Why Your Lyme Test Was Wrong: FISH Testing, Co-Infections, and What Conventional Medicine Misses
Episode Summary
Cole Siefer hosts Dr. Sasha Rose and Colin Renaud (DC, PA-C) for an in-depth webinar on Lyme disease and tick-borne illness. The episode covers why Lyme is so frequently missed or misdiagnosed in conventional medicine, the critical limitations of standard Western blot and ELISA testing, and why FISH (fluorescent microscopy) testing is the gold standard but remains inaccessible to most patients. The providers explain co-infections (Bartonella, Babesia) as often more debilitating than Lyme itself, share two patient case studies (both involving young women who eventually recovered over months to years), and close with a myth-busting rapid-fire round debunking 15 common Lyme misconceptions. Colin Renaud (DC, PA-C) is a member of ILADS (International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society) and has spoken at their conferences.
Key Topics
- 1
Why Lyme is a systemic, multi-system illness (fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, neurological symptoms, cardiac involvement, depression/anxiety)
- 2
Conventional vs. functional medicine approach to diagnosis and treatment
- 3
The failure of standard ELISA and Western blot testing: why negative results do not rule out Lyme
- 4
How Borrelia burgdorferi (the Lyme bacteria) evades the immune system ("invisibility cloak" analogy used)
- 5
FISH testing (fluorescent microscopy) as the diagnostic gold standard and why it is not routinely used
- 6
Co-infections: Bartonella, Babesia, Mycoplasma and why they require different treatment approaches
- 7
The difference between acute Lyme and chronic Lyme and how treatment differs
- 8
Why antibiotic resistance is a growing concern in Lyme treatment
- 9
Botanical antibiotics and antimicrobials as an alternative or complement to pharmaceutical antibiotics
- 10
Nymph ticks (the primary transmission vector) and why most people never see them
Quotable Moments
“The spyrochete basically Harry Potter's itself with an invisibility cloak from your immune system. Your immune system doesn't even know it's there. So when the conventional test is done in this situation, the test is useless.”
“If we don't recognize these patients, they don't exist. That's not fair.”
“Almost every patient I've treated for Lyme does not just have Lyme. That never happens. So you give doxycycline by itself for two months and they have Babesia. Well, Babesia is a parasite. That's not going to work.”
“It's not a linear path to being well. I always call this a staggered linear progression. You're going to take two steps forward, then you're going to take one step back, then three steps forward and two steps back. It just is.”
“These are invisible illnesses. They don't look wrong. Oh, you look fine. Maybe you're depressed. The physical exam is normal. How do you quantify how tired you are? How do you quantify how brain fogged you are to a provider? There's no blood test for that.”
Treatments Mentioned
FAQ
Lyme Disease FAQ
Standard tests detect antibodies. However, the Lyme spirochete uses strategies to evade the immune system. If the immune system does not detect the bacteria, it produces no antibodies, and the test comes back negative despite active infection.
FISH (fluorescent microscopy) examines blood directly for bacteria attached to red blood cells rather than relying on antibodies. It detects infections decades old as long as bacteria is present. Available through labs like Igenex, it costs approximately $2,800 and is not covered by insurance.
Co-infections like Bartonella (bacteria) and Babesia (parasite) are transmitted alongside Lyme and each requires different treatment. Antibiotics will not treat Babesia because it is a parasite. Missing co-infections is one of the main reasons treatment fails.
Yes. Nymph ticks are approximately the size of a ballpoint pen dot and often go undetected. Many confirmed Lyme patients never saw a tick or developed a rash. Waiting for a bullseye rash before testing is one of the most common reasons Lyme is missed.
Yes, though it is not formally recognized by the CDC or AMA. The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) has evidence-based guidelines supporting chronic Lyme and long-term treatment. Patients with persistent multi-system symptoms have a real, documented condition.
Recovery is measured in months to years. The path is not linear, with patients typically taking two steps forward, one step back. Treatment may involve pharmaceutical antibiotics, botanical antimicrobials, IV ozone, peptides, and immune support.
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