Medical records and your personal health record (PHR) are not the same thing. Medical records contain information about your health compiled and maintained by each of your healthcare providers. A PHR is information about your health compiled and maintained by you. The difference is in how you use your PHR to improve the quality of your healthcare.
Laboratory blood tests are helpful if used correctly and performed with validated methods. Laboratory tests are not recommended for patients who do not have symptoms typical of Lyme disease. Just as it is important to correctly diagnose Lyme disease when a patient has it, it is important to avoid misdiagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease when the true cause of the illness is something else.
Frequently Asked Questions about Tick-borne Illness Testing How is Lyme disease diagnosed? Lyme disease is a clinical diagnosis based on history, symptoms, and exposure to a tick bite. Some patients show a rash, but in many cases a rash is not apparent. For this reason, laboratory testing is an important aid in diagnosing Lyme disease. Like many tests for infectious diseases, the Lyme tests measure antibodies in a patientâs blood.