Lyme Disease: another example of why our medical system is fucked
I don't usually throw the F-word around, at least not publicly in print, but there's no other word for it. The IDSA (Infectious Diseases Society of America) writes the guidelines that insurance companies have to follow with regard to treatment. They also influence federal funds for research. They are hearing testimony in Washington D.C. today and have been legally pressured into reviewing and rewriting the guidelines for Lyme Disease treatment. Previously the existence of late stage neurological Lyme disease was denied, ignoring the many people who have it and dismissing them as malingerers of some sort. See goodbadgirl's post about it and also this page from the California Lyme Disease Association.
How and why conflicts of interest have been allowed to influence treatment of a serious disease that causes brain damage is beyond me, but this can't be allowed to happen with other diseases. (One wonders if it has and we just don't know about it.)
Excerpt from goodbadgirl:
Anyway - 9 of those 12 docs had severe conflicts of interest at the time those guidelines were being drafted - primarily they either were on the payroll of major insurance companies or on the payroll of major drug companies who are secretly racing to come up with a vaccine for a disease they insist does not exist.
In the documentary: Under Our Skin (www.underourskin.com) one of the original doctors on that panel who resigned admitted that IDSA panel never even met to discuss the possibility of late stage lyme disease. He simply received a letter from some of the other (payrolled) doctors stating that they were releasing the guidelines, late stage lyme is not going to be incorporated, and he could either sign it or resign from the panel.
goodbadgirl has a list of things that concerned people can do near the bottom of her post.
How and why conflicts of interest have been allowed to influence treatment of a serious disease that causes brain damage is beyond me, but this can't be allowed to happen with other diseases. (One wonders if it has and we just don't know about it.)
Excerpt from goodbadgirl:
Anyway - 9 of those 12 docs had severe conflicts of interest at the time those guidelines were being drafted - primarily they either were on the payroll of major insurance companies or on the payroll of major drug companies who are secretly racing to come up with a vaccine for a disease they insist does not exist.
In the documentary: Under Our Skin (www.underourskin.com) one of the original doctors on that panel who resigned admitted that IDSA panel never even met to discuss the possibility of late stage lyme disease. He simply received a letter from some of the other (payrolled) doctors stating that they were releasing the guidelines, late stage lyme is not going to be incorporated, and he could either sign it or resign from the panel.
goodbadgirl has a list of things that concerned people can do near the bottom of her post.