New here, searching for experienced Lyme doctor in Canada able to prescribe abx

Hello all, I’m so grateful to have found this forum. I can tell already from the few threads I’ve read I am in the right place, thank you to all of you here.

I am in Calgary, AB, and feel incredibly lucky to have an internal medicine specialist that not only accepts my Armin test results as legitimate (done through my ND 2 years ago, + igg/igm borellia, Babesia, EBV, and mycoplasma, +igg only for RMSF.) but was also willing to read both of Horowitz’s books that I bought for him. Stark difference from my neurologist that I ended up with for suspected MS, and diagnosed ‘severe chronic migranes with extended aura’ after my MRI’s kept coming back clear. She immediately (and in a quite rude way to be honest) discharged me as a patient when I brought her the Armin lab reports… my heart is truly with everyone who has been battling this broken medical system too.

Back to the positives. My internal medicine specialist is willing to prescribe and manage the antibiotic/prescription side of treatment - but because he has never treated late stage neurological Lyme before, or Lyme of any stage, we are both wanting to find an experienced LLMD in Canada, BC would be best but Ontario if needed - that is willing to ‘review/supervise/help guide’ treatment. He is also willing to coordinate with my ND to ensure all sides of the puzzle are covered. I just need to find the experienced LLMD willing to do the consults/case review and provide the guidance. I am hopeful someone here has a recommendation?

I have been in contact with a number of US specialists but none have been willing to help me receive treatment here at home. I have young kids, responsibilities here, and alberta health care… and while all ND costs and treatments are out of pocket - IV abx / prescription meds (and emergency care if needed through treatment for seizures etc) would be covered if I stay in Alberta so that is the goal.

I’ve likely had Lyme / coinfections since early childhood, and like too many others it took 30+ years of declining health and misdiagnosis (first fibromyalgia dx at age 11, among all the many, many other dx and specialists over the years) to figure out myself it was Lyme.

I have a good ND who has helped a lot, but despite her general opinion that abx do more harm than good she feels abx are going to be needed for the severity of CNS involvement in my case. (In addition to the treatments she can continue to provide.) I feel like I am running out of time to get these pieces together.. fighting the ticking time bomb that is my cognitive decline and ability to advocate for myself.

I apologize for the length of this post, and thank you all in advance for any doctor recommendations or advice you may have. Wishing you all recovery ♥️

The only other MD in western Canada that I know of is Dr. BD in Langley (integrative/functional doctor covered under MSP though and does telehealth), but wait time is currently over a year. I'm a patient of hers and haven't heard from her in 6 months, she's SO hard to get a hold of it's enraging. It's super irresponsible in my opinion. The thing is she is also a lovely human who wants to help and is so so knowledgeable, just like doing this all on her own without an MOA and some personal stuff going on. So I'm having to move forward with treatment with an LLND - I will be meeting with Dr. MB in Victoria (she is open about treating lyme so not sure if it's okay to post her full name?) soon to see if she follows Dr. M's Bartonella suggestions and is up to date on the science, because there's a lot of people treating bartonella who are not well informed enough.

Thanks Girlie, I'm doing a consult with her this week for this very reason. It's disappointing since I can't get a hold of my main LLMD and this is my only other option because I have no money to pay for the better care in the states. At the very least, Dr. MB will order a Galaxy diagnostics test for me, which is what I mainly want to prove without the shadow of a doubt that I have bartonella and then maybe treat properly with my LLMD. Because MCAS is my main cause of symptoms right now and I'm nervous of abx because it can make it much worse. We'll see what she says, though.

Okay so I had my consult with Dr. MB today. I'm left feeling a little unsure still. She said she will treat with some of the same antibiotics that Dr. M recommends, which is good (she didn't say she follows his protocol specifically but mentioned the abx I know of). She said she felt suspicious of Galaxy because she's never heard of people testing negative with them. I disagree because I definitely know people who have tested neg, but also, they have advanced research which is helping them get the positives, so of course it's going to be better. I get what she's saying though, if you go looking for it you probably will find it. Does that mean it's causing your symptoms? Maybe not. She also said she "refuses to be intimidated" by the discourse around not pulsing bart antibiotics...which again, I understand, but I feel like it's not a matter of intimidation but rather a matter of science and evidence that pulsing leads to resistance? So that seemed weird.

Anyway, I'm probably booking an appointment because I don't have another option except maybe Dr. C in Richmond, but he wants an in person appointment so it's just a bit more tricky for me being on the island.

I’m in Toronto and there is a dr TC who used abx for Lyme treatment. He’s a great guy. An option for you.