The renovated building, fashionably complementing the 11th century castle, once owned by the Lambergh Counts and completely renovated in 2011, and the entire complex exemplify nobility and uniqueness. The centre is surrounded by a park, a garden pavilion, two ponds and ideal surroundings for a holiday, relaxation and maintaining health. The new centre will treat patients with chronic headache and Lyme disease, and is a unique example of a highly specialised boutique medical centre that offers special and widely sought medical programmes for the treatment of chronic headache and Lyme disease.

“The Slovenian health system is very unfair to these two diseases,” stresses the head of the centre, Dr Andrej Stare, who will be sharing the work at the centre with a team of doctors. He also notes that four per cent of the population suffers from chronic headache, and the number of Lyme disease patients is also growing. The first patients have already been admitted; in addition to Slovenian patients, foreign patients are also expected at the centre. The Lambergh Medical Centre has a total of five offices and service premises measuring 210 m2.

The services at the centre will be payable in full, since in the current situation in Slovenian healthcare no possibilities for a concession exist, although it is anticipated in the future. A two-week comprehensive treatment package including accommodation and other hotel services costs a minimum of 1,500 euros.

The medical programmes are connected with the wellness offer and other services of the new hotel and renovated Renaissance castle, which have changed their name several times, but are now being marketed under the Lambergh trademark, which is based on exclusiveness, uniqueness and health. At the beginning of 2013, the complex was bought by the company Elba Plus, which leased it out to the new Lambergh Company owned by the Novo mesto entrepreneur, Tomaž Hočevar.

In addition to the core specialisations, the centre also offers back pain packages which target the rehabilitation of golf players (Bled, the largest golf course in this part of Europe, is only 8 kilometres away), anti-stress packages and an out-patient care centre for family medicine not covered by health insurance. The Medical Centre features high-quality equipment compliant with all legal standards and the Ministry of Health.

Headache is one of the most frequent symptoms of disease in modern times
About 70 per cent of the population of the EU suffers from occasional and chronic headache, which is treated by neurology specialists. Special clinics for treating headache can be found only in Copenhagen and London. Slovenia has no specialist out-patient clinics, and austerity measures in healthcare have delayed the resolution of the problem of headache indefinitely. According to doctors, the opinion that the only treatment for headache is occasional or permanent medication is incorrect.

Experts in the field of vascular neurology, specialist neurologists participating in the Society for the Prevention of Cerebral and Vascular Diseases, and clinical psychologists will be working at the Lambergh Medical Centre. In addition to Dr Stare, the new centre will have a team of leading Slovenian experts: Dr Branko Šibanc, infectologist, Dr Bojana Žvan, neurologist, Dr Marjan Zaletel, neurologist, Professor Alenka Sever, psychologist, and Marko Roner, therapist.

TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) will be used in the treatment of migraines in particular. This revolutionary method has produced exceptional results in the treatment of migraine and depression in the USA in recent years. TMS has not yet been used in Slovenia for the treatment of headache, which makes the Lambergh Medical Centre unique. In addition to all screening tests, the specialists will also take the patients off unnecessary and inefficient therapies and introduce new, efficient medications. An important role in the treatment of headache will be played by the clinical psychologist, with programmes of cognitive and mnestic exercises, various tests and the like.

Treatment of Lyme disease
Slovenia is one of the EU countries with an above-average number of patients suffering from Lyme disease. Areas where infected ticks are endemic are found throughout almost all of Slovenia, so the issue of patients with Lyme disease is very topical. About 4,000 people are infected annually in Slovenia with this insidious disease, which has a thousand different faces and forms. The treatment is only partially successful and has to be repeated several times, usually throughout the patient’s life. The approach to patients with Lyme disease will be comprehensive and unique at the Lambergh Medical Centre and will incorporate treatment with bee products (apitherapy) and common teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris) preparations.

With the exception of the clinic in Augsburg, no special medical institutions exist for the treatment of Lyme disease in the EU, so the Centre at the Lambergh Medical Centre will be the first specialised institution of its kind.

Vesna Žarkovič, SINFO