May 17, 2005 Letters Recognizing Lyme
- From: "CaliforniaLyme" <CaliforniaLyme@xxxxxx>
- Date: 17 May 2005 08:28:42 -0700
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/science/17lett.html
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May 17, 2005
Letters
Recognizing Lyme
To the Editor:
Dr. Kent Sepkowitz ("Doctors Do Know Things Patients Don't Know," May
10) uses the "vast, lumpy terrain of Lyme disease" to show that doctors
can be smarter than patients in choosing a therapy. The only thing he
shows is that he doesn't know much about Lyme.
When his patient asked about antibiotic therapy, Dr. Sepkowitz pulled
out the elephant gun of intravenous antibiotics, and then was smugly
satisfied to see the rare complication it produced. What about oral or
intramuscular antibiotics? Were these simpler and less risky approaches
discussed with the patient?
Next time Dr. Sepkowitz should seek out the treatment guidelines of our
society at www.ilads.org. He would discover up-to-date information
about appropriate treatment, and he might learn what many of his
patients already know.
DR. RAPHAEL STRICKER
San Francisco
The writer is president-elect of the International Lyme and Associated
Diseases Society.
To the Editor:
As vast and lumpy as the terrain of Lyme disease may be ("Doctors Do
Know Things"), it is one of the rare conditions where patients may know
best.
Millions of people never fancied themselves as having Lyme disease.
They just became sick, and got sicker. Little by little, they lost
their ability to function normally. Some lost their lives. At their
side were well-intentioned but utterly clueless members of the medical
community.
I'm only 30, and for more than 10 years I was told that my health
problems were psychosomatic. Only when I lost my ability to walk and
couldn't remember where I lived or my age did a doctor finally order a
blood test. It came back positive for Lyme.
CHRISTELLE TORRES
Stamford, Conn.
.
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