Diagnosis and Cure: Intellectual Honesty is the Basis of All Science
There is a saying, “live and learn.” I have practiced medicine for
over fifty years. I have lived and I have learned.
I had a private practice in Internal Medicine/Rheumatology from 1968-2008
in San Antonio, TX, USA.
While keeping a full schedule, I also
taught Rheumatology at the University of Texas at San Antonio
(UTSA) Medical School and volunteered one afternoon a week at
the local hospital, providing care to the underserved population.
Throughout my practice, I was loyal to the Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) guidelines. I, like all physicians, respected their veracity,
then my daughter-in-law in Boston became ill.
Top hospitals in Boston and even the Mayo Clinic, where I trained, initially
thought she had multiple sclerosis (MS) because of her magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain.
But her physical exam was characteristic of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Her symptoms were varied, extreme, and debilitating. There was no offered
cure and she was given four months to live.
Given no hope, I began to search for something, anything, to explain her symptoms.
Because she had lived in Westchester County, New York, USA and
then in Boston, I wondered if her diagnosis could actually be Neuroborreliosis
(Borrelia Burgdorferi infection) or, as it is commonly known, Lyme Disease.
My daughter’s illness put me on a path of investigation
and knowledge. Once properly tested, her diagnosis of lyme disease
was undeniably clear. Since helping her, I am genuinely astounded by
the results of objective testing to confirm the etiology
of neurodegenerative diseases.
For many years in my office, I erroneously excluded Borrelia infections
by adhering to the standard testing method.
Osteol Rheumatol Open J. 2019; 1(1): 35-36. doi: 10.17140/ORHOJ-1-110
