Online Resources

Help with finding a Lyme literate doctor

lymedisease.org Doctor Referrals
As mentioned above, since diagnosing and treating chronic Lyme is so controversial, finding a doctor can be difficult if you have no guidance.  Many doctors will not list online that they treat chronic Lyme because they understandably want to avoid legal repercussions that could prevent them from continuing to treat Lyme patients.  Thankfully lymedisease.org has an online, secure doctor referral system (linked above), as well as an online search to help you find statewide online support groups that may be able to give you information about doctors near your ares.  This is the easiest place to start your search for a doctor if you feel overwhelmed with the amount of information (and misinformation) you can find online.  The lymedisease.org website is also a good comprehensive source of Lyme information.

TBDA Find a Medical Professional
The TBDA (Tick-Borne Disease Alliance) is a great organization that tirelessly advocates for the rights of Lyme patients by raising awareness, supporting initiatives to find a cure for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.  They also offer a tick-borne disease doctor recommendation service (linked above) that can assist you in finding a doctor to diagnose and treat you for tick-borne diseases, including Lyme.  Their website also has an abundance of information, opportunities to get involved with Lyme awareness/advocacy, and more.

Lyme Disease/Chronic illness blogs and general information

International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS)
The ILADS website (linked above) is yet another online resource where you can find good, comprehensive information about Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses.  The ILADS mission statement describes the society as  "a nonprofit, international, multidisciplinary medical society dedicated the appropriate diagnosis and treatment of Lyme and associated diseases...".  On the website you can read more about the ILADS' goals of improving physician understanding of Lyme and associated diseases, conducting research to enhance the management of Lyme Disease, and advancing standards of care for Lyme and associated illnesses, and much more.

Tired of Lyme
Tired of Lyme was launched in 2011 and has since become very well-known in the Lyme community as an interactive site with many different ways for people to connect and share their experiences or exchange information about Lyme and related illnesses.  The amount of practical information about Lyme offered on this site is vast, but is designed in an easy-to-access format.  Tired of Lyme currently has an online chat room where you can talk live with others about Lyme and related issues, as well as a Lyme-specific search engine, sLyme (logo at bottom also links to site) which searches only Lyme Disease websites for information to help minimize the erroneous information often found by doing a regular Google search.  You can also joing the Tired of Lyme groups and much more.

Lady of Lyme
If you're looking for a place where you can read about someone's personal journey with Lyme and other related illnesses, while at the same time learning about specific methods/things that may help you along your own journey, and be incredibly encouraged by doing so, this is the site to visit!  The personal blog section at Lady of Lyme (linked above) gives great insight into what it's like to live with Lyme et al., the ups and downs of Lyme treatment, and the importance of keeping a good outlook in this battle and acknowledging progress, not matter how slow it comes.  You'll also find good information about Lyme symptoms, a guide to Lyme vocabulary, links to Lyme-diet approved recipes, along with many other invaluable pieces of information...and pictures of one of the most adorable puppies in existence!

Rest Ministries
Rest Ministries is a wonderfully encouraging, Christian-based online community for those suffering with chronic illness.  This site offers daily devotionals, articles about various aspects of chronic illness from a Christian perspetive, online support groups, resources for coping with emotions and life with a chronic illness, a store for books, gifts, apparel and more, as well as many resources for family members and friends of someone who has a chronic illness, and that barely scratches the surface of the valuable offerings you'll find at this site.



* There will be more resources added as time goes on (in other words, when I'm able to organize more), but these are good places to start.