this friday, april 13, 2012, the DR PHIL show will be airing a broadcast on lyme disease. it is called "deadly consequences". this is exciting for the lyme community. from what i have learned, dr phil's interest in the lyme epidemic was ignited when one of his staff contracted the disease.
the show has already been taped and the folks appearing on it are a LLMD, dr chitra bhatra, and 2 lyme patients; brooke landau - a san diego weather broadcaster - (click here to watch a synopsis of brooke's story) and stephanie vostry, a former model who is battling chronic lyme. of course, a representative from the IDSA will be present. i would hazard a guess that he will be there to defend the IDSA's premise that chronic lyme does not exist. after all, the IDSA guidelines are the reason behind the controversy over diagnosing and treating lyme disease.
the following video gives a bit of background into the reasons behind the controversy.
it should be an interesting broadcast. i hope that it will do justice to the injustices that lyme patients are suffering world wide. of course, one never knows how these things will go. let's hope that dr phil sniffs out the deception and exposes the truth.
i am encouraging everyone out there to tune in...
yes, i hope that this helps to push the truth into the light, i hope that it accurately depicts what it is like to live with this illness, but equally as important is that the message of lyme being an epidemic reaches those that are at risk of contracting the disease.
and who is at risk? everyone. everywhere.
whether or not canada wants to acknowledge that we have an epidemic or not, does not change the fact that people are contracting the disease at an alarming rate.
lyme is in Canada.
lyme is in BC.
people are being infected at an alarmingly increasing rate.
it is under reported and under diagnosed because physicians are told to rely on the results of an inaccurate and faulty test.
it is under reported and under diagnosed because physicians are not being adequately trained to recognize the clinical signs and symptoms.
given that i'm immersed in the lyme community, one might suggest that my belief that there is such a high incidence of it is slightly skewed. yes, it is true, i know a boat load of chronically infected patients. the numbers are sadly staggering. and yes, i meet those folks because of my involvement in the lyme community and my awareness is heightened as a result... however that does little to explain the numbers of people that we know that are in our "non lyme" circle of friends that have recently contracted the disease.
a gentleman in our bible study. contracted lyme in steveston area of richmond. he had the classic bullseye rash. tested with BC Elisa test TWICE. BOTH tests returned negative results.
a child in avery's school contracted lyme this past summer - either in richmond or ladner. had classic bullseye rash.
a former co-worker of grahams. contracted lyme in squamish in late summer. bullseye rash. tested with BC Elisa test TWICE. BOTH tests negative.
a friend's friend contracted lyme in her backyard in the terra nova area of richmond. classic bullseye rash. BC test returned negative result. went undiagnosed for 3 months. as a result, developed late stage neuro-lyme.
another friend of a friend contracted lyme 2 weeks ago. in a ravine behind her home in langley. bullseye rash.
in all 5 cases, i was contacted by friends/or families and asked what abx should be used to treat and for how long as the doctors their loved one had seen did not know.
these folks are fortunate as their infections presented with the classic bulls eye rash. less than 50% of folks that are bit by an infected tick get the bulls eye rash. in most of these cases, doctors could not easily or readily identify this hallmark rash.
if you have a bullseye rash you have lyme. period. it is a clinical slam dunk. however, of the 3 cases tested - ALL rendered negative results. 2 cases were each re-tested and ALL tests were negative. if they had relied on the test results as a means to diagnose and treat their infection, (which is most often the case) they would undoubtedly developed full blown late stage neurological lyme disease. unfortunately that is the consequence of 1 of the 3. thankfully, the other 2 knew better than to trust the test results and as a result of their awareness were able to advocate for proper treatment.
there are many more stories i could share. but these were the ones that have readily jumped to mind. these are my 'non lyme' friend stories. if it can happen to them, it can happen to you.
please educate yourself.
your government isn't going to do it for you.
please be aware.
your physicians are not.
please watch dr phil on friday, april 13.
it just may save your life or the life of someone you love.
and while you are watching, please remember that this is the nightmare that my family lives with. denial of lyme forced us to seek out of country medical care. and now, because of interference from the BC medical community, our son's USA treatment has been compromised and we're having to fight for the right to get him the life saving treatment he desperately needs to battle this insidious disease. i hope the dr phil show reveals the truth behind the denial and accurately depicts the horror of what lyme does. "seeing" it might give you a better understanding of what it looks like to live with this disease. i hope it does. we need the support.
the show has already been taped and the folks appearing on it are a LLMD, dr chitra bhatra, and 2 lyme patients; brooke landau - a san diego weather broadcaster - (click here to watch a synopsis of brooke's story) and stephanie vostry, a former model who is battling chronic lyme. of course, a representative from the IDSA will be present. i would hazard a guess that he will be there to defend the IDSA's premise that chronic lyme does not exist. after all, the IDSA guidelines are the reason behind the controversy over diagnosing and treating lyme disease.
the following video gives a bit of background into the reasons behind the controversy.
it should be an interesting broadcast. i hope that it will do justice to the injustices that lyme patients are suffering world wide. of course, one never knows how these things will go. let's hope that dr phil sniffs out the deception and exposes the truth.
i am encouraging everyone out there to tune in...
yes, i hope that this helps to push the truth into the light, i hope that it accurately depicts what it is like to live with this illness, but equally as important is that the message of lyme being an epidemic reaches those that are at risk of contracting the disease.
and who is at risk? everyone. everywhere.
whether or not canada wants to acknowledge that we have an epidemic or not, does not change the fact that people are contracting the disease at an alarming rate.
lyme is in Canada.
lyme is in BC.
people are being infected at an alarmingly increasing rate.
it is under reported and under diagnosed because physicians are told to rely on the results of an inaccurate and faulty test.
it is under reported and under diagnosed because physicians are not being adequately trained to recognize the clinical signs and symptoms.
given that i'm immersed in the lyme community, one might suggest that my belief that there is such a high incidence of it is slightly skewed. yes, it is true, i know a boat load of chronically infected patients. the numbers are sadly staggering. and yes, i meet those folks because of my involvement in the lyme community and my awareness is heightened as a result... however that does little to explain the numbers of people that we know that are in our "non lyme" circle of friends that have recently contracted the disease.
a gentleman in our bible study. contracted lyme in steveston area of richmond. he had the classic bullseye rash. tested with BC Elisa test TWICE. BOTH tests returned negative results.
a child in avery's school contracted lyme this past summer - either in richmond or ladner. had classic bullseye rash.
a former co-worker of grahams. contracted lyme in squamish in late summer. bullseye rash. tested with BC Elisa test TWICE. BOTH tests negative.
a friend's friend contracted lyme in her backyard in the terra nova area of richmond. classic bullseye rash. BC test returned negative result. went undiagnosed for 3 months. as a result, developed late stage neuro-lyme.
another friend of a friend contracted lyme 2 weeks ago. in a ravine behind her home in langley. bullseye rash.
in all 5 cases, i was contacted by friends/or families and asked what abx should be used to treat and for how long as the doctors their loved one had seen did not know.
these folks are fortunate as their infections presented with the classic bulls eye rash. less than 50% of folks that are bit by an infected tick get the bulls eye rash. in most of these cases, doctors could not easily or readily identify this hallmark rash.
if you have a bullseye rash you have lyme. period. it is a clinical slam dunk. however, of the 3 cases tested - ALL rendered negative results. 2 cases were each re-tested and ALL tests were negative. if they had relied on the test results as a means to diagnose and treat their infection, (which is most often the case) they would undoubtedly developed full blown late stage neurological lyme disease. unfortunately that is the consequence of 1 of the 3. thankfully, the other 2 knew better than to trust the test results and as a result of their awareness were able to advocate for proper treatment.
there are many more stories i could share. but these were the ones that have readily jumped to mind. these are my 'non lyme' friend stories. if it can happen to them, it can happen to you.
please educate yourself.
your government isn't going to do it for you.
please be aware.
your physicians are not.
please watch dr phil on friday, april 13.
it just may save your life or the life of someone you love.
and while you are watching, please remember that this is the nightmare that my family lives with. denial of lyme forced us to seek out of country medical care. and now, because of interference from the BC medical community, our son's USA treatment has been compromised and we're having to fight for the right to get him the life saving treatment he desperately needs to battle this insidious disease. i hope the dr phil show reveals the truth behind the denial and accurately depicts the horror of what lyme does. "seeing" it might give you a better understanding of what it looks like to live with this disease. i hope it does. we need the support.
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