Video: What is Lyme?

Lyme Disease: Overview, Diagnosis & Treatment Approach

Hi, Dr. Minkoff here. Today I want to talk to you about Lyme disease. Now this is getting headlines all over the place.

Why Is Lyme Disease in the Headlines?

What is Lyme disease? Why is this in the headlines? Why are so many people affected by this?

Brief History

The history of Lyme disease goes back to the mid-1970s, when in a small town in Connecticut called Lyme, Connecticut, a doctor had a group of patients. These were mostly 20, 30, 40-year-old females who had joint pain, joint swelling, malaise, and fatigue. One day, in a woman with a swollen knee, he aspirated the joint and found a spiral-shaped bacteria with a twisty motion under the microscope.

Analysis showed it was a spirochete. The researcher Willy Burgdorfer named it Borrelia burgdorferi. It was an epidemic at the time, and early treatment with penicillin helped many patients. The infection was traced to a tick bite, with ticks feeding on infected deer and then passing infection to people.

Beyond a Single Organism

Fast-forward 40 years: we now know the tick often carries more than one organism—much like a mouth full of diverse bacteria. Ticks are tiny—like pieces of pepper. Traditionally, a bite could cause a classic bullseye rash (erythema migrans) followed by a flu-like illness, and short courses of penicillin or tetracycline could cure it. Lyme organisms go back millennia (e.g., detected in Egyptian mummies), so this isn’t new—but we are in a modern surge.

Transmission & Co-Infections

Where Lyme is Found

This infection isn’t limited to the Northeast—it’s worldwide. We have seen patients from Sweden, Norway, China, Hawaii, California, and Florida. Other biting insects (e.g., some mosquitoes) may also carry Lyme.

Common Lyme Co-Infections

Lyme often travels with other organisms. When we look for Lyme, we frequently find these as well:

• Rocky Mountain spotted fever
• Bartonella
• Borrelia (Lyme)
• Babesia (a parasite)
• Ehrlichia
• Anaplasma
• Spirocheta

Not Everyone Gets the “Lyme Bullseye Rash”

These days, most patients (99%+) do not get a bullseye rash or an obvious flu syndrome, so they often don’t realize they have Lyme.

Clinical Presentation & Autoimmunity

Lyme is a great masquerader. It can trigger autoimmune reactions against various body tissues. People with Lyme may be diagnosed with Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, or Parkinson’s disease. The initial trigger (Lyme/co-infections) is often missed.

We find that in 90%+ of cases of autoimmune diagnoses like MS, Parkinson’s, RA, or Sjögren’s, Lyme and co-infections may be underlying triggers. These bacteria can also produce biotoxins that fuel autoimmune activity. Accurate diagnosis is critical.

Why Standard Tests Can Miss It

Traditional infectious disease testing relies on the body’s antibody response to infection:

• IgM (immunoglobulin M) appears early.
• IgG (immunoglobulin G) develops later for longer-term immunity.

Challenges include:

• Bacteria can hide in tissues and within a biofilm (a protein/mucus coat), blunting antibody formation.
• Standard ELISA tests may be negative if antibodies are not generated or if the bacteria change surface proteins, leading to false negatives.

We see this daily: an initial Lyme test is negative, but with more sophisticated testing we find evidence of infection and can treat appropriately. This elusiveness makes traditional approaches challenging.

Illustrative Acute Lyme Case

My grandson in New York—very active, with deer in the yard—developed a limp and hip pain at age seven. X-rays were negative. Living in a high-Lyme area, the doctor tested for Lyme; it was positive. Three weeks of amoxicillin cured him. He’s now 13 and well.

Key point: In clearly acute cases (bullseye rash, recent bite, flu-like illness), a short antibiotic course can be curative. The tricky cases are those missed early—months or years later patients develop brain fog, memory loss, sleep issues, anxiety, depression, joint pain, and various organ-specific problems (colitis, hepatitis, myocarditis, etc.).

Diagnostic Approach in Complex/Chronic Lyme Cases

Why History & Exam Often Fall Short

Most patients don’t recall a tick bite, and symptoms are multisystem. Physical exam can suggest autoimmune patterns (e.g., RA or Lupus), but that doesn’t reveal the original infectious trigger. Immunosuppressive drugs (e.g., prednisone, methotrexate, biologics, hydroxychloroquine) may ease severe symptoms but can miss the underlying cause.

Additional Testing We Use

• Autonomic Response Testing (ART): an energetic test we find 98–99% accurate for Lyme/co-infections, corroborated by other labs.
• PCR/DNA assays: technology similar to COVID PCR to detect DNA evidence of Borrelia and co-infections.
• Live blood microscopy: a drop of blood under high magnification can sometimes reveal spirochetes and biofilms. We may also see red blood cells with spicules or organisms attached.

Biofilms Explained

Biofilms are like the slippery coating on a rock at the beach—mucus/protein matrices in which microbes hide. Seeing biofilm structures widespread in blood is compatible with infectious processes like Lyme and helps explain why antibiotics may struggle to reach organisms.

Treatment Philosophy for Chronic Lyme

Why Long-Term Antibiotics Often Fall Short

• Gut disruption: prolonged antibiotics disturb healthy intestinal flora.
• Biofilm protection: antibiotics in blood may not penetrate biofilms.
• Relapse: stopping antibiotics without eradicating core infection often leads to recurrence.

Comprehensive, Supportive Strategies

• Biofilm disruption (e.g., oxygen-based approaches).
• Ozone (O₃) as a systemic therapy: mimics a natural immune strategy—our white blood cells generate ozone and peroxide to kill pathogens.
• Herbal/homeopathic protocols to reduce pathogen load and modulate autoimmunity.
• Addressing co-infections (bacterial and parasitic) concurrently.
• Supporting the immune system and overall physiology (nutrition, lifestyle, supplementation).

Our experience shows a high success rate. For chronic Lyme, patients commonly improve within 2–4 months. With a more comprehensive approach that addresses all factors, patients can recover and return to normal life—provided they maintain healthy lifestyle habits (diet, sleep, exercise, avoidance of harmful substances, and appropriate supplementation).

Lyme Treatment at LifeWorks

If you have Lyme disease—or think you might—or have a chronic, undiagnosed illness that could be Lyme, our clinic has vast experience with thousands of successful cases. We aim to restore energy, resolve infections, and help you get back to the life you want to live.