Nicole Bell shares a critical Lyme Hack: accurate diagnosis is the foundation of effective treatment—because you can’t fight what you don’t correctly identify.
- Get an Accurate Diagnosis
- Effective treatment starts with knowing exactly what infections are present.
- Different pathogens require different treatment approaches.
- Misdiagnosis or incomplete diagnosis can delay healing.
- Understand the Limits of Antibody Testing
- Many Lyme tests are antibody-based, measuring immune response—not active infection.
- Some patients may not produce a strong immune response.
- Others may test positive without having an active infection.
- Consider Direct Detection Testing
- Direct detection looks for the presence of the pathogen itself.
- This approach is considered a gold standard in many infectious diseases.
- Accurate testing can also help track progress and determine if treatment is working.
Nicole’s message highlights that understanding what you’re fighting is essential—accurate testing can be a game-changer in the chronic Lyme healing journey.
“If you don’t know what you’re fighting, you can’t win.” – Nicole Bell
Watch Video:
This 2026 Lyme Hack was recorded during Tick Boot Camp’s coverage of the inaugural Stories That Heal: Author Series, where leaders, patients, caregivers, researchers, and advocates came together to advance awareness, education, and hope for the Lyme disease community.
Video Transcript:
Matt Sabatello, Co-Founder of Tick Boot Camp: Nicole Bell, the CEO of Galaxy Diagnostics, it is an honor to have you back for our Lyme Hackathon for Lyme Disease Awareness Month. My question for you is: what is your number one tip or trick for somebody suffering from chronic Lyme disease to help them overcome this horrendous disease?
Nicole Bell: The number one trick would be to get an accurate diagnosis. If you don’t know what you’re fighting, you can’t win. A lot of these pathogens require different treatments. If you’re treating with the wrong modality or the wrong drug for the pathogens you have on board, it’s going to be really difficult to get well.
Matt: Nicole, I’m going to push you a little bit harder on this. What makes Galaxy stand out compared to your competitors, and why should people listening to this use Galaxy over other labs?
Nicole: Because we focus on direct detection. A lot of the other tests out there are antibody-based, which tells you what your immune system has been exposed to. However, some people don’t have a proper immune reaction, and others might have a reaction but may not have an active infection.
Direct detection is the gold standard across all other infectious diseases, but because these are stealth pathogens, those tests haven’t always been available. That is the problem Galaxy solved: creating a test sensitive enough that we can actually get accurate results and quantify the healing process to see, “Am I actually healed, yes or no?”
Matt: Nicole, thank you once again for joining our Lyme Hackathon, and thank you for everything you do at Galaxy to help our community.
Nicole: Thank you.
Explore more expert insights from our Lyme Hackathon series and discover how healing is possible with the right knowledge, support, and approach on our Lyme Hackathon page.
