Daniel A. Kinderlehrer. Recovery from Lyme Disease. Skyhorse, 2021.
Dr. Kinderlehrer has specialized in treating Lyme Disease for most of his career. This book goes into great detail about this tick-borne illness and related diseases. Readers can learn a lot from this book. It appears the author’s hope is that physicians will read this book, but most of the presentation is accessible to any reader. The doctor’s family name means “teacher” in German. He is following the family tradition with this book.
Perhaps the strongest part of the book is the number of anecdotes from Dr. Kinderlehrer’s own patients. There are two recurring themes. The first is that most tests for Lyme Disease have numerous false negatives. If there are potential Lyme symptoms, the patient should probably take several different kinds of tests if there is a negative on the first test. The second is that Lyme Disease is often misdiagnosed. It can have a variety of symptoms and the bite of the tiny deer tick is easy to miss. He has had patients diagnosed with everything from ADHD to ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) when the real pathology had to with Lyme Disease.
Dr. Kinderlehrer also notes that ticks that carry the Lyme bacteria often carry other infectious microbes as well. He presents Lyme Disease as an array of symptoms often caused by more than one malady. Possible co-irritants include Babesia, Rickettsia, and Mycoplasma. He enumerates many potential cures depending on the severity and symptoms. One example is hydroxychloroquine, which has made the news in the past year for lessening the symptoms of Covid-19.
I have two close friends who had or probably had Lyme Disease. One was working outdoors, saw he had a tick bite, and soon had the target-shaped rash. He went to his doctor, had a positive test, was given an antibiotic, and recovered quickly with hardly any symptoms beyond the rash.
My other friend was hospitalized for a while and was quite weak for about six months. Eventually her strength returned. Later, she read about Lyme Disease and saw a picture of the typical rash. She remembered having that rash around the time she got sick. She was never diagnosed, but she is pretty sure she had Lyme Disease. She lived two towns away from Lyme, Connecticut, the town that gave the disease its name.
Dr. Kinderlehrer notes that the target-shaped rash only appears about half the time a person is infected. This illustrates the problem with diagnosis. There can be a variety of symptoms because Lyme Disease and some of the related infections work on the endocrine system. It is not that the microbe attacks joints to give them symptoms of arthritis. Instead, the microbe affects the endocrine system which can create a hormonal imbalance that can affect any number of organs from the nerves to the kidneys, even the eyes.
The book affirms that “it’s all connected.” According to the author, probably the biggest problem in modern medicine is that specialists in certain body parts or functions have little to do with one another.
But the very idea that we are not an interconnected whole is misguided.
The endocrine system discharges hormones that regulate specific cellular functions. The immune system releases cytokines that talk to immune cells and engineer inflammation. And the nervous system dispatches neuropeptides that talk to other nerve cells. But all these systems are in continuous dialogue. There are receptors for each of the neuropeptides on every cell in our bodies. Cytokines talk to nerve cells and endocrine glands. Neuropeptides talk to immune cells. Hormones regulate all of the above.…
[T]he GI tract makes its own hormones that not only regulate digestion but also talk to the brain, giving a whole new meaning to “gut emotions.”
In fact, the GI tract not only makes hormones, it also has more nerve cells than the spinal cord and more immune cells than the rest of the body combined. Meanwhile, other organs like the heart also send out messenger molecules. You get the point. The fact it—we are a vast informational network in which our cells are in continuous dialogue. And the reductionist attitude we have used to understand human function has limited our appreciation of the human condition. (143)
As the Psalmist said three thousand years ago: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Psalm 139:14)
The author begins his book describing what he calls the Lyme Wars. He and a number of other doctors who have been focusing on Lyme patients advocate multiple tests when warranted and multiple treatments. Others have taken what he sees as a much more simplistic view—Lyme test followed by antibiotic. Yes, that works for some like my friend. What about those who have Chronic Fatigue, ADHD, or even depression, but those things were brought on by Lyme Disease?
While Lyme Disease is most common in the Northeast United States and around the Great Lakes, it has appeared in all fifty states. Dr. Kinderlehrer currently practices in Colorado, though he began in Massachusetts. He still gets many cases from the Rocky Mountains.
It seems to this lay reader that general practitioners and neurologists should take a look at this book. Chances are you may have some patients who have come down with Lyme Disease even though the symptoms may indicate something else. People who have the illness or who have friends or family with it may discover some treatments worth trying out.
The book has helpful charts and lists. These appear to meant more for doctors, but readers can certainly understand them. These include symptoms, treatments, tests, and many resources. I am including a link to the one he recommends the most: Advanced Topics in Lyme Disease by Joseph Burrascano in case a reader happened on this review looking for help with Lyme Disease.
Recovery from Lyme Disease, as the title suggests, gives the reader a lot of hope. Even severe cases can turn around. It may take time. It may often include treating more than one disease. It may include a diet change It may include a few unpleasant tests. However, with a reliable diagnosis, there can be life after Lyme.