“Chronic lyme disease dwells in the magical world of Quackery”
Written by Huib, published Sunday June 26th, 2016
This is what dr. Bonneux wrote for Dutch doctors, as a foundation for his claim that “Chronic lyme dwells in the magical world of Quackery”. I made the literal English translation for you, including his typos:
“After properly treated Lyme Disease (an infectious disease caused by Borrelia, transmitted by ticks) some patients continue to complain about vague prolonged symptoms. This is called post-treatment lymedisease [original spelling mistake by LB kept and repeated whenever appropriate; HK] syndrome (PTLDS). The exact cause is not known.
But a – for this Internet age characteristic – unctuous alliance between quack doctors, unreliable laboratories and malignant patients has created a delusion: chronic lymedisease.
Chronic lymedisease involves the (undisputed) PTLDS, but also reers to a broad group of patients with unexplained somatic disorders (MUS = Medically Unexplained Symptoms) that have nothing to do with borreliosen.
Driven by activist patient groups this quack society has created a parallel pseudoscientific universe, including research, publications, conferences and even guidelines. Visit the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) and tremble.
Recently The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) published a Dutch randomized trial. This compared prolonged antibiotic treatment with placebo treatment for people who believe they have chronic Lyme disease (NEJM 2016; 374: 1209).
A publication in the NJEM looks great on your resume, but a follower of evidence based medecine [original typo by LB; HK] should burst out in righteous anger. Because of the source of funding, ZonMw, the unscientific research design is betrayed. It’s not pseudoscience, it is not anti-science, it is no science at all.
The study does not reflect existing knowledge on Borrelia and borreliosen. This trial serves no useful purpose, unless your political servitude as a motive for unnecessary and potentially harmful experiments on people.
The fact that long-term treatment with up to several antibiotics is pointless for a highly sensitive bacterium has long been known (and tested before). From a scientific viewpoint, the use of prolonged antibiotic therapy in the treatment of patients who believe that they have chronic lyme, is therefore as controversial as homeopathy.
Grant providers think that they thus convince patients of the uselessness of such antibiotic therapies. This is a delusion. Chronic lymedisease is set in the magical world of quackery. By pretending there really would be a controversy, this trial shows that society only respect.
Chronic lymedisease exists by the belief in secret, virtually untreatable bacteria. Whoever believes that could run perennial trials. The tested treatments will always be too short, with the wrong antibiotics, dosed too low and insufficiently supported by treatments of the numerous co-infections.
The parallel worlds of science and pseudoscience do not touch. In the editorial team of the NJEM – or any other serious committee – no lyme enlightened quacks are present. So their views are not taken into account. According to the quackery this is caused by a conspiracy.
In this plot (all) regular medical experts have financial interests in preventing the introduction of better treatments pending an appropriate diagnostic test for chronic lymedisease. In the absence of discoverable bacteria in chronic lymedisease, such a test will also never come. And so the conspiracy lasts forever.
Financing trials (or other types of study) to support magical theories of pseudoscience equals funding research to find garden gnomes. It is as impossible to refute the logic of pseudoscience, as it is to prove that gnomes do not exist. These gnomes evade observation: if you do not find them, it’s because you did not searched well enough.
Whomever says that gnomes do not exist, is a gnome denier – paid to keep their existence secret. Such reasoning is always watertight.
About the author
Luc Bonneux is a physician and epidemiologist. He currently works in a nursing home.
drs. Huib Kraaijeveld
"This book perfectly describes the plight of millions of patients, who suffer from chronic Lyme Disease in many countries all over the world."
Prof. Christian Perronne, France
"This book is a gift of truth and passion to humanity."
Mia Morales, Lyme patient, USA
"I received the book exactly on the day that I had decided to end my life. Huh?! Yep. I am 35 years old years and have been ill for 19 years. Now I know why: Lyme. Everyone should read this book!"
Miranda, the Netherlands
"This book offers a new practical, human centered way of dealing with health information. It is also ringing a bell for the new time how to work together towards health and thriving."
Kim Schimmler, MD, Germany
"This pioneer's work made it perfectly clear that, when "i" becomes "we", even illness becomes wellness."
Frans Vermeulen, journalist, the Netherlands
"In his crucial work on Lyme disease, dedicated social researcher Huib Kraaijeveld does not pretend to have all the answers, but guides us towards asking the upsetting and essential questions."
Prof. Cees Hamelink, professor Communication Sciences & Human Rights, the Netherlands
"This book reads like a thriller! It touched me deeply and I am sure it will change the course of history."
Linda Graanoogst, journalist, the Netherlands
"Well, I am wiping my eyes and blowing my nose, while tears stream down my face. I guess that is a good sign. You hit the nail on the head claiming that Lyme survivors need 'understanding'. I would like my own partner to read this book."
Anodea Judith, PhD & author, USA
"What an awakening perspective! Huib has successfully set a quantum leap for understanding and managing Lyme disease by common people."
John Wong, bestselling author, Singapore
"A true and unpretentious caretakers' guide to understand Lyme. This book will help you to completely understand what your friend is going through; regardless of the symptoms they have. I wish it had been written ten years ago, because it can actually save lives!"
Cheryl Versalle, Lyme patient, USA
"This book actually speaks to people beyond its target audience (caretakers of people with Lyme Disease): people like me who are not travel companions, but to whom it is not hard at all to have or develop understanding and compassion. This makes the reach of this book bigger, much bigger if you’d ask me. I am amazed a book can do all of this!"
Saskia Steur, business blogger, the Netherlands
"This book reads like an exciting novel, were it not that it concerns a deadly serious issue. It calls to contribute and take care of each other and our world. Read, weep, feel and act!"
Manfred van Doorn, leadership expert, the Netherlands
"A creative and very intelligent vision to dive even deeper into the world of Lyme, to look at yourself, other people, but also the entire world around you."
Friend of someone with Lyme
"The book indicates that Lyme disease can be a sexually transmitted disease. This will cause a tidal wave of awareness all over the world. Like the child in the old fairy tale The Emperor’s New Clothes, who exclaimed: 'But the emperor is wearing no clothes!'"
Ola Aniel Petterson, STD campaign leader, Sweden
"What a brilliant sociological work! I am sure it will have much impact."
Professor Neuropathy, Germany
"This book is a big eye opener. Both for friends of people with Lyme disease as well as for people with Lyme. Or for any other health issues, for that matter."
Martin Möhrke, medical research leader, Europe
"I cannot read any other book for more than two minutes now, in this hell called Lyme. Yet yours I cannot stop reading! I should have put it away hours ago to clean the house. But I simply cannot stop."
Ineke, wife of a husband with Lyme, the Netherlands
"This book is a delight to read. It offers soft candlelight and warm campfire camaraderie on an often dark and lonely journey."
Laura Bruno, medical intuitive Lyme expert, USA
"A very honest and yet witty way of helping those with Lyme disease. This book is full of ideas on how to help your friend with Lyme, as a travel companion on this crazy journey called 'Lyme'."
Lisa Hilton, Lyme advocate, USA
"Both the personal experiences as well as the author’s sharp mind turn this into an incredibly inspiring book that raises the consciousness of its readers."
Kara, ex Crohn disease patient, the Netherlands
"Tempting, informative and eminently readable! Shifting the Lyme Paradigm is an absolute eye-opener for those who are not aware of what the journey of Lyme disease entails."
Terri Mackinnon-Cross, CEO WorldLymeDay.com, Canada
"This book gave us the recognition and acknowledgment, which were like a band-aid on an open wound."
Sara, Lyme patient, Belgium
"Very insistently written based on intensive, almost existential, personal experiences, this book also gives a clear overview of all relevant information for both patients and caretakers."
Jan Eendebak, former chairman Lyme Foundation STZ, the Netherlands
"A relief to read, written by an expert who shares his dedication to his own path with us, and brilliantly written."
Muna, mother of a daughter with chronic Lyme, the Netherlands
"Playful, frightening, informative and encouraging."
Merel, kinesiologist, the Netherlands
"This book made me realize that there is too little known behind the phenomenon Lyme. In a challenging manner the author provides understanding of Lyme disease and suggestions for tackling this disease. I have 'prescribed' this book to many of my patients and mostly astonishment was soon followed by recognition. An absolute must for anyone with (still) unexplained symptoms or the people close around them."
Duco Kanij, osteopath, the Netherlands
"This book guides you through the labyrinth of Lyme swiftly, while it took us YEARS to even get this far."
Eugenie van der Linden, ex-Lyme patient and therapist, the Netherlands
"This book is an absolute 'must read' for everyone! For patients, for family and friends, and for doctors who can finally learn that Lyme is more than what is written in their textbooks and that they should not be able to dismiss "unexplained" complaints as psychological too quickly!"
Anne Fierlafijn, MD, Belgium
"Shifting the Paradigm of Lyme is not like any other book on Lyme that I have read. It appeals to a higher consciousness, and is analytical in an introspective way that is pleasant to read. This book is a friendly and warm reminder that no Lyme patient is ever alone."
Thomas Grier, biologist, USA
"This book show 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."
Kenneth Liegner, MD, USA
