http://afhsc.army.mil/msmr_pdfs/2009/v16_n04.pdf
If you read my blog regularly then you know I love mountains of medical data and reports on Lyme in NC. I have been diagnosed with Chronic Lyme. But in NC there is a unofficial gag on reporting information about the spread of Lyme. So myself and very small team statisticians use statistical models from sample data to help us determine the prevalence of Lyme NC.
(Credit goes to: Statistician: Marge Innovera
Alternate opinions from Industry Insurance Analysts Group : C.F.I. Care)
No really all joking aside. It's your turn.
Here is some data from the report above for US armed forces. You can see the relationship of Lyme to other diseases. Keep in mind that solders train all over the US and the world. But Military Officials who put together the report remarked that they felt the solders where probably infected while doing deep woods training on their home base. The devil is in the details.
Diagnosis..................................2004....................2005..............2006..............2007..........2008
Lyme disease ..........................30.......................40....................36...................74................107
Campylobacter.........................72 ......................64 ...................54...................41.................59
Syphilis, primary/secondary 78.......................49.....................51...................63................107
Hepatitis C................................52.......................53....................36...................65.................63
NC has 47,000 military personnel with 43,000 calling Fort Bragg their home or vector if you like. Total Population 120,000
North Carolina has the third largest active duty military population in the U.S
So what percent of Fort Brags Population has Lyme - Just shy of 1%
Wake County has 870,000 people - that about 800 to 900 a year in Wake County with Lyme. There where 74 CDC confirmed cases of Wake County Lyme in 2008.
If in fact the CDC is right and the number of Lyme case is under report 10 to 15 times then our little calculation is right on.
If you are east of the Piedmont you can try it for your home town.
Friday, May 29, 2009
better data on the spread of Lyme in NC
I felt like this study provided better data on the spread of Lyme in NC (North Carolina) then the CDC map. Because it does not rely on report data and is more up to data
Do you have? Silver Colloidal
Do you have AIDS, cancer, infectious diseases, parasites, chronic fatigue, acne, warts, hemorrhoids, enlarged prostate?
Well then your problems are whole lot bigger then mine. But lets say your have just one of these you might think about Colloidal silver :metallic silver particles suspended in mineral oil. Long-term use of silver preparations can lead to argyria, a condition in which silver salts deposit in the skin, eyes, and internal organs, and the skin turns very very blue or ashen-blueish gray. You can never get an MRI again once you have ingested a metal like Colloidal silver. Now if you have AIDS or Cancer you might not care what color your skin turns. You may have had enough MRIs for 3 people. You might be desperate for something that will help. That is exactly the problem...you are desperate. It's the reason why I don't like the public awareness videos that are being produced for Lyme. They create fear and panic. Good medical choices don't come from a place of fear or panic. Good legislation doesn't come from that place either. No one knows what cures Lyme yet. Who knows maybe in 10 years we will all take Colloidal silver and we will just put up with being blue. But talk to your doctor first. The official drug guide book (United States Pharmacopeia and National Formulary) have not listed colloidal silver products since 1975.
Colloidal Silver is also found in may so called "immune boosting vitamins" and "herbal supplement" that claim to restore the immune system.
Colloidal Silver user: Stan Jones Libertarian: When you meet him person you can see that even his finger nails and teeth are blueish.
Well then your problems are whole lot bigger then mine. But lets say your have just one of these you might think about Colloidal silver :metallic silver particles suspended in mineral oil. Long-term use of silver preparations can lead to argyria, a condition in which silver salts deposit in the skin, eyes, and internal organs, and the skin turns very very blue or ashen-blueish gray. You can never get an MRI again once you have ingested a metal like Colloidal silver. Now if you have AIDS or Cancer you might not care what color your skin turns. You may have had enough MRIs for 3 people. You might be desperate for something that will help. That is exactly the problem...you are desperate. It's the reason why I don't like the public awareness videos that are being produced for Lyme. They create fear and panic. Good medical choices don't come from a place of fear or panic. Good legislation doesn't come from that place either. No one knows what cures Lyme yet. Who knows maybe in 10 years we will all take Colloidal silver and we will just put up with being blue. But talk to your doctor first. The official drug guide book (United States Pharmacopeia and National Formulary) have not listed colloidal silver products since 1975.
Colloidal Silver is also found in may so called "immune boosting vitamins" and "herbal supplement" that claim to restore the immune system.
Colloidal Silver user: Stan Jones Libertarian: When you meet him person you can see that even his finger nails and teeth are blueish.
The cost of Medical Arrogance: Doxycycline HYC for Chronic Lyme - 1 caplet twice a day...day 17
But I grew up the daughter of a geneticist. As an adult I aggregated drug trial and medical data. What I saw was millions of Americans taking pointless drugs and going through ridiculous medical procedure for the regular aches and pains of life. "Hospital Hysteria". Ironically Hospital hysteria isn't real. True Hypochondriacs are rare exotic people. Hospital hysteria is a psychiatric condition defined adhoc by doctors who do not hold a degree in psychiatry. Hospital hysteria is really about the physician who is too egotistical to say, "I don't know what is wrong with you" and prefers to say "it is all in your head". So people don't go to the doctor because they are afraid of being labled: 'one of those hysterical crazy people'.
THERE IS NOT ONE INSTANCE in medical history where doctors have said a condition was all in the patients head where they havent been proved wrong.
I am not at the magical 23 day mark yet. But this is going ok. The Herx hit me on Memorial Day weekend but are slowly fading. But when I said to my husband that this was a rather uneventful treatment for all the fuss people make over it. He got stone faced and said, "I think it has been awful." My tremors are exacerbated by the Herx. Watching me shake is disturbing for him. He says I am exhausted all the time and I lay in bed a lot.
Well I just figured I shook before the doxycyline why shouldn't I shake during it? I should be exhausted - I'm sick. He doesn't like taking care of me. He likes it when I am running around with the kids full of energy. I can't blame him, I like that too. When he was first disabled every conversation I had with him I had to wake him up to have it. For two years. By the end of 2 years I was so sick of it. I was taking care of our kids by myself. I was doing all the house work. I was going Kayaking by myself. I was tired of being alone. Around the 2 year mark I went in to our bed room and said - "Get the (blank) up. You can sleep when your dead!" That landed us in marriage counseling but marked the beginning of him getting help and our marriage back on track.
My intolerance for any kind of sickness became the worst kind of arrogance. I tell people that I just became really ill in the last 6 months. But really I have been in terrible pain for 9 years. But I wouldn't admit it. I have always had a "I will deny it until I overcome it!" attitude. I never went to doctor unless I was just dying. I never took medicines unless I had to so that I could work harder and longer hours. I was always trying to take the mountain my self.
My dad has psoriatic arthritis and he has lived in pain for years but he has kept going. But really has he? Hummm or do I just choose to look at it that way. Truthfully, when he first came down with arthritis it landed him in bed for almost a year. Totally disabled. Duke Arthritis Center put him back on his feet wiht massive asprin therapy. (Just a note the Duke Arthritis Clinic used to be on cutting edge of medicine but now they are mediocre prescription writers.) Did my Dad ever really get back on his feet. No he got back to work. But growing up he was brooding, removed and forgetful. He was either in his brown recliner or in the bath tube or in bed. He wasn't anything like other Dads. He never had friends only colleagues and he is to this day- very irritable. Sure he is - he is in pain.
My mom is no help. Just last weekend I said I was too sick to do a family picnic and the pool with the kids. Well she wouldn't take no for an answer so I caved in. She said "well you can at least watch one kid right? I can watch the other one".
I should have been in home in bed but I showed up at the family picnic and the pool and put on my best "well act" for everyone. My mom never came to the pool to watch our other child and I ended up taking care of both. My husband found the whole thing disturbing.
She is a funny wonderful person accept when you are sick. She knows it too. When we where kids and we got sick she made my Dad take care of us. This is funny in a sad sort of way. Years ago my dad was complaining of chest pains. My mom wouldn't hear it and drug him through the "Parade of Homes" until he just finally fell over with a massive heart attack. Luckily he didn't die. But you literally have to die to get her to let up. Jesus says that we are to care for the sick, poor and imprisoned. That is the hardest group to care for. I just want to pass a negative moral judgement on them and turn my back. It natural. I mean lets face it the healthy, rich and free are low maintenance. That why it so easy to get sucked into caring for them. To believe that if your character is good and moral than you to will be like them.
So I learned my moms bad bedside manner and inflict it on myself. That's no ones fault but my own. My mom takes good care of her health. But I am finally getting treatment nearly 15 years after my first Lyme rash. Had I been more medically open minded I would have known what the Lyme rash was and sought help.
THERE IS NOT ONE INSTANCE in medical history where doctors have said a condition was all in the patients head where they havent been proved wrong.
I am not at the magical 23 day mark yet. But this is going ok. The Herx hit me on Memorial Day weekend but are slowly fading. But when I said to my husband that this was a rather uneventful treatment for all the fuss people make over it. He got stone faced and said, "I think it has been awful." My tremors are exacerbated by the Herx. Watching me shake is disturbing for him. He says I am exhausted all the time and I lay in bed a lot.
Well I just figured I shook before the doxycyline why shouldn't I shake during it? I should be exhausted - I'm sick. He doesn't like taking care of me. He likes it when I am running around with the kids full of energy. I can't blame him, I like that too. When he was first disabled every conversation I had with him I had to wake him up to have it. For two years. By the end of 2 years I was so sick of it. I was taking care of our kids by myself. I was doing all the house work. I was going Kayaking by myself. I was tired of being alone. Around the 2 year mark I went in to our bed room and said - "Get the (blank) up. You can sleep when your dead!" That landed us in marriage counseling but marked the beginning of him getting help and our marriage back on track.
My intolerance for any kind of sickness became the worst kind of arrogance. I tell people that I just became really ill in the last 6 months. But really I have been in terrible pain for 9 years. But I wouldn't admit it. I have always had a "I will deny it until I overcome it!" attitude. I never went to doctor unless I was just dying. I never took medicines unless I had to so that I could work harder and longer hours. I was always trying to take the mountain my self.
My dad has psoriatic arthritis and he has lived in pain for years but he has kept going. But really has he? Hummm or do I just choose to look at it that way. Truthfully, when he first came down with arthritis it landed him in bed for almost a year. Totally disabled. Duke Arthritis Center put him back on his feet wiht massive asprin therapy. (Just a note the Duke Arthritis Clinic used to be on cutting edge of medicine but now they are mediocre prescription writers.) Did my Dad ever really get back on his feet. No he got back to work. But growing up he was brooding, removed and forgetful. He was either in his brown recliner or in the bath tube or in bed. He wasn't anything like other Dads. He never had friends only colleagues and he is to this day- very irritable. Sure he is - he is in pain.
My mom is no help. Just last weekend I said I was too sick to do a family picnic and the pool with the kids. Well she wouldn't take no for an answer so I caved in. She said "well you can at least watch one kid right? I can watch the other one".
I should have been in home in bed but I showed up at the family picnic and the pool and put on my best "well act" for everyone. My mom never came to the pool to watch our other child and I ended up taking care of both. My husband found the whole thing disturbing.
She is a funny wonderful person accept when you are sick. She knows it too. When we where kids and we got sick she made my Dad take care of us. This is funny in a sad sort of way. Years ago my dad was complaining of chest pains. My mom wouldn't hear it and drug him through the "Parade of Homes" until he just finally fell over with a massive heart attack. Luckily he didn't die. But you literally have to die to get her to let up. Jesus says that we are to care for the sick, poor and imprisoned. That is the hardest group to care for. I just want to pass a negative moral judgement on them and turn my back. It natural. I mean lets face it the healthy, rich and free are low maintenance. That why it so easy to get sucked into caring for them. To believe that if your character is good and moral than you to will be like them.
So I learned my moms bad bedside manner and inflict it on myself. That's no ones fault but my own. My mom takes good care of her health. But I am finally getting treatment nearly 15 years after my first Lyme rash. Had I been more medically open minded I would have known what the Lyme rash was and sought help.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Chronic Lyme: Mad Man Sane Man
Doctor: Do you remember the tick that bit you?
Patient: Yes and we're still married to this day.
Oh go ahead laugh. If you don't laugh about it you'll just cry.
Here is Monty Pythons take on seeing the Neurologist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqyxXX3Ra4A&NR=1
Patient: Yes and we're still married to this day.
Oh go ahead laugh. If you don't laugh about it you'll just cry.
Here is Monty Pythons take on seeing the Neurologist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqyxXX3Ra4A&NR=1
Chronic Lyme - "It's On!"
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7
I was walking with a friend today who noticed I was moving slow and asked, "hows the Lyme thing going?" I replied that I was still walking and at work so that was good. Then they said, "Have you heard anything about this link between Lyme and Autism?". My friend knows I have 2 kids with Autism and assumed I was up on the latest.
"No." I replied slowly. She elborated on something that went sort of like this. Lyme may aggrivate Autism and stop childeren from out growing the debilitating illness. What came out of my mouth next suprised even me.
"That (blank) SOB . If he has hurt my kids with his (blank) Guidlines I will show that (blank) the (blank) hand of God and I am just the (blank) black belt to do it. I will tear that (blank) apart with my bear hands... sloooowwwwly." I made a ripping motion with my hands.
My friend just stared at me and I stared at my feet and made apologies.
But I realized that this is how my family feels about the whole thing. I am always taken back by their anger and indignation at the medical community in NC. In my mind it perculates like this. "Life happens: some people just have better health and live longer than others." This Lyme thing is just part of the ongoing process for maintaining good health.
I get frustrated at the high cost of out of pocket medical care just like everyone else. But I don't have a brain tumor to cure. When I was younger I worked as analyst for an insurance company. I guess I never really expect my insurance company to cover - EVERYTHING. But hey if one of my kids where sick I would want them to pony up. After all I pay $6000.00 out of my paycheck every year.
But I realized I also have a little voice in me that is angry in the other direction. If Lyme is just some greedy doctors having me on about a pretend illness...so help me. What if there just isnt a cure and they just don't have the guts to say, sorry there is no cure. I have suppressed this anger everytime I go to the doctor. But I had no idea how mad I was at the IDSA until it involved my kids.
I was walking with a friend today who noticed I was moving slow and asked, "hows the Lyme thing going?" I replied that I was still walking and at work so that was good. Then they said, "Have you heard anything about this link between Lyme and Autism?". My friend knows I have 2 kids with Autism and assumed I was up on the latest.
"No." I replied slowly. She elborated on something that went sort of like this. Lyme may aggrivate Autism and stop childeren from out growing the debilitating illness. What came out of my mouth next suprised even me.
"That (blank) SOB . If he has hurt my kids with his (blank) Guidlines I will show that (blank) the (blank) hand of God and I am just the (blank) black belt to do it. I will tear that (blank) apart with my bear hands... sloooowwwwly." I made a ripping motion with my hands.
My friend just stared at me and I stared at my feet and made apologies.
But I realized that this is how my family feels about the whole thing. I am always taken back by their anger and indignation at the medical community in NC. In my mind it perculates like this. "Life happens: some people just have better health and live longer than others." This Lyme thing is just part of the ongoing process for maintaining good health.
I get frustrated at the high cost of out of pocket medical care just like everyone else. But I don't have a brain tumor to cure. When I was younger I worked as analyst for an insurance company. I guess I never really expect my insurance company to cover - EVERYTHING. But hey if one of my kids where sick I would want them to pony up. After all I pay $6000.00 out of my paycheck every year.
But I realized I also have a little voice in me that is angry in the other direction. If Lyme is just some greedy doctors having me on about a pretend illness...so help me. What if there just isnt a cure and they just don't have the guts to say, sorry there is no cure. I have suppressed this anger everytime I go to the doctor. But I had no idea how mad I was at the IDSA until it involved my kids.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Chronic Lyme: Mad Man Sane Man
Wife: Honey, can you take a little time off to go to the beach?
Husband: Sure! I have a plan. I can tell my boss that I have Chronic Lyme and I need to go see several specialists who will mock me for my assertion that I have Chronic Lyme. I will trick them into giving a long list of bizarre diagnosis until insurance will refuses to pay for anymore specialist. For this whole scheme to work I will need to get several painful high level tests such as Nerve Conduction Studies and Spinal Taps that the insurance company will of course refuse to pay for. At a minimum I can scrape together diagnosis for Arthritis, Migraines, IBS, Male Menopause, Chemical Sensitivity, Environmental Allergies, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Bi-Polar Disorder, Autism, Lupus and MS. We will file bankruptcy due to medical debt. Eventually I can go out on disability and THEN we can go to the beach.
Wife: Great - I was thinking about a couple of days in July.
Husband: Sure! I have a plan. I can tell my boss that I have Chronic Lyme and I need to go see several specialists who will mock me for my assertion that I have Chronic Lyme. I will trick them into giving a long list of bizarre diagnosis until insurance will refuses to pay for anymore specialist. For this whole scheme to work I will need to get several painful high level tests such as Nerve Conduction Studies and Spinal Taps that the insurance company will of course refuse to pay for. At a minimum I can scrape together diagnosis for Arthritis, Migraines, IBS, Male Menopause, Chemical Sensitivity, Environmental Allergies, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Bi-Polar Disorder, Autism, Lupus and MS. We will file bankruptcy due to medical debt. Eventually I can go out on disability and THEN we can go to the beach.
Wife: Great - I was thinking about a couple of days in July.
Chronic Lyme: Mad Man Sane Man
Infectious Disease Doctor: This Chronic Lyme thing is all in your head
Lyme Patient: As long as we are on this subject can the bill for this appointment be all in my head too.
Lyme Patient: As long as we are on this subject can the bill for this appointment be all in my head too.
Chronic Lyme: Liars Figure but Figures Don't Lie.
"Liars figure but figures don't lie". The mantra of every good researcher.
Personally, every single day something is dangled in my face to misreport findings for someone elses financial gain. Sometimes it is a subtle bribe other times it is a not so subtle threat. I always default to the truth. Sometimes the truth has caused large scale layoffs and other times it has cost my job. Terrible hardship has been visited upon my family when I was unemployed. But we weathered it together because we all agreed being truthful is more important than a job. I never experienced incredible financial gains from being honest. I have watched as other unscrupulous researchers lie and reap huge financial rewards. I have seen them showered in stock options for their dishonesty and then walked off to jail. Over the course of many years I have had to reverse a previously stated truth based on new evidence. Sometimes this gets ugly too. But I wipe the egg off my face and stick to the numbers and the truth. Always - sometimes many, many years down the road the situation always rectifies itself. I find this very satisfying.
It does not surprise me that scientist lie for profit. I have seen it with my own eyes. What surprises me is an institution like the IDSA had no protocols in place to stop it - and seemingly no desire to.
What should and shouldn't suprise you in the IDSA guidelines for Lyme
Unsurprisingly - There where 4 panelist on the 2006 IDSA Lyme Guidelines panel who had a conflict of interest including the chair of the board. Why is this unsurprising? Because these 4 men where at the forefront of Lyme research in 2006. They had participated in producing the LymeRix vaccine. They where the logical selection for IDSA. But they still had stock in Glaxo and revenue share in products that they helped create. They where on the payroll of insurance companies who needed their help in structuring treatment guidelines. Why shouldn't they be - they where after all the thought leaders on Lyme.
But surprisingly these doctors had a little secret to feed. The LymeRix vaccine had hurt a significant number of the participants in the study. They didn't know that the ospa wasn't right and the test they where using to detect Chronic Lyme where insensitive. This happened do to poor scientific review. Everyone knew it including the lawyers of the LymeRix participants. How Glaxo settled the matter we will never really know. But they quietly retracted the vaccine from the market and closed up shop.
The doctors spearheading this disaster could be sued in civil court if they admitted that they new the LymeRix vaccine was being produce using improper scientific review.
Worlds away the unwitting IDSA decided to write guidelines for Lyme and pulled the LymeRix researchers on to their panel not knowing that they would use this opportunity to cover their trail.
Surprisingly in this researchers opinion the panelist pointed to their own research when writing the guidelines. I am a thought leader in my area of research too but I never point to my own research when tasked to write guidelines. That is just plain arrogant. But unsurprisingly they where arrogant men who turned their back on their Hippocratic oath and the patients they served in favor of legal CYA.
The IDSA realized that the researchers where writing a legal blueprint for insurance companies to follow when denying payment on claims for the treatment and even the existence of Chronic Lyme. Surprisingly the IDSA did not put a stop to this. In an attempt to salvage the situation IDSA added language that the guidelines where "voluntary".
This seemed odd and researchers like myself raised and eyebrow. How very strange...
"Well of course they are voluntary - they are only guidelines and we all know that if the science behind those guidelines doesn't match patient reality that we will just do new research and rewrite them of our own volition as responsible researchers do."
But we where soon left blinking in disbelief as insurance companies adopted the guideline wholesale.
In a brash and surprising move insurance companies went the extra mile to revoke the license of medical doctors who treated Lyme in any other way then what the IDSA guideline suggested.
Surprisingly the normally self auditing IDSA made no move to correct the situation. Finally the Attorney General of Connecticut forced the IDSA to review its Lyme testing and treatment guidelines.
Surprisingly the IDSA recruited more vaccine researchers for the new panel. The IDSA, normally a flexible and science based group has allowed the 2006 panel to tarnish and otherwise sterling reputation. The IDSA stands gagged and resolutely by while the medical community boo-s.
Why?
The IDSA is in a legal pinch as the guidelines they backed are used over and over in courts. If they admit they are wrong then they are liable in civil court. The 4 arrogant panelist of 2006 and the IDSA now share a common problem. Unnatural and unhappy bed fellows hiding under the skirts of their lawyers.
But surprisingly these doctors had a little secret to feed. The LymeRix vaccine had hurt a significant number of the participants in the study. They didn't know that the ospa wasn't right and the test they where using to detect Chronic Lyme where insensitive. This happened do to poor scientific review. Everyone knew it including the lawyers of the LymeRix participants. How Glaxo settled the matter we will never really know. But they quietly retracted the vaccine from the market and closed up shop.
The doctors spearheading this disaster could be sued in civil court if they admitted that they new the LymeRix vaccine was being produce using improper scientific review.
Worlds away the unwitting IDSA decided to write guidelines for Lyme and pulled the LymeRix researchers on to their panel not knowing that they would use this opportunity to cover their trail.
Surprisingly in this researchers opinion the panelist pointed to their own research when writing the guidelines. I am a thought leader in my area of research too but I never point to my own research when tasked to write guidelines. That is just plain arrogant. But unsurprisingly they where arrogant men who turned their back on their Hippocratic oath and the patients they served in favor of legal CYA.
The IDSA realized that the researchers where writing a legal blueprint for insurance companies to follow when denying payment on claims for the treatment and even the existence of Chronic Lyme. Surprisingly the IDSA did not put a stop to this. In an attempt to salvage the situation IDSA added language that the guidelines where "voluntary".
This seemed odd and researchers like myself raised and eyebrow. How very strange...
"Well of course they are voluntary - they are only guidelines and we all know that if the science behind those guidelines doesn't match patient reality that we will just do new research and rewrite them of our own volition as responsible researchers do."
But we where soon left blinking in disbelief as insurance companies adopted the guideline wholesale.
In a brash and surprising move insurance companies went the extra mile to revoke the license of medical doctors who treated Lyme in any other way then what the IDSA guideline suggested.
Surprisingly the normally self auditing IDSA made no move to correct the situation. Finally the Attorney General of Connecticut forced the IDSA to review its Lyme testing and treatment guidelines.
Surprisingly the IDSA recruited more vaccine researchers for the new panel. The IDSA, normally a flexible and science based group has allowed the 2006 panel to tarnish and otherwise sterling reputation. The IDSA stands gagged and resolutely by while the medical community boo-s.
Why?
The IDSA is in a legal pinch as the guidelines they backed are used over and over in courts. If they admit they are wrong then they are liable in civil court. The 4 arrogant panelist of 2006 and the IDSA now share a common problem. Unnatural and unhappy bed fellows hiding under the skirts of their lawyers.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sitting on the fence about getting your Chronic Lyme treated
Lyme Symptom Index = 2
Are you sitting on the fence with getting your Chronic Lyme treated? Yeah me too. I am currently on 3 months of oral Doxycycline and even though I have read numerous medical journals that report that this only suppressed the bacteria temporarily. I want ignore the doctors and the medical journals. I am just not ready to be hooked to an IV 24/7 for three months. I have already experience the Herx from just oral antibiotics. I am afraid of what they might be like on IV antibiotics. I have a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia and Chronic fatigue so I can mask the disease with Tramadol HCL. I have brain fog and tremors. But I am just like you. Afraid to stick my toe in the water.
I have heard from other people who have been treated successfully for Lyme and they are like - "What is the big deal? Get the IV for 3 months. Get well and go on with your life. "
They just don't realize that it is a really big deal for someone like myself. I am one of those people who never goes to the doctor unless they feel like they are just going to die. When I got my diagnosis of Fibromyalgia and Chronic fatigue. I thought to myself, "this isn't a real disease give me a break". Needless to say my point of view has changed over time.
I do Tae Kwon Do and Tia Chi. I eat seaweed when I feel sick. I go to a chiropractor when my back is out of alignment and get acupuncture when I have pain. I just don't take pharmaceuticals. I have a prejudice again Big Pharma. I feel like they are cold hearted money grubbers who just want to get you on a drug so that you are dependent on for the rest of your life.
But when I couldn't remember how to drive around my neighborhood I went to my doctor. He keeps saying - its Chronic Lyme. He can't treat me but a doctor in Virginia has scheduled a new Lyme patient appointment for me for me the first of July. Deep down I am already thinking of reasons to cancel the appointment.
In fact the most humane thing that has happened through this whole experience is my GP has said to me the he is afraid he will loose his practice to BCBS of NC if he treats my Lyme. He didn't try to say "its all in your head" or " sure just take 3 weeks of antibiotics". He said the hardest thing for any physician to say - I am afraid to do my job.
We think just because physicians takes their Hippocratic oath at graduation that they are willing to rush into battle against insurance companies. But they are human too. Its been 40 years since my GP took his Hippocratic oath. He has spent a life time building his practice. He has no intention of loosing it to BCBS of NC. So he just told me the truth - he is afraid.
I can't blame him. I don't want to battle with BCBS either I am going to Virginia for treatment and I am not using my insurance. BCBS just heaved a huge sigh of relief hearing this and its just as well as far as I am concerned.
I need some support here
I will keep you posted.
Are you sitting on the fence with getting your Chronic Lyme treated? Yeah me too. I am currently on 3 months of oral Doxycycline and even though I have read numerous medical journals that report that this only suppressed the bacteria temporarily. I want ignore the doctors and the medical journals. I am just not ready to be hooked to an IV 24/7 for three months. I have already experience the Herx from just oral antibiotics. I am afraid of what they might be like on IV antibiotics. I have a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia and Chronic fatigue so I can mask the disease with Tramadol HCL. I have brain fog and tremors. But I am just like you. Afraid to stick my toe in the water.
I have heard from other people who have been treated successfully for Lyme and they are like - "What is the big deal? Get the IV for 3 months. Get well and go on with your life. "
They just don't realize that it is a really big deal for someone like myself. I am one of those people who never goes to the doctor unless they feel like they are just going to die. When I got my diagnosis of Fibromyalgia and Chronic fatigue. I thought to myself, "this isn't a real disease give me a break". Needless to say my point of view has changed over time.
I do Tae Kwon Do and Tia Chi. I eat seaweed when I feel sick. I go to a chiropractor when my back is out of alignment and get acupuncture when I have pain. I just don't take pharmaceuticals. I have a prejudice again Big Pharma. I feel like they are cold hearted money grubbers who just want to get you on a drug so that you are dependent on for the rest of your life.
But when I couldn't remember how to drive around my neighborhood I went to my doctor. He keeps saying - its Chronic Lyme. He can't treat me but a doctor in Virginia has scheduled a new Lyme patient appointment for me for me the first of July. Deep down I am already thinking of reasons to cancel the appointment.
In fact the most humane thing that has happened through this whole experience is my GP has said to me the he is afraid he will loose his practice to BCBS of NC if he treats my Lyme. He didn't try to say "its all in your head" or " sure just take 3 weeks of antibiotics". He said the hardest thing for any physician to say - I am afraid to do my job.
We think just because physicians takes their Hippocratic oath at graduation that they are willing to rush into battle against insurance companies. But they are human too. Its been 40 years since my GP took his Hippocratic oath. He has spent a life time building his practice. He has no intention of loosing it to BCBS of NC. So he just told me the truth - he is afraid.
I can't blame him. I don't want to battle with BCBS either I am going to Virginia for treatment and I am not using my insurance. BCBS just heaved a huge sigh of relief hearing this and its just as well as far as I am concerned.
I need some support here
I will keep you posted.
Lyme Disease: Conspiracy to conceal Bio-Terrorism??
Lyme Disease is not a conspiracy to conceal Bio-Terrorism. I have all of the neurological problems that come from Lyme and even I still posses the reasoning skills to know that this assertion is just plain crazy. Lyme in Europe was clearly identified in 1920 among the families of sheep herders. They moved the America and brought Lyme with them. Once in America they didnt travel much and Lyme stayed regionalized until people started hoping on planes on a regular basis. Now it spread more easily. Now if you can make the arguement that the bio-terrorism plot orginated in the 1920s in Europe. - Well, I still think you're nuts.
Who said what about Chronic Lyme between the IDSA and ILADS
Wondering who said what about Lyme? Here is a good comparison. Note: In the Connecticut Attorney General Anti Trust Case the Attorney General noted that "In a step that the British Medical Journal deemed "unusual," the IDSA included in its Lyme guidelines a statement calling them "voluntary" with "the ultimate determination of their application to be made by the physician in light of each patients individual circumstances." In fact, United Healthcare, Health Net, Blue Cross of California, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and other insurers have used the guidelines as justification to deny reimbursement for long-term antibiotic treatment. " Keep in mind it is those dirty insurance bastards and handful of IDSA MD wielding scientist who can be paid to say anything that are running the show...for today.
There are two primary schools of thought on Lyme. The IDSA in generally thought of as the insurance patsies or the "bad guys". ILADS is generally thought of as the "good guys". Regardless of who you think is right do your own research and pick your Lyme doc carefully. It is terrible and surprising how long and influential the the tentacles of insurance companies can be.
I found the information below online and found it very helpful when speaking to my physician. If you are talking to a doctor who does not beleive in Chronic Lyme then your knowledge on the subject will only be annoying to them. Don't fight with them - Just go get a new doctor.
Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA)
International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS)
IDSA Overview:
Lyme disease is hard to catch and easy to cure
1. Lyme disease is rare and occurs in limited locations
2. It’s easy to diagnose
3. Testing is reliable
4. Treatment rarely fails
5. Chronic Lyme disease does not exist
ILADS Overview:
Lyme disease and co-infections result in a complex illness the requires clinical judgement to diagnose and treat.
1. Lyme disease and other tick-borne coinfections are spreading
2. Lack of research on coinfections makes diagnosis more difficult
3. Testing is unreliable
4. Borrelia burgdorferi is difficult to eradicate, and treatment failure is more common than we think
—Prolonged antibiotic therapy appears to be useful and appropriate in persistent Lyme disease
The IDSA’s “one-size fits all” approach to Lyme diagnosis and treatment will result in the misdiagnosis and denial of care of many thousands of patients a year, creating a public health burden, as many of these patients become chronically ill and disabled.
IDSA
The exercise of clinical judgement in the diagnosis of Lyme Disease if prohibited. Clinical findings alone are not sufficient for diagnosis of extra cutaneous [non-rash] manifestations of Lyme disease… Diagnostic testing… is required for confirmation.”
ILADS
Clinical judgement is essential since some test miss over half of the positive cases. Diagnosis should be based on clinical signs, symptoms, history, exposure risk, and course of illness. Where there are no “gold standard” lab tests (at least 95% sensitive), clinical discretion is essential. In the case of Lyme, the FDA-approved kits are only 36-70% sensitive.
With early treatment critical to a favorable outcome, why is the IDSA supporting an overly restrictive diagnostic protocol, which results in a high percentage of non-rash and sero negative patients becoming chronically ill?
Not withstanding the cosmetic IDSA legal disclaimer, the mandatory nature of these guidelines offers physicians no diagnostic discretion or treatment options in addressing the unique requirements of each patient. And as medical boards, insurance companies, and hospitals apply these draconian rules to patient care and insurance reimbursement, they assume the force of law. They force physicians to deny treatment to patients who might have an unresolved infection, because of fears of losing their medical license.
NIH: “Until better tests are available, the diagnosis of Lyme disease must be based on characteristic clinical findings in which the results of laboratory tests play a supportive role.
FDA: “A patient with active Lyme disease may have a negative test result.”
The sensitivity and specificity of the currently used tests for Lyme disease are not adequate to meet the two-tier test approach being recommended. Ideally, a screening test should have a high degree of sensitivity (95%).[6]
ELISA: Sensitivities of 3 commercial ELISAs ranged from 36.8% to 70.5%
WESTERN BLOT: The sensitivities of the IgM and IgG immunoblot for detecting patients who were sero positive into the study period were 58.5 and 54.6% Luger and Krause found up to a 56% false-negative rate. No false positives.
IDSA-recommended tests are antibody tests, and only 70% of the documented Lyme patients in these 2 studies had a significant antibody response.
The IDSA: The Lyme Bulls-Eye rash must be present
1. The great majority of persons with B. burgdorferi infection present with erythema migrans.
2. Extra cutaneous or non-rash manifestations are less commonly seen.
3. The more indolent forms of neurological Lyme disease are quite rare.
ILADS
Lyme is primarily a neurological disease not a skin disease.
Only 35-68% Lyme patients present with a bullseye rash. But up to 40% develop neurologic involvement of either the peripheral or central nervous system. The IDSA’s overemphasis on the rash and denial of many common neuro psychiatric and neuro degenerative symptoms will result in missed diagnoses and a future epidemic of late stage disease.
Many IDSA-cited studies are flawed because of a selection bias for those subjects presenting a rash. The exclusion of neuro lyme patients with no rash leads to an artificially high estimate of the incidence of EM rash among those infected with Lyme. What’s more, IDSA guidelines make no reference to the large body of Lyme-related psychiatric literature, and there were no psychiatrists on the guidelines panel.
IDSA:
Testing is reliable and mandatory. “Clinical findings alone are not sufficient for diagnosis of extra cutaneous [non-rash] manifestations of Lyme disease… Diagnostic testing… is required for confirmation.”
ILADS
Clinical judgement is essential as tests may miss over half of positive cases. Diagnosis should be based on clinical signs, symptoms, history, exposure risk, and course of illness. When laboratory tests are not a “gold standard” (at least 95% sensitive), clinical discretion is essential. In the case of Lyme disease, the FDA-approved kits are 36-70% sensitive. Diagnosis should be based on clinical signs, symptoms, history, exposure risk, and course of illness, with tests playing a supportive role. Since early treatment is essential for a favorable outcome, why is the IDSA supporting an overly restrictive diagnostic protocol that results in a high percentage of non-rash patients becoming chronically ill?
IDSA
recommended tests are antibody tests, and only 70% of the documented Lyme patients in these 2 studies had a significant antibody response. CDC surveillance criteria should be used for diagnosis. Serum samples should be tested using the 2-tier testing algorithm recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
ILADS
Using the CDC surveillance test missed 75% of all Lyme infections.
The CDC explicitly states that this definition is intended for surveillance purposes only, and is "not intended to be used in clinical diagnosis."
College of American Pathologists (CAP): ELISA assays for Lyme Disease do not have adequate sensitivity to be part of the two-tiered approach of the CDC/ASPHLD
Johns Hopkins 2-yr study (2005):
The CDC 2-tiered testing procedure misses 75% of positive Lyme cases
NY Dept. of Health Letter (1996): CDC’s 2-tiered testing procedure misses 81% of positive Lyme cases.
IDSA
14-28 days of antibiotic will cure Lyme
“There is no convincing biological evidence for the existence of symptomatic chronic B. burgdorferi infection among patients after receipt of recommended treatment regimens for Lyme disease.”
ILADS
This slow growing bacteria of evasive spirochete often requires longer antibiotic course.
Substantial treatment failures occur using standard protocols. Longer term treatment may be necessary. B. burgdorferi may persist in humans and animals for months or years despite a robust immune response and standard antibiotic treatment, particularly when treatment is delayed and dissemination widespread. Numerous studies have demonstrated persistence of infection despite antibiotic therapy.
If the IDSA treatment limits are automatically adopted by the insurance companies, as they have been in the past, thousands of chronically ill Lyme patients will be forced to pay for expensive, possibly life-saving treatments out of pocket, risking the loss of their life savings and their good health. Quality of care will be compromised because the most needy patients will be denied care based on these IDSA “one-size-fits-all” guidelines.
ILADS
Treatment for 14-21 days results in a 26-50% failure rate.
Persistence of B burgdorferi despite antibiotic treatment demonstrated by post-treatment isolation of the bacteria.
There are two primary schools of thought on Lyme. The IDSA in generally thought of as the insurance patsies or the "bad guys". ILADS is generally thought of as the "good guys". Regardless of who you think is right do your own research and pick your Lyme doc carefully. It is terrible and surprising how long and influential the the tentacles of insurance companies can be.
I found the information below online and found it very helpful when speaking to my physician. If you are talking to a doctor who does not beleive in Chronic Lyme then your knowledge on the subject will only be annoying to them. Don't fight with them - Just go get a new doctor.
Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA)
International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS)
IDSA Overview:
Lyme disease is hard to catch and easy to cure
1. Lyme disease is rare and occurs in limited locations
2. It’s easy to diagnose
3. Testing is reliable
4. Treatment rarely fails
5. Chronic Lyme disease does not exist
ILADS Overview:
Lyme disease and co-infections result in a complex illness the requires clinical judgement to diagnose and treat.
1. Lyme disease and other tick-borne coinfections are spreading
2. Lack of research on coinfections makes diagnosis more difficult
3. Testing is unreliable
4. Borrelia burgdorferi is difficult to eradicate, and treatment failure is more common than we think
—Prolonged antibiotic therapy appears to be useful and appropriate in persistent Lyme disease
The IDSA’s “one-size fits all” approach to Lyme diagnosis and treatment will result in the misdiagnosis and denial of care of many thousands of patients a year, creating a public health burden, as many of these patients become chronically ill and disabled.
IDSA
The exercise of clinical judgement in the diagnosis of Lyme Disease if prohibited. Clinical findings alone are not sufficient for diagnosis of extra cutaneous [non-rash] manifestations of Lyme disease… Diagnostic testing… is required for confirmation.”
ILADS
Clinical judgement is essential since some test miss over half of the positive cases. Diagnosis should be based on clinical signs, symptoms, history, exposure risk, and course of illness. Where there are no “gold standard” lab tests (at least 95% sensitive), clinical discretion is essential. In the case of Lyme, the FDA-approved kits are only 36-70% sensitive.
With early treatment critical to a favorable outcome, why is the IDSA supporting an overly restrictive diagnostic protocol, which results in a high percentage of non-rash and sero negative patients becoming chronically ill?
Not withstanding the cosmetic IDSA legal disclaimer, the mandatory nature of these guidelines offers physicians no diagnostic discretion or treatment options in addressing the unique requirements of each patient. And as medical boards, insurance companies, and hospitals apply these draconian rules to patient care and insurance reimbursement, they assume the force of law. They force physicians to deny treatment to patients who might have an unresolved infection, because of fears of losing their medical license.
NIH: “Until better tests are available, the diagnosis of Lyme disease must be based on characteristic clinical findings in which the results of laboratory tests play a supportive role.
FDA: “A patient with active Lyme disease may have a negative test result.”
The sensitivity and specificity of the currently used tests for Lyme disease are not adequate to meet the two-tier test approach being recommended. Ideally, a screening test should have a high degree of sensitivity (95%).[6]
ELISA: Sensitivities of 3 commercial ELISAs ranged from 36.8% to 70.5%
WESTERN BLOT: The sensitivities of the IgM and IgG immunoblot for detecting patients who were sero positive into the study period were 58.5 and 54.6% Luger and Krause found up to a 56% false-negative rate. No false positives.
IDSA-recommended tests are antibody tests, and only 70% of the documented Lyme patients in these 2 studies had a significant antibody response.
The IDSA: The Lyme Bulls-Eye rash must be present
1. The great majority of persons with B. burgdorferi infection present with erythema migrans.
2. Extra cutaneous or non-rash manifestations are less commonly seen.
3. The more indolent forms of neurological Lyme disease are quite rare.
ILADS
Lyme is primarily a neurological disease not a skin disease.
Only 35-68% Lyme patients present with a bullseye rash. But up to 40% develop neurologic involvement of either the peripheral or central nervous system. The IDSA’s overemphasis on the rash and denial of many common neuro psychiatric and neuro degenerative symptoms will result in missed diagnoses and a future epidemic of late stage disease.
Many IDSA-cited studies are flawed because of a selection bias for those subjects presenting a rash. The exclusion of neuro lyme patients with no rash leads to an artificially high estimate of the incidence of EM rash among those infected with Lyme. What’s more, IDSA guidelines make no reference to the large body of Lyme-related psychiatric literature, and there were no psychiatrists on the guidelines panel.
IDSA:
Testing is reliable and mandatory. “Clinical findings alone are not sufficient for diagnosis of extra cutaneous [non-rash] manifestations of Lyme disease… Diagnostic testing… is required for confirmation.”
ILADS
Clinical judgement is essential as tests may miss over half of positive cases. Diagnosis should be based on clinical signs, symptoms, history, exposure risk, and course of illness. When laboratory tests are not a “gold standard” (at least 95% sensitive), clinical discretion is essential. In the case of Lyme disease, the FDA-approved kits are 36-70% sensitive. Diagnosis should be based on clinical signs, symptoms, history, exposure risk, and course of illness, with tests playing a supportive role. Since early treatment is essential for a favorable outcome, why is the IDSA supporting an overly restrictive diagnostic protocol that results in a high percentage of non-rash patients becoming chronically ill?
IDSA
recommended tests are antibody tests, and only 70% of the documented Lyme patients in these 2 studies had a significant antibody response. CDC surveillance criteria should be used for diagnosis. Serum samples should be tested using the 2-tier testing algorithm recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”
ILADS
Using the CDC surveillance test missed 75% of all Lyme infections.
The CDC explicitly states that this definition is intended for surveillance purposes only, and is "not intended to be used in clinical diagnosis."
College of American Pathologists (CAP): ELISA assays for Lyme Disease do not have adequate sensitivity to be part of the two-tiered approach of the CDC/ASPHLD
Johns Hopkins 2-yr study (2005):
The CDC 2-tiered testing procedure misses 75% of positive Lyme cases
NY Dept. of Health Letter (1996): CDC’s 2-tiered testing procedure misses 81% of positive Lyme cases.
IDSA
14-28 days of antibiotic will cure Lyme
“There is no convincing biological evidence for the existence of symptomatic chronic B. burgdorferi infection among patients after receipt of recommended treatment regimens for Lyme disease.”
ILADS
This slow growing bacteria of evasive spirochete often requires longer antibiotic course.
Substantial treatment failures occur using standard protocols. Longer term treatment may be necessary. B. burgdorferi may persist in humans and animals for months or years despite a robust immune response and standard antibiotic treatment, particularly when treatment is delayed and dissemination widespread. Numerous studies have demonstrated persistence of infection despite antibiotic therapy.
If the IDSA treatment limits are automatically adopted by the insurance companies, as they have been in the past, thousands of chronically ill Lyme patients will be forced to pay for expensive, possibly life-saving treatments out of pocket, risking the loss of their life savings and their good health. Quality of care will be compromised because the most needy patients will be denied care based on these IDSA “one-size-fits-all” guidelines.
ILADS
Treatment for 14-21 days results in a 26-50% failure rate.
Persistence of B burgdorferi despite antibiotic treatment demonstrated by post-treatment isolation of the bacteria.
Getting Tested for Chronic Lyme
I am going into detail on this because the fact that there is no test for Chronic Lyme is my newest revelation. See my Dad is a gentisits and I grew up around the lab looking a the data from double blinds and what not and I firmly believe that there is a test that can prove anything and until you prove it - I don't beleive it. Chronic Lyme has challenged this notion. Infact it has brought me to my knees. If you want the whole paper you can email me or buy a copy of your own from the journal.
As far as I am concerned the JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY, Oct. 2005 has the last word on this.
"JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY, Oct. 2005, p. 5080–50840095-1137/05/$08.00 0 doi:10.1128/JCM.43.10.5080–5084.2005Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Two-Year Evaluation of Borrelia burgdorferi Culture and SupplementalTests for Definitive Diagnosis of Lyme Disease
Peggy Coulter,1 Clara Lema,1 Diane Flayhart,1 Amy S. Linhardt,1 John N. Aucott,2Paul G. Auwaerter,2 and J. Stephen Dumler1*
Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland1 and Divisions of General Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland2
Received 14 April 2005/Returned for modification 22 April 2005/Accepted 13 July 2005
Lyme disease is usually diagnosed and treated based on clinical manifestations. However, laboratory testing is useful for patients with confusing presentations and for validation of disease in clinical studies.
Although cultivation of Borrelia burgdorferi is definitive, prior investigations have shown that no single test is optimal forLyme disease diagnosis.
We applied high-volume blood culture, skin biopsy culture, PCR, and serodiagnosisto a cohort of patients with suspected Lyme disease acquired in Maryland and southern Pennsylvania.
The study was performed to confirm the relative utility of culture and to identify laboratory testing algorithms that will supplement clinical diagnosis.
Overall, 30 of 86 patients (35%) were culture positive, whereas an additional15 of 84 (18%) were seropositive only (51% total sero- and culture positive),
and PCR on skin biopsy identified 4 additional patients who were neither culture nor seropositive. Among 49 laboratory test-positive patients, the highest sensitivity (100%) for diagnosis was obtained when culture, skin PCR, and serologic tests were used, although serologic testing with skin PCR was almost as sensitive (92%).
Plasma PCR was infrequently positive and provided no additional diagnostic value. Although culture is definitive and has a relatively high sensitivity, the results required a mean of 3.5 weeks to recovery. The combination of acute-phase serology and skin PCR was 75% sensitive, offering a practical and relatively rapid alternative for confirming clinical impression.
The full battery of tests could be useful for patients with confusing clinical signs or for providing strong laboratory support for clinical studies of Lyme disease."
You should feel confident that no one has the whole story on Chronic Lyme. I can tell you who the Lyme idiots are that have been bought off by big insurance companies
Durland Fish IDSA 2006 Citation
Durland Fish 2006 Panelists ISDA
Durland Fish LYMErix
Robert B Nadelman IDSA 2006 Citation
Robert B Nadelman LYMErix
Allen C Steere 2006 Panelists ISDA
Allen C Steere IDSA 2006 Citation
Allen C Steere LYMErix
Sam R Telford IDSA 2006 Citation
Sam R Telford LYMErix
Gary P Wormser 2006 Panelists IDSA
Gary P Wormser IDSA 2006 Citation
Gary P Wormser LYMErix
...especially Gary Wormser - he is the king of the Lyme idiots.
As far as I am concerned the JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY, Oct. 2005 has the last word on this.
"JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY, Oct. 2005, p. 5080–50840095-1137/05/$08.00 0 doi:10.1128/JCM.43.10.5080–5084.2005Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Two-Year Evaluation of Borrelia burgdorferi Culture and SupplementalTests for Definitive Diagnosis of Lyme Disease
Peggy Coulter,1 Clara Lema,1 Diane Flayhart,1 Amy S. Linhardt,1 John N. Aucott,2Paul G. Auwaerter,2 and J. Stephen Dumler1*
Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland1 and Divisions of General Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland2
Received 14 April 2005/Returned for modification 22 April 2005/Accepted 13 July 2005
Lyme disease is usually diagnosed and treated based on clinical manifestations. However, laboratory testing is useful for patients with confusing presentations and for validation of disease in clinical studies.
Although cultivation of Borrelia burgdorferi is definitive, prior investigations have shown that no single test is optimal forLyme disease diagnosis.
We applied high-volume blood culture, skin biopsy culture, PCR, and serodiagnosisto a cohort of patients with suspected Lyme disease acquired in Maryland and southern Pennsylvania.
The study was performed to confirm the relative utility of culture and to identify laboratory testing algorithms that will supplement clinical diagnosis.
Overall, 30 of 86 patients (35%) were culture positive, whereas an additional15 of 84 (18%) were seropositive only (51% total sero- and culture positive),
and PCR on skin biopsy identified 4 additional patients who were neither culture nor seropositive. Among 49 laboratory test-positive patients, the highest sensitivity (100%) for diagnosis was obtained when culture, skin PCR, and serologic tests were used, although serologic testing with skin PCR was almost as sensitive (92%).
Plasma PCR was infrequently positive and provided no additional diagnostic value. Although culture is definitive and has a relatively high sensitivity, the results required a mean of 3.5 weeks to recovery. The combination of acute-phase serology and skin PCR was 75% sensitive, offering a practical and relatively rapid alternative for confirming clinical impression.
The full battery of tests could be useful for patients with confusing clinical signs or for providing strong laboratory support for clinical studies of Lyme disease."
You should feel confident that no one has the whole story on Chronic Lyme. I can tell you who the Lyme idiots are that have been bought off by big insurance companies
Durland Fish IDSA 2006 Citation
Durland Fish 2006 Panelists ISDA
Durland Fish LYMErix
Robert B Nadelman IDSA 2006 Citation
Robert B Nadelman LYMErix
Allen C Steere 2006 Panelists ISDA
Allen C Steere IDSA 2006 Citation
Allen C Steere LYMErix
Sam R Telford IDSA 2006 Citation
Sam R Telford LYMErix
Gary P Wormser 2006 Panelists IDSA
Gary P Wormser IDSA 2006 Citation
Gary P Wormser LYMErix
...especially Gary Wormser - he is the king of the Lyme idiots.
Lyme Doc in Cary NC - Cary North Carolina
If you need a Lyme literate doctor in NC to treat Chronic Lyme - contact ILADS. (For NC only) - Once they confirm with your GP that there is reason to believe you have Lyme then they will give you a name. But I will go ahead an level with you. Your probably going to have to drive to SC or Virgina to see the doctor and none of the Lyme Doctors accept BCBS of NC. See - there is an unofficial Lyme treatment gag rule in NC due to the fact that a doctor here had his licensed revoked for treating Lyme. He wasn't doing anything wrong - no patients where complaining. The party that complained to the Medical Board was BCBS of NC because they didn't like paying the bill. So you can thank them for the fact that you can't find treatment for Lyme in NC.
SKIP - Infectious Disease all together. They are total joke when it comes to Chronic Lyme. If you currently have the bulls-eye rash. They can help you - but then again so can your GP.
There are a few secret Lyme doctors in NC and you can get a referral to them from a Lyme doctor in SC.
I am seriously considering fly to New York for treatment. I live near RDU so it is only 80$ to fly to New York and get treated there. Why New York? It is not because there is some wonderful clinic there it is because they have been treating Chronic Lyme since the early 80s. This isn't new stuff to them there is no controversy around Chronic Lyme in NY. They know Chronic Lyme exists because they have been treating it for 30 years. But the minute you cross the border of NC then there is no treatment coverage by BCBS. So just get comfortable with the idea that BCBS of NC is not going to pay anything. If you insist on filing with them you may discover that your name is on the top of the list during your company's next round of layoffs. Similar to what people with HIV went through in NC in the early 90s. I know it is frustrating but try not to get caught up in the controversy just focus on getting well. Wait until your well to pick up your flag and march on Washington.
One other thing to skip - SKIP looking for a test to prove you have Chronic Lyme. Clinical diagnosis is the key. None of the tests work. Believing they worked was the mistake that Glaxo (NC base pharma company) makers of the LymeRix vaccine made. Many people who participate in the LymeRix trials have Chronic debilitating arthritis because of Glaxo's oversight. But Glaxo made the mistake so that you don't have to.
SKIP - Infectious Disease all together. They are total joke when it comes to Chronic Lyme. If you currently have the bulls-eye rash. They can help you - but then again so can your GP.
There are a few secret Lyme doctors in NC and you can get a referral to them from a Lyme doctor in SC.
I am seriously considering fly to New York for treatment. I live near RDU so it is only 80$ to fly to New York and get treated there. Why New York? It is not because there is some wonderful clinic there it is because they have been treating Chronic Lyme since the early 80s. This isn't new stuff to them there is no controversy around Chronic Lyme in NY. They know Chronic Lyme exists because they have been treating it for 30 years. But the minute you cross the border of NC then there is no treatment coverage by BCBS. So just get comfortable with the idea that BCBS of NC is not going to pay anything. If you insist on filing with them you may discover that your name is on the top of the list during your company's next round of layoffs. Similar to what people with HIV went through in NC in the early 90s. I know it is frustrating but try not to get caught up in the controversy just focus on getting well. Wait until your well to pick up your flag and march on Washington.
One other thing to skip - SKIP looking for a test to prove you have Chronic Lyme. Clinical diagnosis is the key. None of the tests work. Believing they worked was the mistake that Glaxo (NC base pharma company) makers of the LymeRix vaccine made. Many people who participate in the LymeRix trials have Chronic debilitating arthritis because of Glaxo's oversight. But Glaxo made the mistake so that you don't have to.
Chronic Lyme : Herx Day 5 (herxheimer reaction)
I had the Herx (herxheimer reaction) really bad up until Monday morning and then they started tapering off in severity - but still continue. I am still having trouble typing today. Shaking was the biggest issue. I looked like I had palsy or Parkinson's. I felt yucky like I was coming down with the flu, achy joints and so on. But if this is the worst of what Chronic Lyme Treatment has to offer I will be ok. It was frustrating because it was Memorial Day Weekend. But I did notice that trying to get plenty of sunlight and staying active helped considerably. I got 9 to 10 hours of sleep each night instead of 8. I made a short list of chores and set a goal to get them done by Monday night. I fell short on grocery shopping but everything else was accomplished. I have discovered the Grocery Shopping is my most difficult task before Herx (herxheimer reaction) set in. Just because the duration of Grocery shopping is about 2 hours and requires me to stay in motion. Lifting heavy stuff and all for a long time. But I have also noticed that I put off getting my hair done because it makes me miserable - it just takes too long. (again this is before Herx) When getting my hair done all I have to do is sit in a chair but it is too much. So it is the duration of an event that is so difficult. I am wiped out for the rest of the day when ever I get my hair done or grocery shop. Why is that a problem? Well I have two children that need me. Plus when I get too tired I seem to pick up every cold or bacterial infection that is going around. So the problem begins to compound upon its self. Of course this applies to anything and everything that takes a long time. I am going to spread out the responsibility for grocery shopping over several days and see if my husband can pick up some of it too. I recall when he first became disabled. The hardest part was having everything dumped on me at one time. I know he and I will do better over the long haul if I can portion out the work and do what I can where I can.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Herx (herxheimer reaction) and Lyme Day 1
Lyme symptom index = 6
So today is the first day the Herx (herxheimer reaction) have kicked in. I knew it this morning when I hobbled to my car and couldn't remember what to do with the car key. My meeting with my VP went well, it took everything I had. I had worked really hard for the last two weeks on a rate of increase project. I was so excited to show the results and so disappointed to discover I have had the Herxs this morning. I was so worried when I woke up this morning with the Herx (herxheimer reaction) that I would blow the meeting. But my boss liked the report. I am alone at my desk now and I can tell you I feel like hell. I need a Lyme doc. I wish I had considered that before...before what I don't know.
Herx (herxheimer reaction) for me consist of feeling like I have the onset of the flu, pain in ever possible joint in the body. It is misery. I read that the treatment for Herx (herxheimer reaction) is Tylenol. The doctors that come up with crap like this should be flogged. Yeah maybe Tylenol - "with Codeine" intravenously every hour would make a dent in the Herx (herxheimer reaction) .
So today is the first day the Herx (herxheimer reaction) have kicked in. I knew it this morning when I hobbled to my car and couldn't remember what to do with the car key. My meeting with my VP went well, it took everything I had. I had worked really hard for the last two weeks on a rate of increase project. I was so excited to show the results and so disappointed to discover I have had the Herxs this morning. I was so worried when I woke up this morning with the Herx (herxheimer reaction) that I would blow the meeting. But my boss liked the report. I am alone at my desk now and I can tell you I feel like hell. I need a Lyme doc. I wish I had considered that before...before what I don't know.
Herx (herxheimer reaction) for me consist of feeling like I have the onset of the flu, pain in ever possible joint in the body. It is misery. I read that the treatment for Herx (herxheimer reaction) is Tylenol. The doctors that come up with crap like this should be flogged. Yeah maybe Tylenol - "with Codeine" intravenously every hour would make a dent in the Herx (herxheimer reaction) .
Chornic Lyme: Crazy test and Crazy treatments
The thing I hate most about the Lyme Treatment blackout in NC is it leads people to do insane things on their own to test and treat Lyme. Here is the latest.
I just canceled my spinal tap. The neurologist was going to test my spinal fluid for Lyme. Here it is one week before the test and read in a recent UC Davis study that a spinal tap rarely picks up Lyme (12% of patients tested) and even when looking for the genetic signatures of Lyme (22%). The neurologist and my GP beleived it was a difinative test. Well I avoided that insanity.
But I was speaking to a Lyme victim who turned me on to the IDEXX SNAP 3DX or SNAP 4DX (C6 Peptide Antibody test). Yep that is the test the Vet used on your dog and it is not approve for human use. But the SNAP 4DX is showing far more promise in humans than the Western Blot Duo that is so popular. You can order the SNAP 4 DX from Canada. So this is the new underground method for testing for Lyme.
So how do they treat dogs with Lyme. Well, Vets have discovered that antibiotics alone do not kill Lyme it just pushes the Lyme into a dormant state where it hids sealed neatly behind a BioFilm. So they treat them with antimicrobial too. Yep, that is nice wording for 'Chemo'. Now you know why BCBS got so freaked out that they paid off the IDSA to write bogus guidelines for Lyme treatment.
But there are herbal antimicrobial treatments. But now you just stuck your toe into the whole wacko world of "herbal" otherwise known as totally untested and unvalidated in double blind trials. But what the heck. If I am willing to use the canine SNAP 4DX to test for Lyme why not use herbal antimicrobial. The longer I have this disease the more open I am to trying crazy things to cure it. In dogs they sometime use an oral version of Tolnaftate. Yep your are right that is the same thing that is in Tinactin used for athletes foot. DO NOT ingest that stuff!
The lates do it yourself - home treatment for Lyme is arsenic trioxide. Which was use to treat Syphilis for many years. This is totally crazy don't do this. It is based on study that treated relapsed APL with arsenic trioxide. Arsenic trioxide at a dose of 0.15 mg/kg over 1-2 hours for a total of 25 days featured and 87% success rate. Great???? Wait a minute! At median follow-up of 18 months, 27 (68%) of 40 patients were alive. ???? That doesn't sound good at all. Turns out there are alot of side effects to this treatment include permanent mental illness and going bald. DON'T do it. Living with the pain and insanity of Lyme is far better then DIY with arsenic. If your into arsenic just move to California and drink the water. That'll do it.
Some Lyme doctors will consider arsenic-based compound approved for human use: melarsoprol, which is used to treat trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness) involving the central nervous system. Still sounds a little sketchy to me.
I just canceled my spinal tap. The neurologist was going to test my spinal fluid for Lyme. Here it is one week before the test and read in a recent UC Davis study that a spinal tap rarely picks up Lyme (12% of patients tested) and even when looking for the genetic signatures of Lyme (22%). The neurologist and my GP beleived it was a difinative test. Well I avoided that insanity.
But I was speaking to a Lyme victim who turned me on to the IDEXX SNAP 3DX or SNAP 4DX (C6 Peptide Antibody test). Yep that is the test the Vet used on your dog and it is not approve for human use. But the SNAP 4DX is showing far more promise in humans than the Western Blot Duo that is so popular. You can order the SNAP 4 DX from Canada. So this is the new underground method for testing for Lyme.
So how do they treat dogs with Lyme. Well, Vets have discovered that antibiotics alone do not kill Lyme it just pushes the Lyme into a dormant state where it hids sealed neatly behind a BioFilm. So they treat them with antimicrobial too. Yep, that is nice wording for 'Chemo'. Now you know why BCBS got so freaked out that they paid off the IDSA to write bogus guidelines for Lyme treatment.
But there are herbal antimicrobial treatments. But now you just stuck your toe into the whole wacko world of "herbal" otherwise known as totally untested and unvalidated in double blind trials. But what the heck. If I am willing to use the canine SNAP 4DX to test for Lyme why not use herbal antimicrobial. The longer I have this disease the more open I am to trying crazy things to cure it. In dogs they sometime use an oral version of Tolnaftate. Yep your are right that is the same thing that is in Tinactin used for athletes foot. DO NOT ingest that stuff!
The lates do it yourself - home treatment for Lyme is arsenic trioxide. Which was use to treat Syphilis for many years. This is totally crazy don't do this. It is based on study that treated relapsed APL with arsenic trioxide. Arsenic trioxide at a dose of 0.15 mg/kg over 1-2 hours for a total of 25 days featured and 87% success rate. Great???? Wait a minute! At median follow-up of 18 months, 27 (68%) of 40 patients were alive. ???? That doesn't sound good at all. Turns out there are alot of side effects to this treatment include permanent mental illness and going bald. DON'T do it. Living with the pain and insanity of Lyme is far better then DIY with arsenic. If your into arsenic just move to California and drink the water. That'll do it.
Some Lyme doctors will consider arsenic-based compound approved for human use: melarsoprol, which is used to treat trypanosomiasis (African sleeping sickness) involving the central nervous system. Still sounds a little sketchy to me.
Reducing Ticks and Reducing Lyme
Lyme symptom index = 4
Ticks looking for a human host usually look for their blood meal in the fall. People who did not get the tell tale rash or the rash was hidden by hair will notice that something is wrong by the spring. So it is in the spring of the year when everyone starts to play out side and people start telling their neighbors they just found out they have Lyme. It is then that people get paranoid about Lyme. Is your paranoia founded. Yes. there is a significant number of ticks that went in a dormant stage of their life cycle in the fall because they could not find a blood host. They come out of their dormant phase in the spring. Spray your self and kids with pesticide is about the only advice one gets. But what if you wanted to stop the problem where it starts. Old fashined "seven dust" will help in the yard. But what is being done to control Lyme on a larger scale.
The '4-Poster' Deer Treatment Bait Station invented by Army entomologists seek to do just that. When Deer try to eat out of a corn feeder they are forced to rub up against a post that delivers a dose of pesticide to the deer. Not unlike the "Frontline" product you put on your dogs to kill ticks and flees. It doesn't hurt the deer but kills all the ticks. More ticks hop on the deer as deer walk through the woods and they too are killed by the pesticide in the deers blood.
I think a smaller version of this could be invented to be used on rats. Get the ticks at their first blood meal. The first blood meal stage would be ideal. However this may be unlikely as rats are the ideal food group for predatory birds. Many birds of prey nearly went extinct in the 1960s due to human pesticide use. This lead to the ban of DDT.
At some point we must address the fact that our exposure to Lyme is partly our responsibility. As humans expand into once wild areas either for recreation or in new housing developments we increase our exposure to Lyme. Ticks not only carry Lyme but a multitude of diseases. Many entomologist believe that the increase in tick populations and the disease they carry are largely due to the human impact on our climate.
Ticks looking for a human host usually look for their blood meal in the fall. People who did not get the tell tale rash or the rash was hidden by hair will notice that something is wrong by the spring. So it is in the spring of the year when everyone starts to play out side and people start telling their neighbors they just found out they have Lyme. It is then that people get paranoid about Lyme. Is your paranoia founded. Yes. there is a significant number of ticks that went in a dormant stage of their life cycle in the fall because they could not find a blood host. They come out of their dormant phase in the spring. Spray your self and kids with pesticide is about the only advice one gets. But what if you wanted to stop the problem where it starts. Old fashined "seven dust" will help in the yard. But what is being done to control Lyme on a larger scale.
The '4-Poster' Deer Treatment Bait Station invented by Army entomologists seek to do just that. When Deer try to eat out of a corn feeder they are forced to rub up against a post that delivers a dose of pesticide to the deer. Not unlike the "Frontline" product you put on your dogs to kill ticks and flees. It doesn't hurt the deer but kills all the ticks. More ticks hop on the deer as deer walk through the woods and they too are killed by the pesticide in the deers blood.
I think a smaller version of this could be invented to be used on rats. Get the ticks at their first blood meal. The first blood meal stage would be ideal. However this may be unlikely as rats are the ideal food group for predatory birds. Many birds of prey nearly went extinct in the 1960s due to human pesticide use. This lead to the ban of DDT.
At some point we must address the fact that our exposure to Lyme is partly our responsibility. As humans expand into once wild areas either for recreation or in new housing developments we increase our exposure to Lyme. Ticks not only carry Lyme but a multitude of diseases. Many entomologist believe that the increase in tick populations and the disease they carry are largely due to the human impact on our climate.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Deer Migration Paths - One way Lyme gets where it is going
Deer that are not under stress only migrate 16 to 20 miles.
However deer that are stressed by extreme cold or blizzard are known to travel over 100 to 300 miles for a steady meal. Those that are kicked out of their habitat by home construction will travel over 300 miles for a new home. You can see them following the natural gas pipelines. However some stay in these construction zones and learn to eat your lawn and shrubs.
When we study the migration paths of albino or fallow deer we begin to question the 16 to 20 miles standard. Albino deer may live a more stressed life then average deer because they stand out and are easily spotted by hunters. Hunters will not shoot an albino deer but they certainly scare them. This may explain why spotting's of the same albino or fallow deer have been more than 400 miles apart.
In many areas deer have become a pest. Hunting laws and seasons however have not changed to manage the problem the way beaver trapping laws have. This is because the problem is not hyper breeding but human beings encroaching on wildlife areas.
Now that you have read all about deer and Lyme let me burst you bubble a little. Deer Tick despite their name usually acquire Lyme from their first host - a small mammal (such as a rat) or reptitle or a bird.
However deer that are stressed by extreme cold or blizzard are known to travel over 100 to 300 miles for a steady meal. Those that are kicked out of their habitat by home construction will travel over 300 miles for a new home. You can see them following the natural gas pipelines. However some stay in these construction zones and learn to eat your lawn and shrubs.
When we study the migration paths of albino or fallow deer we begin to question the 16 to 20 miles standard. Albino deer may live a more stressed life then average deer because they stand out and are easily spotted by hunters. Hunters will not shoot an albino deer but they certainly scare them. This may explain why spotting's of the same albino or fallow deer have been more than 400 miles apart.
In many areas deer have become a pest. Hunting laws and seasons however have not changed to manage the problem the way beaver trapping laws have. This is because the problem is not hyper breeding but human beings encroaching on wildlife areas.
Now that you have read all about deer and Lyme let me burst you bubble a little. Deer Tick despite their name usually acquire Lyme from their first host - a small mammal (such as a rat) or reptitle or a bird.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Is Lyme Contagious or Communicable
Is Lyme Contagious or Communicable. No. I have been reassured over and over that it is a "dead end disease". Only the person bitten by the tick can get it. This make no sense to me and even the doc a Infectious Disease couldn't explain it to me. I don't know of any other blood born bacteria that is not infectious or communicable. But for some reason the researchers insist Lyme is not communicable. Which is probably why even though it is the fastest growing infectious disease it hasn't gotten the attention that say HIV has gotten. You have to be out of your regular element to get bitten by a tick carrying Lyme - IE outdoors. People actually spend only a small amount of time in outdoors each year. As for HIV for most modest middle class Americans activities that expose them to HIV are a bit "out of their element"too. But that hasn't stopped the spread HIV. But you have live in or visit certain areas of the country to catch Lyme. But then again they said that about San Francisco in 1986.
There is just one type of person that can catch Lyme through human to human blood born contact. One - very special, - important, small person. The in-utero baby. Sadly the only way we will know if Lyme is truly on the rise is seeing more of it in fetal autopsy. Previously, the United States international ranking in infant mortality was 12th in 1960 and 23d in 1990. It would be a crime if autopsies begin to reveal Lyme in children who died under the age of one.
I hope that the Infectious Disease doctor is right that it is a "dead end disease"- hard to contract but something tells me that he was wrong. Because we are really asking the question in the wrong direction. Lyme does spread that is obvious to everyone even the IDSA.
So how do the ticks get Lyme? There are some entomologist who suggest that they spread it when they breed. Others beleive that ticks acquire Lyme when they have their first blood meal. Passed from one tick to another or aqcuired is a big difference and scientist around the world are working together unravel this peice of the puzzle. Ticks are highly adaptable and it may turn out that the answer is both depending on the enviromental stresses of the ticks habitat.
Is Lyme communicable from a person to a tick? In other words can a Lyme infected person in New Jersey visit Georgia - get bitten by a tick in Georgia and spread Lyme to the tick population in Georgia. You bet! That's how everything from the family dog to mice to deer spread it.
Now if this is true we would see Lyme spread first in areas with international airports that are also popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts. Well what do you know. So you take a state like NC where the spread of Lyme is mostly in one of two areas: Wake County with RDU Airport and Umpstead Park. Then there is a very specific area of the coast where millions of people from all over the US visit every summer that is also tick heavy.
Wake County is also in a well document heavily travel deer migration path as well as a bird flyway. It is an area of heavy home construction where homes encroach on historically wooded areas. It is not uncommon to have a conversation with a neighbor complaining that the deer are eating their roses. Yes - as in the deer walk up the asphalt street and up the concrete driveway and eat the roses. They are so unafraid of humans that they don't even run away when you walk out the front door to scare them off. So they drop a tick or two in the yard and fluffy the family dog picks them up and off they go to live on you.
There is just one type of person that can catch Lyme through human to human blood born contact. One - very special, - important, small person. The in-utero baby. Sadly the only way we will know if Lyme is truly on the rise is seeing more of it in fetal autopsy. Previously, the United States international ranking in infant mortality was 12th in 1960 and 23d in 1990. It would be a crime if autopsies begin to reveal Lyme in children who died under the age of one.
I hope that the Infectious Disease doctor is right that it is a "dead end disease"- hard to contract but something tells me that he was wrong. Because we are really asking the question in the wrong direction. Lyme does spread that is obvious to everyone even the IDSA.
So how do the ticks get Lyme? There are some entomologist who suggest that they spread it when they breed. Others beleive that ticks acquire Lyme when they have their first blood meal. Passed from one tick to another or aqcuired is a big difference and scientist around the world are working together unravel this peice of the puzzle. Ticks are highly adaptable and it may turn out that the answer is both depending on the enviromental stresses of the ticks habitat.
Is Lyme communicable from a person to a tick? In other words can a Lyme infected person in New Jersey visit Georgia - get bitten by a tick in Georgia and spread Lyme to the tick population in Georgia. You bet! That's how everything from the family dog to mice to deer spread it.
Now if this is true we would see Lyme spread first in areas with international airports that are also popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts. Well what do you know. So you take a state like NC where the spread of Lyme is mostly in one of two areas: Wake County with RDU Airport and Umpstead Park. Then there is a very specific area of the coast where millions of people from all over the US visit every summer that is also tick heavy.
Wake County is also in a well document heavily travel deer migration path as well as a bird flyway. It is an area of heavy home construction where homes encroach on historically wooded areas. It is not uncommon to have a conversation with a neighbor complaining that the deer are eating their roses. Yes - as in the deer walk up the asphalt street and up the concrete driveway and eat the roses. They are so unafraid of humans that they don't even run away when you walk out the front door to scare them off. So they drop a tick or two in the yard and fluffy the family dog picks them up and off they go to live on you.
The problem with Chornic Lyme is.....
The sad truth about Lyme and a tough problem for the medical community...
1. ... severe muscle stiffness, fever, severe tiredness or weakness, fast heartbeat, difficult breathing, increased sweating, loss of bladder control...This is Lyme for sure! But the problem is that it is - neuroleptic malignant syndrome or NMS. You can discontinue the medication that is causing it and still have Lyme. The is no lab test of treatment for NMS.
2. widespread pain fatigue, brain fog poor memory and concentration, chronic headaches, stiffness and sleep disturbances... sounds like Chronic Lyme right? But this is Fibromyalgia. The is no lab test or cure for Fibromyalgia3. usually accompanied by a "flu-like illness" which is more likely to occur in winter, new onset (as in not lifelong) unexplained, persistent fatigue unrelated to exertion and not substantially relieved by rest. Causes a significant reduction in previous activity levels. Impaired memory or concentration. Post-exertional malaise, where physical or mental exertions bring on extreme, prolonged exhaustion and sickness. Unrefreshing restless sleep, Muscle pain (myalgia), Pain in multiple joints. Headaches of a new kind or greater severity. Sore throat, frequent or recurring, Tender lymph nodes. Lyme for sure right? Nope Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS). There is no lab test or cure for CFIDS.
4. Tingling, Numbness, Loss of balance, weakness in one or more limbs, Blurred or double vision, Fatigue, increased muscle weakness, mental fatigue, sleepiness, or drowsiness, Heat sensitivity, Muscle spasms, Dizziness,Impaired thinking, decreased memory. Approximately 10% of people with the disease have severe impairment that significantly impairs their ability to carry out tasks of daily living...Now this is definitely Lyme right - Nope -Multiple Sclerosis.
This is where Chronic Lyme gets dangerous. Failing to diagnose MS is horrible thing so is failing to diagnose Lupus, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's or a myrid of other things like Motor Neuron Disease (ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis -Lou Gherig's disease), Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome (MCS) and numerous other psychiatric disorders. This is also where ruling out everything else but Lyme get expensive. Very very expensive. People with MS many times find themselves suddenly without insurance just like Lyme right. There are test and treatments for this group of diseases. But none of tests are really conclusive much like Lyme and none of treatments are a cure. Just like Lyme.
I have my spinal tap on the 27th - wish me luck. I am afraid.
So far so Good - Lyme Treatment Day 5
Lyme symptoms index =3
Remember that your body is loved by God. Hold your head up towards the heavens and stand as if your head is touching the clouds. Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and let your feet become heavy firmly planted into the ground as if they are roots of a tree reaching down into the earth.
I was doing my Tai Chi last night. I am really struggling to get a new martial art. But I am enjoying the struggle. It really helps with the chronic joint pain. More so than walking or other activities. I started the day unable to touch my toes and finished the day able to press my palms on the ground.
I have started gaining my body weight back from my yearly Lyme knock down where I waste away. Usually I loose up to 20 to 25 pounds. keeping body mass is an ongoing struggle.
I started thinking though about the treatment for Lyme. I noted that European doctors struggle to treat the American form of Lyme. What if this blood born bacteria in America really does hide behind a bio-film so effectively that Doxycycline can't touch it. What if the intravenous IV treatments only knock it back but the disease returns over the years. We have only been treating Lyme aggressively like we do HIV in the last 20 years. I know HIV is a virus and Lyme is a bacteria but what if the thing they share in common is the its inability to be cured? Could Lyme be just another degenerative illness like Alzheimer's? I have noticed from looking at the COD of Lyme deaths that most of the people live a normal life span. Albeit a painful one.
Could I accept living with my Lyme it if it was incurable. There is supposedly a vaccine and treatment in China for Lyme. A vaccine that only needs to be delivered once.
China has to pay for the health care of its people so it is heavily invested in vaccines. In the US we are heavily invested in making money off of sick people by giving them treatments that they must take daily to manage a disease rather than cure it. We trend toward diagnosing disease based on the symptoms rather than test. I started to realize the cure for Lyme, HIV or anything else is unlikely to come out of the US. We will probably become the experts in palliative care which is a wonderful contribution to humanity but not medicine.
This is when my mind opened up and I realized I can travel to get well if I need to. The fear or foreign health care systems is self propaganda.
But am I really sick? Do I really have Lyme? Despite my doctors reassurance that I probably do have Lyme in the back of my mind there is a voice that says - Lyme isn't real.
That is why dismissive doctors are so dangerous. They keep people like me with one foot in the door of treatment and one foot in denial. It is like wondering if your pregnant and being trapped on an island with no pregnancy tests. If you are pregnant you need to start taking prenatal vitamins, make sure you don't take any drugs or drink alcohol. You need to start preparing for a major life change. But there is no test so just wait and wonder. Eventually it will become clear to you and everyone else.
Remember that your body is loved by God. Hold your head up towards the heavens and stand as if your head is touching the clouds. Stand with your feet about shoulder width apart and let your feet become heavy firmly planted into the ground as if they are roots of a tree reaching down into the earth.
I was doing my Tai Chi last night. I am really struggling to get a new martial art. But I am enjoying the struggle. It really helps with the chronic joint pain. More so than walking or other activities. I started the day unable to touch my toes and finished the day able to press my palms on the ground.
I have started gaining my body weight back from my yearly Lyme knock down where I waste away. Usually I loose up to 20 to 25 pounds. keeping body mass is an ongoing struggle.
I started thinking though about the treatment for Lyme. I noted that European doctors struggle to treat the American form of Lyme. What if this blood born bacteria in America really does hide behind a bio-film so effectively that Doxycycline can't touch it. What if the intravenous IV treatments only knock it back but the disease returns over the years. We have only been treating Lyme aggressively like we do HIV in the last 20 years. I know HIV is a virus and Lyme is a bacteria but what if the thing they share in common is the its inability to be cured? Could Lyme be just another degenerative illness like Alzheimer's? I have noticed from looking at the COD of Lyme deaths that most of the people live a normal life span. Albeit a painful one.
Could I accept living with my Lyme it if it was incurable. There is supposedly a vaccine and treatment in China for Lyme. A vaccine that only needs to be delivered once.
China has to pay for the health care of its people so it is heavily invested in vaccines. In the US we are heavily invested in making money off of sick people by giving them treatments that they must take daily to manage a disease rather than cure it. We trend toward diagnosing disease based on the symptoms rather than test. I started to realize the cure for Lyme, HIV or anything else is unlikely to come out of the US. We will probably become the experts in palliative care which is a wonderful contribution to humanity but not medicine.
This is when my mind opened up and I realized I can travel to get well if I need to. The fear or foreign health care systems is self propaganda.
But am I really sick? Do I really have Lyme? Despite my doctors reassurance that I probably do have Lyme in the back of my mind there is a voice that says - Lyme isn't real.
That is why dismissive doctors are so dangerous. They keep people like me with one foot in the door of treatment and one foot in denial. It is like wondering if your pregnant and being trapped on an island with no pregnancy tests. If you are pregnant you need to start taking prenatal vitamins, make sure you don't take any drugs or drink alcohol. You need to start preparing for a major life change. But there is no test so just wait and wonder. Eventually it will become clear to you and everyone else.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Lyme Treatment for 3 Months - Day1
Sorry I didn't blog for the last few days the Lyme Symptom index has been in the 5 - 6 range.
Because...I got bit by another deer tick. The bite produced the bulls eye rash and fever and aches. This go round I get 3 month of high does oral doxyciline. But it is time to see a specialist regardless of the cost. My doctor got in my face about a Lyme test. He said - there is NO Lyme test. None of them are accurate enough to diagnose Lyme. If the tests catch it - its rare. You must treat Lyme based on symptoms. In my head I am thinking "finally a doctor with some sense". But I said, there must be a test - how did Glaxo test the efficacy of LymeRix with no definitive test? His response - why do you think they took it off the market? I laughed to myself. But I felt suddenly free - I don't have to find a test. I just have to find a doctor who is willing to treat on the basis of symptoms.
He said I should prepare myself for Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction. He said to treat it with acetaminophen and take the day off if it gets bad. How bad does it get?
Because...I got bit by another deer tick. The bite produced the bulls eye rash and fever and aches. This go round I get 3 month of high does oral doxyciline. But it is time to see a specialist regardless of the cost. My doctor got in my face about a Lyme test. He said - there is NO Lyme test. None of them are accurate enough to diagnose Lyme. If the tests catch it - its rare. You must treat Lyme based on symptoms. In my head I am thinking "finally a doctor with some sense". But I said, there must be a test - how did Glaxo test the efficacy of LymeRix with no definitive test? His response - why do you think they took it off the market? I laughed to myself. But I felt suddenly free - I don't have to find a test. I just have to find a doctor who is willing to treat on the basis of symptoms.
He said I should prepare myself for Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction. He said to treat it with acetaminophen and take the day off if it gets bad. How bad does it get?
Thursday, May 7, 2009
I've made a choice about my Lyme treatment for now
Lyme Symptom index = 3
I know there is a test for Lyme and Glaxo has it because there is no way they tested the efficacy of their vaccine with out it.
I know there is a protocol for Chronic Lyme treatment that make sense because there is one for the cousin of Chronic Lyme - Chronic Syphilis. The treatment of Chronic Syphilis is not even close to the IDSA treatment recommendations for Chronic Lyme.
So, I made a choice for now not to treat my Lyme. My new western blot test came back negative and my symptoms are resembliing fibromyalgia enough that I can get treatment for that with ease. No it won't kill whats killing me but it will buy me sometime to think this through.
I found "Under Our Skin" totally disturbing. But the movie has matched my interactions with doctors here in Raleigh NC completely so I have to say it is a truthful representation of the medical community. In the movie - I found that The Lyme Doctors, The Researchers conducting tests, The IDSA and the Insurance Companies, all come off as completely #$%&* nuts. I don't want to be apart of any of it. I will wait until the freak show is over and I can see some solid tests and some responsible medicine showing up. Yes, I realize it may cost me dearly to wait. But that is my choice.
I know there is a test for Lyme and Glaxo has it because there is no way they tested the efficacy of their vaccine with out it.
I know there is a protocol for Chronic Lyme treatment that make sense because there is one for the cousin of Chronic Lyme - Chronic Syphilis. The treatment of Chronic Syphilis is not even close to the IDSA treatment recommendations for Chronic Lyme.
So, I made a choice for now not to treat my Lyme. My new western blot test came back negative and my symptoms are resembliing fibromyalgia enough that I can get treatment for that with ease. No it won't kill whats killing me but it will buy me sometime to think this through.
I found "Under Our Skin" totally disturbing. But the movie has matched my interactions with doctors here in Raleigh NC completely so I have to say it is a truthful representation of the medical community. In the movie - I found that The Lyme Doctors, The Researchers conducting tests, The IDSA and the Insurance Companies, all come off as completely #$%&* nuts. I don't want to be apart of any of it. I will wait until the freak show is over and I can see some solid tests and some responsible medicine showing up. Yes, I realize it may cost me dearly to wait. But that is my choice.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Tough night tonight with Lyme
Lyme Symptom Index=6
Tough night tonight. Lots of "Lyme pain" and diarrhea. The diarrhea makes me a really weak. My Lyme western blot follow up was negative. LabCorp doesn't read out the results so it is meaningless on a granular level. I can't see the protein reaction for bar 24 or 31. But on a macro level it means the spirochete are not active from the 21 days of antibiotics. Dormant behind their little bio film for now. Or maybe it worked an I am healed? Maybe I just have post Lyme disorder. I see a rumetologist tomorrow for pain, pain and more pain. I am unwilling to take pain medication and anti-inflammatories such as Celbrex or Ibuprofen. These drug make me very sick to the stomach. Just rips away my stomach lining in a few doses. So I am not sure what we can do. But its worth a doctors visit to me. I owe the neurologist $529.00 right now. I need to get that paid off before I do the spinal tap. Two people mentioned that they know doctors who treat Lyme and do it above board. I feel like I just need to slow things down a bit and get the bigger picture. I hear God saying "Wait I will provide for you." I need to ask my church to pray for me. I think the right treatment and the right doctor is just around the corner.
One thing I don't want to do is wait until I am so sick that I am desperate. Then I could be victimized by any quack in the box.
Tough night tonight. Lots of "Lyme pain" and diarrhea. The diarrhea makes me a really weak. My Lyme western blot follow up was negative. LabCorp doesn't read out the results so it is meaningless on a granular level. I can't see the protein reaction for bar 24 or 31. But on a macro level it means the spirochete are not active from the 21 days of antibiotics. Dormant behind their little bio film for now. Or maybe it worked an I am healed? Maybe I just have post Lyme disorder. I see a rumetologist tomorrow for pain, pain and more pain. I am unwilling to take pain medication and anti-inflammatories such as Celbrex or Ibuprofen. These drug make me very sick to the stomach. Just rips away my stomach lining in a few doses. So I am not sure what we can do. But its worth a doctors visit to me. I owe the neurologist $529.00 right now. I need to get that paid off before I do the spinal tap. Two people mentioned that they know doctors who treat Lyme and do it above board. I feel like I just need to slow things down a bit and get the bigger picture. I hear God saying "Wait I will provide for you." I need to ask my church to pray for me. I think the right treatment and the right doctor is just around the corner.
One thing I don't want to do is wait until I am so sick that I am desperate. Then I could be victimized by any quack in the box.
Imitate leaders of your community group - Vintage21
Lyme Symptom Index = 4
My thoughts on Vintage21 Service from Sunday: When you imitate leaders of your community group somethings happens. You die to your sense of entitlement and you get closer to contentment. Your life is about service to others. This was true of Christians whose community leader was Jesus. But what happens when you have bad leaders and you start imitating them both in and outside of the church.
The acid test - your sense of entitlement increases and you find yourself dissatisfied. It becomes all about you.
Anxiety sets in that people will know the ugly secrets of your past. Your anxious about the present because you thought it would be so much brighter. So we have no choice but to be anxious about our future.
You are some what programed that way. You will never be totally satisfied with yourself until you are like Jesus. It's just the way we are made so there is always some anxiety that comes from being convicted of our own sin. The disparity between being made in Gods image and being Gods image. But when we realize God did us a favor by convicting us of our sin and that we are in his care - with His help the anxiety ebbs.
We find Paul in the bible imprisoned and awaiting execution. But he writes that he is content.
So did you say today it can't get any worse than this?
My thoughts on Vintage21 Service from Sunday: When you imitate leaders of your community group somethings happens. You die to your sense of entitlement and you get closer to contentment. Your life is about service to others. This was true of Christians whose community leader was Jesus. But what happens when you have bad leaders and you start imitating them both in and outside of the church.
The acid test - your sense of entitlement increases and you find yourself dissatisfied. It becomes all about you.
Anxiety sets in that people will know the ugly secrets of your past. Your anxious about the present because you thought it would be so much brighter. So we have no choice but to be anxious about our future.
You are some what programed that way. You will never be totally satisfied with yourself until you are like Jesus. It's just the way we are made so there is always some anxiety that comes from being convicted of our own sin. The disparity between being made in Gods image and being Gods image. But when we realize God did us a favor by convicting us of our sin and that we are in his care - with His help the anxiety ebbs.
We find Paul in the bible imprisoned and awaiting execution. But he writes that he is content.
So did you say today it can't get any worse than this?
First Do No Harm - How about you?
We hold doctors to the "first do no harm" oath but what about us as patients. What is our oath? Especially those of us with Chronic Lyme. We have a disease that has cause black or white reactions in the medical community. Their fight has become our problem. So what do we agree to - what is our oath. So this is my patient oath to all medical practitioners who deal with my Chronic Lyme Disease.
1. I will treat you the physician the way I would like to be treated.
3. I will seek to understand my disease, testing and treatment to the full extent possible.
4. I insist that disease be treated before pain, understanding many medical treatments are painful.
5. I will be forthright and honest concerning my medical history, pain, symptom and needs.
6. I will be honest about my use of prescription drugs herbal therapies and use of over the counter or illegal drugs. Including alcohol, tobacco, sugar and caffeine.
7. I understand that insurance companies are not my attending physician and that we may need to exclude them from the testing and treatment process for the best outcome.
Now what do you do if a doctor
1. Makes fun of or invalidates your symptoms
2. Tells you it is all in your head
3. Tell you Lyme does not exisit in your area
4. Refuses to adminster a "real" protocol for therapy
Take the high road. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I was ready to kill Dr. Ingram at Infectious Disease here in Raleigh. He ridiculed me, made fun of me and invalidated all my symptoms. He was by all accounts an ass. But I was poliete and I walked out the door and shook it of saying to my self, "I will find some one who beleives me and will help me."
1. Makes fun of or or invalidates your symptoms:
Answer: Stop the appointment at that point. Tell them you are not making fun of them and you expect the same in return. Tell them this isnt funny to you. Leave if it continues.
2.Tells you it is all in your head:
Ask to see their credentials in psychiatry and the psychological test results they have for you that show this is all in your head.
3. Tell you Lyme does not exisit in your area. Gives you other statistical information about Lyme:
Be blunt here. Tell them if they want to treat patients then to be a doctor and treat you but if they want to be a biostatistician to go back to college and do so.
4. Refuses to adminster a real protocol for therapy:
Such as 2 to 3 weeks of antibiotics for Chronic Lyme which requires a treatment more in line with chronic syphillis. Just refuse the treatment and tell them it is inadequete. Wait to get a therapy that will work so that you do not risk antibiotic resistence. You have the right not to be apart of the Lyme version of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.
Tuskegee Syphilil Experiment Forward:
Beginning in 1932, the Public Health Service (PHS)conducted a project at the Tuskegee Institute thatwithheld treatment from a group of black men who had contracted syphilis. Ostensibly, its purpose was to further the understanding of the natural course of the disease. The study continued for 40 years until its exposure in 1972. The US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare convened an ad hoc panel on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.' The panel did not formulate questions, but investigated questions assigned to it by the government using documents indicated to be directly related to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, thereby excluding documents judged to be indirectly related to the study. On this basis, all reviews to date have examined narrow aspects of the administration of the study and concluded that the Tuskegee Experiment was a clinical study by well-intentioned but scientifically naive investigators whose decisions, against the historical background, were not overtly racist. 1 2 This portrays an effort to benefit the many by unraveling fundamental questions of disease process. This is a primary reason that the government puts forward to engage in human experimentation with its citizens.
1. I will treat you the physician the way I would like to be treated.
3. I will seek to understand my disease, testing and treatment to the full extent possible.
4. I insist that disease be treated before pain, understanding many medical treatments are painful.
5. I will be forthright and honest concerning my medical history, pain, symptom and needs.
6. I will be honest about my use of prescription drugs herbal therapies and use of over the counter or illegal drugs. Including alcohol, tobacco, sugar and caffeine.
7. I understand that insurance companies are not my attending physician and that we may need to exclude them from the testing and treatment process for the best outcome.
Now what do you do if a doctor
1. Makes fun of or invalidates your symptoms
2. Tells you it is all in your head
3. Tell you Lyme does not exisit in your area
4. Refuses to adminster a "real" protocol for therapy
Take the high road. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I was ready to kill Dr. Ingram at Infectious Disease here in Raleigh. He ridiculed me, made fun of me and invalidated all my symptoms. He was by all accounts an ass. But I was poliete and I walked out the door and shook it of saying to my self, "I will find some one who beleives me and will help me."
1. Makes fun of or or invalidates your symptoms:
Answer: Stop the appointment at that point. Tell them you are not making fun of them and you expect the same in return. Tell them this isnt funny to you. Leave if it continues.
2.Tells you it is all in your head:
Ask to see their credentials in psychiatry and the psychological test results they have for you that show this is all in your head.
3. Tell you Lyme does not exisit in your area. Gives you other statistical information about Lyme:
Be blunt here. Tell them if they want to treat patients then to be a doctor and treat you but if they want to be a biostatistician to go back to college and do so.
4. Refuses to adminster a real protocol for therapy:
Such as 2 to 3 weeks of antibiotics for Chronic Lyme which requires a treatment more in line with chronic syphillis. Just refuse the treatment and tell them it is inadequete. Wait to get a therapy that will work so that you do not risk antibiotic resistence. You have the right not to be apart of the Lyme version of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.
Tuskegee Syphilil Experiment Forward:
Beginning in 1932, the Public Health Service (PHS)conducted a project at the Tuskegee Institute thatwithheld treatment from a group of black men who had contracted syphilis. Ostensibly, its purpose was to further the understanding of the natural course of the disease. The study continued for 40 years until its exposure in 1972. The US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare convened an ad hoc panel on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.' The panel did not formulate questions, but investigated questions assigned to it by the government using documents indicated to be directly related to the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, thereby excluding documents judged to be indirectly related to the study. On this basis, all reviews to date have examined narrow aspects of the administration of the study and concluded that the Tuskegee Experiment was a clinical study by well-intentioned but scientifically naive investigators whose decisions, against the historical background, were not overtly racist. 1 2 This portrays an effort to benefit the many by unraveling fundamental questions of disease process. This is a primary reason that the government puts forward to engage in human experimentation with its citizens.
Friday, May 1, 2009
NC Lyme Disease Heat Map - There is No Lyme in NC
Lyme disease is not decreasing in NC it is just going underground.
2003 - 156 (Lyme cases reported to CDC)
2004 - 122 (Lyme cases reported to CDC)
2005 - 49 (Lyme cases reported to CDC) Physician stop reporting positive test due to the Dr. Joseph Jemsek -hearings begin to revoke license
2006 -31 (Lyme cases reported to CDC) IDSA comes out Treatment and Testing Guidlines - later the subject of an antitrust law suit from Attorney Genral of CT. Physician fear Insurance company induced Board hearings and stop reporting positive Lyme findings.
2007 - 53 (Lyme cases reported to CDC)
2008 - 244 (Lyme cases reported by a physician)
2009 - 366 (Lyme cases report by a physician)
This is the CDC MAP from 2006
Lyme Testing
Lyme Symptom Index = 3
So I am having my western blot repeated even though it falls on heels of my 21 day doxycycline treatment. Won't it be interesting to see if it come out positive for Lyme again even though I complete the preferred course of treatment. Would it be great if the came true.
We use LabCorp here in NC they do not read out the results. So I can't have a looky at lines 24 and 31. So incase you didnt know you can have a negative Lyme test but bars 24 and 31 can be positive with means you have Lyme.
So you can send your blood to Clongen. They will read out the results but the test cost $1032 - ouch! That is out of pocket to because BCBS doesn't cover Clongen or IGenex.
My doctor advised me to wait 6 month before having the western blot repeated. So that the Lyme would have time to repopulate and show up positive. He hates the option but we are dealing with a bacteria that likes to hide and insurance companies like to deny.
I am having a lumbar puncture on May 27th. I am trying to get them to send lab results to Clongen. But it is still on BCBS dime so I suspect I will have to pay out of pocket.
My GP had a nice heart to heart with me and said he can't help treat or test for Lyme for fear that his practice with get shut down by the insurance Nazi's. He was honest that he will turn me away for treatment which really bothers him. But he has to keep his practice open to help the 100s of other people the insurance companies will allow him to help. "The good of the many out weigh the needs of the few." It is the mantra of group insurance.
However he did provide me with a list of undercover Lyme docs. It's like getting an alley way abortion. They have regular practices but then they have a side "Lyme" practice out of their house. You pay them out of pocket. About 200 to 500 a visit. You pay for your prescriptions out of pocket from a specific pharmacy that agrees not to report it to your insurance. Yes it is your right not to report treatment or medication to you insurance provider. Sort of like anonymous HIV testing and treatment which people do for the same reason - avoid the insurance Nazi's.
I paid 6000.00 in insurance premiums last year and my company paid the other 6000.00. You would think the 12 grand a year would buy a girl a little help here.
So I am having my western blot repeated even though it falls on heels of my 21 day doxycycline treatment. Won't it be interesting to see if it come out positive for Lyme again even though I complete the preferred course of treatment. Would it be great if the came true.
We use LabCorp here in NC they do not read out the results. So I can't have a looky at lines 24 and 31. So incase you didnt know you can have a negative Lyme test but bars 24 and 31 can be positive with means you have Lyme.
So you can send your blood to Clongen. They will read out the results but the test cost $1032 - ouch! That is out of pocket to because BCBS doesn't cover Clongen or IGenex.
My doctor advised me to wait 6 month before having the western blot repeated. So that the Lyme would have time to repopulate and show up positive. He hates the option but we are dealing with a bacteria that likes to hide and insurance companies like to deny.
I am having a lumbar puncture on May 27th. I am trying to get them to send lab results to Clongen. But it is still on BCBS dime so I suspect I will have to pay out of pocket.
My GP had a nice heart to heart with me and said he can't help treat or test for Lyme for fear that his practice with get shut down by the insurance Nazi's. He was honest that he will turn me away for treatment which really bothers him. But he has to keep his practice open to help the 100s of other people the insurance companies will allow him to help. "The good of the many out weigh the needs of the few." It is the mantra of group insurance.
However he did provide me with a list of undercover Lyme docs. It's like getting an alley way abortion. They have regular practices but then they have a side "Lyme" practice out of their house. You pay them out of pocket. About 200 to 500 a visit. You pay for your prescriptions out of pocket from a specific pharmacy that agrees not to report it to your insurance. Yes it is your right not to report treatment or medication to you insurance provider. Sort of like anonymous HIV testing and treatment which people do for the same reason - avoid the insurance Nazi's.
I paid 6000.00 in insurance premiums last year and my company paid the other 6000.00. You would think the 12 grand a year would buy a girl a little help here.
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