How I Became a Lyme Doctor — And Why I’ll Never Quit

By Dr. Jason West, The West Clinic

I didn’t choose Lyme disease. In many ways, it chose me.

Like many of the patients I treat today, I never planned for this journey. I didn’t graduate from medical school intending to specialize in a disease most doctors overlook—or outright dismiss. But somewhere along the way, when the symptoms stopped making sense, when treatments failed, and when patients were told, “It’s all in your head,” I realized I couldn’t just walk away.

More than 15 years ago, I started noticing a pattern. Patients from all over the world—every U.S. state and six continents—were walking into my office with impossible-to-diagnose conditions:

• Fatigue that was soul-crushing

• Joint pain that mimicked rheumatoid arthritis

• Neurological symptoms that migrated without rhyme or reason

• Heart palpitations, tremors, fibromyalgia, and even misdiagnosed multiple sclerosis

They all had different labels, but something told me they were connected. That’s when I began to suspect the root cause: Lyme disease—also known as The Great Imitator.

Lyme doesn’t follow the rules. It mimics dozens of other conditions: arthritis, chronic fatigue, heart disease, even ALS. In fact, in one study, 150 out of 150 ALS patients had Lyme spirochetes detected at autopsy. That’s not a coincidence. That’s a signal we need to pay attention to.

I dove headfirst into research. I studied the work of pioneers like Dr. Shallenberger and Dr. Levy. I also started listening more intently to my patients—and to my instincts. The outdated testing methods, like the CDC’s Western Blot criteria, weren’t catching what was really happening. So, I turned to medical microscopy and began focusing on the bigger picture: exposure history, clinical symptoms, coinfections, immune system dysfunction, and yes, intuition backed by clinical evidence.

I’ll never forget one woman whose case changed me forever. Her labs showed only two positive Lyme bands—insufficient for a diagnosis by CDC standards. Her previous doctors told her it was all psychological and prescribed antidepressants. But I saw her body was screaming for help. We ran further analysis, and the results were unmistakable. Once we began treating her, not just the disease, she started to heal.

Here’s what many don’t understand: Lyme disease is not simply a bacterial infection. It’s a full-body breakdown.

• It weakens the immune system.

• It depletes nutrients.

• It disrupts hormones.

• It drains energy—physically, emotionally, spiritually.

And unless we treat all of those systems, we’re just spinning our wheels.

That’s why my approach is comprehensive:

• We flood the body with high-dose vitamin C

• We restore mitochondrial function

• We balance hormones

• We detoxify and rebuild the internal terrain

• We treat co-infections like Babesia, Bartonella, and Mycoplasma

• And most importantly, we support the whole person

The famous scientist Louis Pasteur once said, “Bacteria causes disease.” But his contemporary Antoine Béchamp offered a deeper insight: “The terrain is everything.” I believe Béchamp was right.

When you fix the terrain, the infection cannot survive. I’ve seen it over and over—patients healing after 10 treatments, others after 70. The timeline varies, but recovery is real. Hope is real.

This is what we do at the West Clinic. Not because I set out to become a Lyme doctor, but because someone had to stand in the gap when others couldn’t or wouldn’t. Lyme patients began to find their way to us, and I couldn’t turn them away.

So no, I didn’t choose Lyme. But I’ll never stop fighting for the people who were told there’s nothing left to try.

If you're wondering whether Lyme disease is the missing piece in your health journey, I invite you to visit www.lymefighter.com. You’ll find a free e-book, valuable resources, and information to help you take your first step.

Together, we can figure this out. Healing is possible.