If you were a Lyme literate doctor writing a new book on Lyme treatment, where would you turn to find the most urgent questions being asked by people who are suffering with Lyme? The online forums. Now imagine reading a book that addresses your most pressing questions about Lyme diagnosis, treatment, and symptoms. Dr David Jernigan wisely consulted the forums online to find out what the patients he cares for most need to know.

When I was diagnosed with late-stage Lyme in 2005 a dear friend sent me Dr Jernigan's book, Beating Lyme Disease. Since my diagnosis I had been in a state of shell-shock, weak and sick, and barely knowing anything about the disease or its cause beyond the very basics.

Beating Lyme Disease was the beginning of my turnaround. This comprehensive book helped me begin to understand what was happening, and how the body responds to Lyme bacteria. I particularly remember how helpful it was to learn about the lower core body temperatures that Lyme patients develop. While reading, I became steadfastly determined to beat Lyme, despite the grim prognosis of my infectious disease doctor. In fact I dropped that doctor like a hot potato and found a naturopath who also believed I would be healthy again one day.

Now the new, second edition of Dr Jernigan's enlightening and useful book is available, sporting the inspiring subtitle: Living the Good Life in Spite of Lyme.

Recently, I had an opportunity to talk with Dr Jernigan and learn about his unique approach to Lyme treatment. He has witnessed the positive turnaround of thousands of Lyme patients at the Hansa Center for Optimum Health, his clinic in Wichita, KS. One of the first things he clarified was that many people come to see him and his colleagues after already having seen an average of 20 - 30 other doctors or more, without finding relief.

Chances are you've experienced that fruitless search yourself. Dr Jernigan says he hears it from his patients every day. People who have been dismissed and their terrible pain reduced to imagination with, "it's all in your head," or "you need a psychiatrist," or even, as one of his patients was told by a previous doctor, "you need a new husband." I like to remember when my infectious disease doctor told me bluntly, "you are too late." (Wrong!)

Clearly, one big problem in Lyme diagnosis is that our medical industry depends on doctors who specialize. A cardiologist specializes in finding heart problems and fixing them. A dermatologist specializes in finding skin problems and fixing them, and so on. But we are not mechanistic parts and pieces, welded together like the engine of a Toyota. And Lyme is not a problem that can always be located in one particular spot. It affects all the systems of our body, including the brain and so also the mind.

If you have ever felt that a specialist has given you lousy and limited information about your illness and how to treat it, you know what it's like to be treated like a piece of machinery.

In contrast, the Hansa Center for Optimum Health has a whole person approach. Their motto is: "Healing From Within, Treating the Whole Person, Body, Mind & Spirit."

Soon I'll be reviewing the 2nd edition of Dr Jernigan's book, Beating Lyme Disease: Living the Good Life in Spite of Lyme.

Contact him through the Hansa Center's website. Listen to "The Bridge," the Hansa Center's "New Healing Radio Station," located on the website's home page.

LDRD members please login and listen to our interview with Dr Jernigan. Hear him describe his unique, whole person approach to beating Lyme, and living the good life in spite of it. Become a member