i am posting the episode on lyme that aired on dr phil on friday (april 13). a fellow lymie was able to put the lyme portion of the broadcast (minus commercials) into one 18 minute clip.
i am incredibly grateful that dr phil stepped up to the plate and acknowledged lyme disease and that it does indeed exist as a persistent, chronic infection.
i believe the show was well done albeit there was not near enough time dedicated to it! it would have been nice to have the full hour time slot but nonetheless this is a huge leap forward. one step at a time or one segment at a time. unfortunately, the small amount of air time did not come close to being able to delve into the multitude of issues surrounding the debacle of lyme disease. there are several important issues that were either not addressed or were only too briefly touched on. i will be addressing some of those issues in the days to come.
i will very briefly touch on one issue right now. as a society, we are schooled to place great value in the academia associated with medicine. i understand that Dr Bahkta was on the show because she is treating (successfully treating, i might add) dr phil's staff person. as a mainstream MD and frontline physician who specializes in autoimmune diseases, her clinical experience in treating chronic lyme patients far outweighs the experience of the IDSA's representative, dr auwaerter. (who clearly must have none given that he insists the disease does NOT exist.) my issue is not at all with dr bahkta's expertise. my issue is that impressive medical titles somehow hold more weight and credibility with the general public than "just" an MD with an integrative practice. i am considerably bothered that dr phil did not have one of the many LLMDs on (and there are many) that have just as impressive sounding credentials as dr auwaerter.
that being said, i applaud dr bahkta for not only having the gumption to treat patients outside of the IDSA's flawed guidelines but for having the courage to publicly face off with the IDSA. wowzers. i have no doubt she will take major heat for that. she may quite possibly even come under attack by licensing boards. after all, nearly all LLMDs do at some point.
i am encouraged that lyme was finally given a national platform. i believe it speaks volumes that dr phil made arrangements for the young lady featured to be treated by dr bahkta as opposed to dr auwaerter....despite his impressive credentials. in doing so, dr phil sent a clear message -
god bless you dr phil.
here's the show, i hope you watch it.
i am incredibly grateful that dr phil stepped up to the plate and acknowledged lyme disease and that it does indeed exist as a persistent, chronic infection.
i believe the show was well done albeit there was not near enough time dedicated to it! it would have been nice to have the full hour time slot but nonetheless this is a huge leap forward. one step at a time or one segment at a time. unfortunately, the small amount of air time did not come close to being able to delve into the multitude of issues surrounding the debacle of lyme disease. there are several important issues that were either not addressed or were only too briefly touched on. i will be addressing some of those issues in the days to come.
i will very briefly touch on one issue right now. as a society, we are schooled to place great value in the academia associated with medicine. i understand that Dr Bahkta was on the show because she is treating (successfully treating, i might add) dr phil's staff person. as a mainstream MD and frontline physician who specializes in autoimmune diseases, her clinical experience in treating chronic lyme patients far outweighs the experience of the IDSA's representative, dr auwaerter. (who clearly must have none given that he insists the disease does NOT exist.) my issue is not at all with dr bahkta's expertise. my issue is that impressive medical titles somehow hold more weight and credibility with the general public than "just" an MD with an integrative practice. i am considerably bothered that dr phil did not have one of the many LLMDs on (and there are many) that have just as impressive sounding credentials as dr auwaerter.
that being said, i applaud dr bahkta for not only having the gumption to treat patients outside of the IDSA's flawed guidelines but for having the courage to publicly face off with the IDSA. wowzers. i have no doubt she will take major heat for that. she may quite possibly even come under attack by licensing boards. after all, nearly all LLMDs do at some point.
i am encouraged that lyme was finally given a national platform. i believe it speaks volumes that dr phil made arrangements for the young lady featured to be treated by dr bahkta as opposed to dr auwaerter....despite his impressive credentials. in doing so, dr phil sent a clear message -
chronic lyme DOES exist and long term treatment works.
god bless you dr phil.
here's the show, i hope you watch it.
Thank you for posting about this. I really enjoyed the episode, but agree that it didn't address enough issues.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that the IDSA fellow was very careful not to actually say 'chronic Lyme does not exist'. He kept saying thins like, 'long term antibiotics has not been proven to treat these problems'. It's a much softer stance than they use to take three or four years ago.
Perhaps this backtracking is a glimmer of hope?