When a child starts complaining about headaches, stomach pain, fatigue, mood changes, or trouble concentrating, Lyme disease is not always the first thing that comes to mind.
Sometimes the symptoms are explained away as growing pains. Sometimes they are attributed to allergies, behavior, stress, or simply being a difficult child. And sometimes, according to Dr. Somer Del, the symptoms become so familiar to a child that they no longer recognize them as unusual.
That was one of the central themes of Dr. Del’s conversation with Sam Tejada, CEO and Founder of Liquivida®, on “A Healthy Point of View” podcast. A DNP and board-certified pediatric nurse practitioner, Dr. Del is the CEO and Founder of Hudson Valley Integrative Health and the creator of the R.E.S.E.T. Protocol. Her work focuses on children with complex health concerns, including Lyme disease and other infections.
For Dr. Del, understanding pediatric Lyme disease starts with recognizing one simple fact: children are not small adults.
The Hidden Signs of Lyme Disease in Children Most Parents Miss | Dr. Somer DelSignore | Ep. 167
Lyme Disease Can Look Different in Children
A child’s neurological and immune systems are still developing. Because of that, Dr. Del explained that Lyme disease can have a particularly noticeable neurological and immune impact in children.
Rather than presenting only with the symptoms many adults associate with Lyme disease, such as fatigue and joint pain, children may experience cognitive difficulties, headaches, fatigue, stomach pain, and changes in mood or behavior. The neurocognitive component can be particularly significant because it can affect a child’s growth and development.
That creates another challenge: a child may not have the words or awareness to explain what is happening.
A child who has lived with a persistent headache or unexplained pain for a long time may simply assume that everyone feels that way. Parents, meanwhile, may know that something is wrong but struggle to put their finger on what it is.
This is where Dr. Del believes the medical history becomes critical.
Sometimes the Parents Notice Something First
When Dr. Del evaluates a child, she starts by listening carefully to the parents.
She wants to know what the child’s health looked like from the beginning. Her history-taking can go all the way back to pregnancy, asking about illnesses, rashes, inflammation, recurring sickness, unexplained symptoms, family history, and potential exposure to ticks or other vectors.
In other words, she is looking for a pattern.
That is why Dr. Del described her role as being something of a medical detective. Children may describe their symptoms differently from adults, and sometimes the clues are scattered across years of medical history.
Putting those pieces together can reveal a very different picture from what a single laboratory result might show.
The Diagnostic Process Goes Beyond One Test
Dr. Del explained that she uses a combination of history, symptoms, physical examination, and specialized testing when evaluating children.
During the conversation, she discussed specialty testing from laboratories including IgeneX, Galaxy Diagnostics, T Lab, and Vibrant, explaining that she chooses testing based on the individual history and the strengths of the different tests. She also considers the financial burden because some of these specialty tests are paid for out of pocket.
For younger children, she also considers how invasive testing can be. Urine and finger-stick testing can sometimes be preferable to drawing larger amounts of blood, particularly when a child has already experienced medical trauma.
But Dr. Del’s approach does not stop at asking whether a child has a tick-borne infection.
She looks at the broader picture.
That can include other infections, viruses, and what she described as the child’s overall “terrain.” She discussed looking at conditions such as strep and mycoplasma, as well as environmental exposures and toxin levels.
The underlying question is not simply, “Does this child have Lyme disease?”
It is: Why is this child sick, and what is preventing them from getting better?
Why Early Attention Matters
Dr. Del also raised concerns about what can happen when health problems continue unchecked for years.
She described persistent immune stress and inflammation as factors that may contribute to additional problems later, including autoimmune-type conditions and neurological or neuropsychiatric symptoms. She specifically discussed conditions such as thyroid disease, PCOS, PANS, autoimmune encephalopathy, and unexplained neuropsychiatric symptoms in the context of the patients she sees.
For children exposed before birth, she described the situation as particularly complex because the developing immune and neurological systems may have been exposed from the beginning.
That does not mean every child with these symptoms has Lyme disease. Rather, Dr. Del’s point was that persistent or unexplained symptoms deserve a thoughtful investigation instead of automatically being placed into a behavioral or developmental box.
Treatment Has to Be Different for Children
Once a diagnosis and broader picture have been established, treatment becomes another exercise in patience.
Dr. Del emphasized that children require careful consideration because their immune systems are still developing. Treatments are often adjusted according to body weight, and she stressed the importance of monitoring how children tolerate interventions while paying attention to the liver, kidneys, and gut.
Her approach is integrative rather than relying on a single intervention.
In the conversation, she discussed the use of medications and antibiotics when appropriate, along with herbal approaches and other therapies. She also described using ozone, IV PRP, hyperbaric oxygen, high-dose vitamin C or nutrients in appropriate circumstances, SOT, plasmapheresis, and IVIG. She emphasized that treatments must be adapted for children rather than simply copying an adult protocol.
She also cautioned that children can experience significant reactions during treatment. In her experience, these reactions can sometimes show up neurologically, including anxiety, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, rumination, depression, and sleep problems.
That is one reason she prefers a gradual approach.
“It’s a Marathon”
When it comes to detoxification, Dr. Del’s philosophy is simple: start low and go slow.
She described using approaches such as glutathione, bitters, gentle binders, and molecular hydrogen as part of her protocols. For children who have difficulty taking molecular hydrogen tablets with water, she discussed other ways families may introduce it, including molecular hydrogen bath tablets.
The larger point is that treatment does not have to mean doing everything at once.
For children especially, Dr. Del sees the process as a marathon rather than a sprint.
She told parents to be patient, explaining that in an ideal treatment scenario, noticeable progress may begin around six months, with approximately a year being a point at which things may become more stable before moving into maintenance. She also noted that children exposed in utero can have a very different course and may require longer-term care.
The Gut, Food and Everyday Environment Matter Too
The conversation eventually moved beyond Lyme disease itself and into something Dr. Del considers just as important: the everyday environment in which a child is growing.
She sees significant gut-related issues among the children she treats and discussed concerns including Candida and what she described as leaky gut. She also pointed to diet as an important part of the bigger picture, particularly inadequate fiber and nutrient intake.
Her advice isn’t about completely transforming a family’s life overnight.
Instead, she recommends making manageable changes.
Rather than telling a family to suddenly eliminate every food a child enjoys, she suggested making one healthier exchange at a time. The goal is to give parents a realistic path forward rather than an impossible list of rules.
Sleep follows the same philosophy.
Dr. Del talked about looking at what happens after dinner, including screen use and the habits that may be keeping a child’s nervous system stimulated late into the evening. She suggested creating quieter routines involving things such as reading, music, baths, and family time.
And when it comes to exercise, her advice is even simpler:
Parents should lead by example.
The Screen-Time Problem
One of Dr. Del’s biggest concerns for children isn’t an exotic toxin or rare infection. It’s something sitting in many homes every day: the tablet.
She believes excessive screen time can interfere with social interaction, outdoor activity, play, and the development of normal social cues. Her concern is not simply how long children spend looking at a screen, but what they are missing while they’re doing it.
That observation brought the conversation back to something that can easily get lost in discussions about complex medicine.
Children need to be children.
They need movement. They need sleep. They need real food. They need social interaction. They need time outside. And they need adults who are willing to notice when something about their health or behavior has changed.
Rethinking How We Approach Complex Illness
Perhaps the strongest message Dr. Del left with Sam was not about a particular test or treatment.
It was about curiosity.
She said she would like to see a more biomedical approach to controversial infections and conditions, one grounded in better diagnostics, thorough history-taking, and a willingness to look at the whole person rather than treating an infection as something completely separate from the rest of the body.
Her answer to how medicine can get there was blunt: physicians need to put their egos aside and return to being scientists.
That means asking questions. Challenging assumptions. Following the evidence. And being humble enough to admit when there is still something that medicine does not understand.
For Dr. Del, that philosophy is deeply connected to the children she treats.
Her decision to focus on pediatrics was shaped during her early medical training, particularly while working with children in an oncology unit. She remembered one young patient who, despite having cancer, was far more interested in playing with his toys and eating his favorite gluten-free cookies than dwelling on his illness. That child’s determination and zest for life stayed with her. From then on, she knew she wanted to protect and help children.
That perspective helps explain the approach she brings to complex pediatric cases.
The goal isn’t simply to find a label.
It is to understand the child behind the symptoms.
And sometimes, finding that answer requires looking much further than the obvious.