A Lymie's review of the movie LymeLife now on DVD and BluRay

Hi, I was diagnosed with Lyme disease in July this year. I live in Sharon, just south of Boston, MA. Come to find out that quite a few people in this town received the gift too. No bulls eyes, just extreme joint pain and several of us had rashes too. I am preparing an article for publication in the local rag and would appreciate any feed back on how doctors perform in diagnosing the disease.

Brian:

I am in Texas. All stories here say that the infected patients never had bulls-eye rash and most of them that i have talked to saw the tick. The doctors here as you can imagine have no clue. They immediately tell you no lyme disease in Texas. I also had babesia. Also told no babesia here. I was also told if you didnt see the tick and you didnt have a rash then you cannot possibly have lyme disease. This was told to me by emergency department at Baylor Grapevine.

It took 3 months, lots and lots of specialists to finally get the diagnosis. I had many doctors tell me your blood work is fine. You really need to see a therapists. This as I felt as if I was dying. By this point I had lost 14 pounds in about 7 weeks. It was a scary time. I am still on antibiotics (since Novemeber 08) and I have good days, but have equally not so good days. I did live in Shrewsbury, MA in 1996. I had my first child there. During this time I discovered a tick on my head. My sister-in-law pulled it off and we contacted local vet who asked why it looked like. The vet concluded that it was not a deer tick thus, not harmful. I will say my son is 13 years old and this is when he was just a couple of days old. I really didnt have any major health events during the 10 years following this with exception of bouts of pain in abdomen which I was told was irritable bowel syndrome. Anyway, I dont think the infection started then, but I am not sure. I became really sick in August 2008 after a visit to Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. Was that trip the culprit or was it in my own backyard (live on an acre - very wooded lot)? I really just dont know anymore. If you need anything let me know. Tess

Have you ever been to visit Cape Code or Marthers Vinyard seeing that you lived in Mass. They have had High Lyme Disease rate for over 4 decades.

Lyme Women wrote:

Have you ever been to visit Cape Code or Marthers Vinyard seeing that you lived in Mass. They have had High Lyme Disease rate for over 4 decades.

Yes, I understand that and thanks for reminding me. I am not making a case for my town specifically but I think the increase in cases here is indicative of a rising trend in this disease in Massachusetts. The big issue is do family practitoners have the knowledge to recognize Lyme disease in all its disguises? From what I am hearing from victims I talk is no and/or maybe. We need a major discussion on this topic similar to the current one on swine flu.

Dottie wrote:

Brian:
I am in Texas. All stories here say that the infected patients never had bulls-eye rash and most of them that i have talked to saw the tick. The doctors here as you can imagine have no clue. They immediately tell you no lyme disease in Texas. I also had babesia. Also told no babesia here. I was also told if you didnt see the tick and you didnt have a rash then you cannot possibly have lyme disease. This was told to me by emergency department at Baylor Grapevine.
It took 3 months, lots and lots of specialists to finally get the diagnosis. I had many doctors tell me your blood work is fine. You really need to see a therapists. This as I felt as if I was dying. By this point I had lost 14 pounds in about 7 weeks. It was a scary time. I am still on antibiotics (since Novemeber 08) and I have good days, but have equally not so good days. I did live in Shrewsbury, MA in 1996. I had my first child there. During this time I discovered a tick on my head. My sister-in-law pulled it off and we contacted local vet who asked why it looked like. The vet concluded that it was not a deer tick thus, not harmful. I will say my son is 13 years old and this is when he was just a couple of days old. I really didnt have any major health events during the 10 years following this with exception of bouts of pain in abdomen which I was told was irritable bowel syndrome. Anyway, I dont think the infection started then, but I am not sure. I became really sick in August 2008 after a visit to Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. Was that trip the culprit or was it in my own backyard (live on an acre - very wooded lot)? I really just dont know anymore. If you need anything let me know. Tess

Hi Tess, Thanks for your feedback. Next time you you talk to a doctor who says there is no Lyme disease in Texas, tell him or her that a little bird told you there was. That bird probably carried the tick all the way down to Texas from New England or, perhaps in your case, Maryland. I mean why do we get Asian flu here when most people who get it do even travel outside of the US?? I think doctors sometimes need to get out more.