California Online Lyme Support is a virtual meeting place and source for information and emotional support for people with Lyme and other tick-borne diseases living in California. It is sponsored by LymeDisease.org, a leading national patient advocacy nonprofit. Please apply to the group for the state where you currently live.

Lyme disease is under-recognized, under-diagnosed, under-treated, and under-reported. Many people do not remember being bitten by the poppy-seed-sized tick. Doctors often prefer more familiar diagnoses like chronic fatigue, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, or mental illness – all Lyme disease mimics. Too strict interpretation of insensitive tests leaves many people in a diagnostic limbo, getting sicker and without proper treatment. Artificially low numbers lead to less recognition of the true costs of the disease and less funding for research.

Lyme disease treated early is often easy to cure, but many patients are not diagnosed promptly or treated adequately. They may become chronically ill, lose their jobs and end up on disability.

If the tick that bites you is infected, it can inject Lyme bacteria into your bloodstream within hours of attachment (less than 6 hours has been reported). If you don't notice the tick, infection will occur in almost 100%. The bacteria invade the brain in less than 24 hours.

State statistics may reflect as few as one in 40 diagnosed cases. Doctors recognize and diagnose only a fraction of the actual cases. Anyone who suspects s/he might have a tick-borne illness should use the search tool on the LDA website (lymediseaseassociation.org) or contact ILADS (ilads.org) to find a Lyme specialist.

DISCLAIMER: All information posted on this site is the opinion of the author(s) alone and is provided for educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as medical advice regarding the treatment of any symptoms or disease. Obtain medical advice from your personal physician before pursuing any course of treatment.