Lyme and the SEP syndrome 

‘‘This is a story about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody, while Nobody did what Anybody could have done.’’ 

Lyme Disease is a SEP to your GP. He has seen in his medical textbook, journals and Guidelines that it always shows up in the knee, is always caused by a tick bite followed by a clear red EM ring and will be found with the tests he is allowed to use. He does not know the science showing his tests are invalid, no red ring showing up in most cases, that Lyme can be transmitted by mosquitoes, pregnancy, sex, blood donation and organ transplants as well. He does not know it can show up in 350 plus disguises. He does not know the Borrelia is related to the causative agent of Syphilis. If his information is incorrect or incomplete, Someone Else should know about it. A specialist preferably.

The specialist does not know all the above and is only trained to look at clusters of symptoms inside his specialisation. Since the symptoms of Lyme vary, it is by definition a SEP to him. Another Specialist’s Problem. Confronted with a multi-system stealth disease like Lyme “specialisation” equals blindness of the whole system.
Apart from that, the word MUS (Medically Unexplained Symptoms) has now conveniently been invented and the highly disputed Diagnostic Symptoms Manual version Five (DSM V) now includes chronic Lyme as a ‘Somatic Disease’ after two weeks of treatment. So now it’s suddenly a SEP for a psychiatrist.

For psychiatrists, Lyme is also a SEP. Pharma should deliver the necessary pills to keep their patients patient. Besides, they have never heard dr. Paul Fink, former President of  the American Psychiatric Association, state in 2002 that “Lyme Disease can mimic every psychiatric disorder in the Diagnostic Symptoms Manual IV. This includes attention deficit disorder (ADD), antisocial personality, panic attacks, anorexia nervosa, autism and Asperger’s syndrome. It might be prudent in any person suddenly found to have psychiatric symptoms to exclude Lyme disease first.”

For governments, Lyme is a SEP too. The international Guidelines clearly state what is causing Lyme, how to test for it and how to treat it. So as long as they cannot win votes with the topic, it’s a SEP as well. Their Health Department should deal with it.

To this national Health Department, Lyme is a SEP as well. Anyhow all legislation and funding is regulated above national boundaries. Regardless, Someone Else should look at it. A scientist preferably.

To scientists, Lyme is a SEP, because they will not get the funding to create a valid test. Or if they do, they seem to lose their jobs lightning quick.

To employers, Lyme is a SEP. They’ll go bankrupt if they need to keep paying costs of employees who cannot work. So it’s the problem of the disability payment Department of their government.

To this department, Lyme is a SEP as well. They basically claim that ‘Lyme is no valid reason not to work’ and declare ill people ‘fit to work’. Killing thousands of them in the process.

To health insurance companies, Lyme is a SEP, after two weeks. They use the international Guidelines, which they funded, as a justification to stop paying. While completely ignoring other guidelines, which patients actually do support.

Lyme Disease is a SEP even to patients with many diseases that might possibly be Lyme in disguise. They simply believe in the diagnosis they have received, such as Alzheimer, Parkinson, ME, CFS, MS, Fibromyalgia, ALS, ADHD and so on. Only some know that pathological research has found that Lyme was the cause of all the symptoms in a shocking 90% of the cases.

Lyme Disease is a SEP even to the Lyme patients. They are ill and Someone Else has to fix them. A doctor preferably. And if they cannot, an alternative therapist. If they are not bankrupt by that time.

To government officials and schools, children with Lyme are a SEP. They let Child Protective Services accuse parents of ‘child abuse’ and try to take custody away from them.

To judges Lyme is a SEP. They rely on experts, who will state that parents suffer from ‘Münchhausen by Proxy’; sometimes without even seeing them. So they lose custody over their ill children.

To the general public Lyme disease is of course a SEP. They think that they don’t have it and Someone Else should make sure it will not become their Problem. So they have become a market for a tick vaccine; oblivious to the fact that prior vaccines seem to have infected people. Or to the fact that ticks are only one of the many vectors of infection.

To Pharma, Lyme is a SEP. This is basically the reason for this entire market to exist. A profit driven industry may not be interested in healthy clients. They may want as many Somebody Elses as possible to keep having Problems, in order to continuously create shareholders’ value.

Would it be possible to turn Lyme into an Everybody’s Problem? Imagine people would only pay, until they get sick. Wouldn’t that actually be an incentive to keep or get people healthy?

Shifting the Lyme Paradigm; a Caretakers’ Guide on a Heroes Journey

Lyme Disease is – however – not a SEP for loving parents, partners, caretakers and friends. If they dare to stay connected as travel companion on the Heroes Journey of their ill loved ones. That is why I wrote my book ‘Shifting the Lyme Paradigm’ especially for caretakers. A book about a parasitical disease in a parasitical system, showing its readers how to be a travel companion on this Heroes Journey. Social change always starts from below and love is always the key ingredient.

“Huib Kraaijeveld has thought deeply about Lyme disease.  His starting point is detailed study of several individual cases over time; what happened to them; the responses of physicians and societal institutions to the connundrums they and their illnesses posed; how these patients coped or failed to cope with their altered health status and ability to function in the world; and how caring friends can intervene to provide succor and alliance ‘against the odds’ of a potentially serious and very complex illness that is still poorly understood by mankind.  

Kraaijeveld proposes a number of unique strategies based on his life experience and background that fall outside of the strictly allopathic medical model to facilitate recovery physically, emotionally and spiritually and to endeavor to restore wholeness following the profound impact of an illness that, quite literally, can go to the marrow.  

Kenneth B. Liegner, M.D., Author of In the Crucible of Chronic Lyme Disease and Board member of the International Lyme & Associated Diseases Society