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May Is Lyme Disease Awareness Month
Lyme disease is an epidemic. I’m surprised how many people I know who’ve experienced it. Late-stage Lyme is truly a tough one for the physicians to work with. Thanks, Karen [Franks], for sharing your story. I hope your work as an advocate will help many to
be better informed about this complicated disease. —Joanne Zglinicki, Wayne
I was diagnosed about 18 years ago with a bull’s-eye and a positive blood test. I was on antibiotics for a month and recovered. Just this month, I had a deer-tick bite, and my doctor put me on antibiotics right away. I’m thankful for his aggressive treatment. —Cindy Decker Gill, Aston
I was first diagnosed with Lyme in 1983. I’d been misdiagnosed for over a year already. The “standard” course of treatment was not enough to get rid of the Lyme. It took 30 years of illness before I made the connection, only after I began to hear about chronic Lyme in the media and pushed (I had to push!) to get retested. It was off-the-charts positive. Thank you for spreading the word. I hope to do the same when I’m better. —Kathy Savage, Portland, Maine
With over 300,000 new cases every year, they still downplay Lyme as easy to get and cure—like a walk-in-the-park disease. The biggest problem is the doctors aren’t looking for it as a diagnosis. Tests for Lyme are notoriously negative around the world, not just in America. —John Coughlin, Syracuse, N.Y.
The CDC is now owning up to the 300,000 new cases a year so they can peddle a worthless vaccine. Unless you can completely stop the tick from regurgitating all its pathogens, this is a complete waste of time and money. —Dolores Claesson, Land O’ Lakes, Fla.
There are so many people, including myself, suffering from this terrible disease without the money or resources to get the proper treatment. I’ve lost everything, but I will beat this and get back to being the RN I was someday! —Connie Pierce, Chauncey, Ohio
As good as we like to think our medical care is, there’s still so much we don’t know about infectious disease. Thank you, Melissa Jacobs, for putting this story out there. I look forward to the day that doctors aren’t limited by government or insurance companies to decide what care is needed for their patients. —Janet DiBello Chance, Saratoga, Calif.
