How do you get a non believer to believe?

O.K., I just figured I would put this out there to see if someone has a more effective idea than I do. Long story short: i have had Lyme's atleast since 03' if not several years longer than that. In 03' I found a tick in my leg and as soon as I started picking at it, I developed a tomato red ring around it. At that point, I also had two swollen knees. Went to my pcp and showed him all this, he gave me a ELISA blood test, came back negative, sent me on my way. I went back several times over the next 4 years because my health had declined to the point that I was barely able to walk. I was in my very early 40's and a physical fitness freak. The pcp just kept given me an ELISA test each time I went in and they just kept coming back negative and out the door I went. Another long story short: I got in to see a LLMD 4 1/2 years ago and have been treated ever since. 85% of my symptoms have gone away, the ones that are left are extreme weakness, low blood platelet count, and a couple other less bothersome issues. Well, during the past 4 1/2-5 years of treatment, I have been very tight with any information that I tell my parents, don't want them to worry about me. So any time they asked how I was doing, I always say I am doing fine. (They knew I have Lymes disease but didn't have a clue to the extent. They had no idea of the whole political mess that Lymes is.) Well 3 weeks back, I had to take a couple weeks off from work due to complete exhaustion and weakness. My dad went by my house several times and noticed I was home so I sat him down and explained everything that is going on. I told him about all the negative Lymes tests, told him about all the symptoms I have dealt with and tried to explain to him the significance of a LLMD compared to a pcp. In short, I think he thinks that I am nuts. He can't accept the fact that most Dr.s out there are non Lymes literate. His first thought was to find the best infectious disease Dr. and send me to him so he could tell me "what the real problem is." He thinks my LLMD is a "quack". He says "so you mean to tell me that if you go down to see this infectious disease Dr. and he says that you don't have Lymes disease and never did, that you won't believe him? You will believe that quack Dr. over an established infectious disease Dr?"  He was shocked that I was taking abx for longer than the 30-45 days that he reads online. He reads this stuff from well know hospitals and infectious disease doctors and doesn't believe, for 1 second, that isn't the gospel. Heck, I can't even convince him that the blood tests are very inaccurate. He is from the old school and what ever it says in the medical journal is exactly how it is. He wants to help me but that is hard to do when you can't recognize what is really going on. How do you get someone like this to understand the scope and seriousness of this disease??

Taysdad,

I had a breaktrough with my family - I sensed one coming up last week, and I got a confirmation yesterday.

I was really so mad at them because of their indifference, I just started ignoring them. I was just so fed up with it.

My sister confronted them on Sunday, I didn't know about it. It's not at all her style, but she did it. Then she called me yesterday to tell me what happened.

Now they're kind of trying to understand, she explained them my case (they never asked about it before, and whenever I started talking about it they changed subjects so fast I couldn't believe it). She told them things are not going well at all. There were/are? some doubts about long term abx, but well, I can't expect everything to go well at 100%

My dad has been calling me 3 times this week...

Also: my husband has started watching Under Our Skin. He was simply shocked, and he's not easily shocked. Now I'm trying to get a full french subtitled version so that he can understand better.

I hope you'll get some understanding soon, cause it's so hard to handle when you're feeling left alone...

I will see for the future if they will stay interested, but I'll try not to get too upset about it (I'm saying now...) - there's still the majority of my 'friends' that are just glad to show their indifference...

I had a very similar experience with my father (I am so grateful for my stepfather, who I call dad). But there was a point where my father and I were close. When I was finally diagnosed, he thought I was "making myself sick" because of all the info I was reading about, and "putting things in m head." I had seizures in front of him (for 18 years), he saw me in the hospital with sepsis, he watched as my heart gave out on me. He saw me at 88 lbs at nearly 5'5". Nothing mattered, he didn't believe.Now the seizures are gone, I am not even on anti-convulsants, heart is much better, and my weight is normal. I still struggle and still have years of treatment, and my daughter is still overcoming lyme ( I passed it to her during my pregnancy). He didn't believe her either and she was just 13 when dignosed.

Sadly, my father and I haven't spoken in over a year. I found you just can't change people. They have to want to change or be open to it. And though he is my father, the unneeded stress he gave me by not believing me wasn't worth our relationship to me. Him denying my illness meant that he also denied all the progress I made and the work I put into getting myself and my daughter better. It was hard, but in the end, it was just better to put it to rest.

I hope it all works out for you. My story however, had a different ending. I am thankful for those I do have and do believe me, stand by me, and support me... The others, well, one day they will need someone to believe in them, and maybe, just maybe, the will learn then what faith in others is. Until then, it is what it is...

My mom has been very supportive all along, but I could tell that she had her doubts and concerns. Well, last week she drove me to my LLMD appt. 3 1/2 hours away and I had her come into the appt. with me. After that, I can tell that she has NO doubts. She raved about how wonderful my LLMD is. She said that she is extremely knowledgeable and really knows what she's doing. AND, she decided that she is going to get tested and evaluated for lyme disease because she has been diagnosed with MS.

See if he's open to reading about the controversy and learning more about this disease and the treatment.