Doctors are in denial about Lyme disease


Doctors are in denial about Lyme disease

Rutland Herald VT
Letter
June 11, 2006

Mel Huff's article "Lives compromised by Lyme disease: Ticks becoming
more prevalent in Vermont" in the May 28 edition of the Sunday Rutland
Herald and Times Argus was very well done.

As a fellow chronic, late-stage Lyme patient I understand all too well
the personal stories in the profile. I have become disabled to the
point that I am no longer able to work. On a really good day I can get
"out and about" with assistance for a couple of hours, only to have to
rest for the next day or three to recover.

Lyme disease has affected my entire body. In the past year alone I have
lost 30 pounds, mostly muscle. My nervous system is affected (I have
anxiety, depression, memory loss, hypersensitivity, insomnia and more),
I've been hospitalized with heart complications, I am constantly
fatigued and most days I am in quite a bit of pain (in my head/neck,
knees and muscles) as well. My mobility is severely diminished.

Like so many others, my symptoms were treated individually (with little
relief) for years. It was not until last year when I could no longer
even get out of bed for several weeks in a row that I was diagnosed and
that was only because someone recommended I see a doctor in New
Hampshire.

The biggest problem I see with Lyme disease is not that the public is
uninformed; the biggest problem is that there are still so many doctors
in denial that Lyme exists in Vermont, or that it has been here for
many years. I personally was infected more than 20 years ago, at a time
when I never traveled outside of northern New England.

Doctors, all kinds and all specialties, need to be trained in how to
recognize and treat Lyme disease in all its many manifestations.

The rates of Lyme disease are staggering. And while the government is
wasting millions of dollars on preparing for the possibility of an
epidemic bird flu, they are ignoring the current epidemic of Lyme
disease. People are losing their lives as they know them, and even
dying from undiagnosed Lyme disease. Something has got to change.

Julie Wilson

.

Relevant Pages

  • NY OPMC story in NY paper
    ... Bill pushed by Lyme patients vetoedEasing pressure on doctors was ... George Pataki this week vetoed a bill championed by Lyme disease ...
    (sci.med.diseases.lyme)
  • On the Legislative Hearing in Boston --CC Times Oct 13
    ... Lyme disease sufferers urge doctor education ... BOSTON - In sometimes tearful testimony, dozens of Lyme disease ... Many told of having to travel to doctors in New York and Connecticut ... the clinical diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions,'' he wrote. ...
    (sci.med.diseases.lyme)
  • Re: lyme patient goes on hunger strike
    ... >> Throwing your personal health away, ... > treatment for her Lyme disease when she told the press she would ... > of doctors to deny treatment, even to those whom they acknowledge ... > Now the authorities have sent a social worker to Mrs. Jennings' ...
    (sci.med.diseases.lyme)
  • October 2005: Lyme disease sufferers urge doctor education
    ... Lyme disease sufferers urge doctor education ... BOSTON - In sometimes tearful testimony, dozens of Lyme disease ... Many told of having to travel to doctors in New York and Connecticut ... the clinical diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions,'' he wrote. ...
    (sci.med.diseases.lyme)
  • 2005: Dr. Murakami says Canada is on the cusp of its own epidemic.
    ... "I've seen hundreds of ticks," the doctor assured me, his scalpel ... Patients' lives are in the balance as U.S. ... Many Canadian doctors and medical institutions are like conscientious ... Lyme disease is an acknowledged epidemic in the United States. ...
    (sci.med.diseases.lyme)