Children (or anyone) simply cannot wait 6 months for treatment just because criteria call for a physician to stare someone in the face before he or she can be diagnosed and treated! IMMEDIATE LYME DISEASE TREATMENT IS CRITICAL TO PREVENTING NEUROLOGIC LYME DISEASE---WHICH DESTROYS ITS PATIENTS' LIVES. Children are our most valuable resource and to wait to treat them to satisfy some misguided criteria is a tragedy THAT IS WHOLLY UNNECESSARY!

LYME IS NOT A 30-DAY TREATMENT AND YOU ARE CURED DISEASE!

It is the beginning of a life-long struggle for wellness and eradication of a smart-bug, with many different forms and the ability to adapt to its host environment under adverse conditions. This is not a common cold virus, this is a devastating disease with long-term, far-reaching consequences if not treated absolutely immediately! Physicians across the United States are missing Lyme disease and instead, diagnosing every other illness under the sun, in the name of good intentions. Even prominent organizations are repeatedly missing Lyme disease in their patients. Following the CDC criteria or a negative Lyme "test" is the wrong way to diagnose Lyme disease, as testing is unreliable in many phases of the disease, and at most testing laboratories which are not trained in the proper testing techniques to detect Lyme. Patients with chronic or long-term Lyme are not a rarity but are quickly becoming the rule, and not the exception, due to physicians' misdiagnoses and refusal to treat Lyme.

The process of discrimination of our Lyme-literate doctors is a travesty and every means of support for these physicians is being called upon at this time to end this abuse. These doctors are following the ILADS treatment guidelines, which are guidelines set by experienced, licensed physicians who know how to identify and treat Lyme disease.

START PROSECUTING DOCTORS WHO REFUSE TO DIAGNOSE AND TREAT LYME DISEASE, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND!

While patients are currently on trial and being discriminated against for having Lyme disease (read "The Singing Forest, A Journey Through Lyme Disease" by PJ Langhoff, www.lulu.com/lyme)