lyme Report editorially supports patients of chronic Lyme in their fight to get antibiotic treatment that they, as patients, consider adequate. And we encourage doctors to pay less attention to guidelines and more attention to individuals.

Aside from antibiotics, several specific herbal therapies got a thumbs up from chronic-Lyme patients who participated in our Spring 2007 poll. Here is the breakdown in descending order of what respondents judged to be effective.

Remember, the poll specifically asked for “therapies that were most effective against chronic Lyme disease,” which is broadly defined by serious symptoms that have lasted for months, years or decades:

1. Broad-spectrum antibiotics: 51%

2. Herbal and dietary supplements: 42%

3. Various"machine" and "frequency" therapies: 5%

4. Mind-body techniques: 2%