Comments | alfreda89: The politics of Lyme Disease:

alfreda89

The politics of Lyme Disease:

Nov 15, 2007 01:04

[I should state that none of you have ever said this (And you thought I was exaggerating....) to me personally.] I'm thinking of doctors who will remain unnamed.

http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8493The best condensation of the politics of Lyme ( Read more... )

politics of, lyme disease

Comments 6

oliana0 November 15 2007, 20:50:10 UTC

Wow. I mean, I knew that Lyme disease was a tough nut to crack, but knowing why is like, well.... Knowing why is really interesting to me.

I love knowing why!!! Why about anything.

Hmm, they say "most" antibiotics only kill when the cells are multiplying. I wonder what the other antibiotics do, and if they are a viable alternative.

See? One why answer leads to more why questions. It's insatiable, my curiosity.

And -- alfreda89 November 15 2007, 22:42:39 UTC

Lyme has multiple forms. There's the spirochete form you usually see in articles, there's a spore form (a therapist could feel tiny bumps in my muscles...very weird, I wondered if it was the disease) and a cell wall deficient form as well.

Which is another reason I'm on the "rotation" treatment. The Lyme changes form to hide from the antibiotic -- and we nail it with an antibiotic used for another form.

I am seriously tired of all this....

lasofia November 16 2007, 02:38:37 UTC

arrrgh. It really drives me nuts when people get so dogmatic that they try to block new information.
I have seen articles in which they claim that no illness needs prolonged antibiotics. But isn't that the protocol for TB?

Definitely reminds me of the CFIDs-deniers (who are subsiding these days). I always wondered, what fills them with such passion to tell sick people that they aren't sick?

alfreda89 November 16 2007, 03:05:03 UTC

My doctor said to me that it's a minimum 18 months for TB. It takes forever when treating syphilis, too.

Here's a scary stat for you:

T. pallidum (syphilis) has 22 functioning genes.
B. burgdorferi (Lyme) has at least 132 functioning genes. There may be more.

How can anyone in their right mind CLOSE their mind to the possibility that Bb has a great deal in common with TB and syphilis? And must be treated accordingly in people whose condition was missed immediately after exposure?

Will these people let their loved ones deteriorate into a wheelchair, or mental breakdown, or death -- because they refuse to believe that the threat is real?

Lyme 6_penny November 20 2007, 15:25:15 UTC

Years ago I came across an article about the different ways Lyme presents in different geographical areas. In the Soviet Union for example, it presented predominantly as a neurological disease. Apparently there are different 'races' of Lyme and if you pick it up while traveling, it is even more difficult to get it diagnosed!

Re: Lyme alfreda89 November 20 2007, 20:30:39 UTC

Very interesting -- and so true. Doctors will tell you "We don't have Lyme in XXX" and then you say: "But I spent a week in YYY, and they DO have Lyme, so could you run a Western Blot for me, please?" Then, if they WILL run it, they want an ELISA, which is useless as a diagnostic tool.

I think I'll look for that article, if I can find it. We have something like over 300 different ticks in the US (and there are also ones that are regional, like Lone Starii (sp?), with its own disease) and the craziness goes on and on.