Lyme disease hearings on-line
The controversy over tick-borne Lyme Disease -- whether a chronic form of the disease exists, and whether long-course antiobiotics should be prescribed for those suffering from what they believe are its lingering symptoms -- goes live on the Internet Thursday.
Starting at 8 am., the Infectious Diseases Society of America, which wrote the treatment guidelines for Lyme, will hold a day-long hearing that will be Webcast live through its web site. The hearing is being held in accordance with a settlement of an anti-trust case brought against IDSA by the Connecticut attorney general, who alleged that the treatment guidelines were not drafted fairly and that several members of the drafting panel had conflicts of interests they did not disclose.
Dr. Paul Auwaerter, head of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins and a member of IDSA, says the suit was politically motivated, that sound medical science has found no evidence of chronic Lyme and that long-term antiobiotic use can be harmful to patients.
Auwaerter, a recent guest on my Midday show, said he doesn't expect any new medical findings to come of the hearing, and he doesn't believe the hearings are even necessary. The IDSA, he said, reluctantly settled with the Connecticut AG, agreed to a new panel and the July 30 hearing to avoid a lengthy and costly legal battle.
There are many Americans who believe they have chronic health problems related to the Lyme Disease they got from a tick bit. They believe that so-called "Lyme-literate" doctors should be allowed to prescribe antibiotics to alleviate their suffering. A recent polemical film, Under Our Skin, suggested that Lyme Disease is responsible for all sorts of conditions that mainstream medicine has ignored and that the disease may even be sexually transmitted. Since commenting on that film, I've received dozens of e-mails and posted comments from people who claim to have the chronic Lyme disease that mainstream medicine says does not exist. You can read them in these earlier blog posts.
Comments
IDSA never answered Blumenthal's subpoena for their own self-incriminating data.
IDSA a far bigger crime than simply IDSA's treatment failure reports. They falsified the diagnostic standard, made false claims to the Government, killed people (ALS), and they're playing a shell game with the DNA/RNA primers.
Kathleen M. Dickson
http://www.actionlyme.org
Posted by: Kathleen M. Dickson | July 28, 2009 9:09 AM
I am living proof that chronic LD exists. I went misdiagnosed for 2 years, I was told I might have everthing from MS to Meneires Disease to fibromyalgia. Nothing could explain the dizziness, tinnitus, muscle pain, fatigue, and anxiety attacks (none of which I had before).
I worked in the woods for years and one day I came home and pulled 15+ deer tick nymphs off of me (I should have taken a shower that day). Several weeks later I started having all these new symptoms and every doctor I saw was of no help to me. Finally, after 3 years of searching for answers, I found a "lyme-literate" doctor who was willing to treat me and within a months of taking various courses of antibiotics, I started to feel like my self again.
Seven years have passed now since my symptoms first appeared and I still have problems with dizziness and other symptoms. I attribute most, if not all of this, to chronic LD.
I never had a "bulls eye" rash and my initial tests for LD were negative. Years later, I had a western blot test done specific for LD and it was off the charts positive. I am convinced that LD can be the root cause for many ailments people have and that long term antibiotics can help save a persons quality of life. I understand the risks of such treatment, but when the alternative is hopelessness and dispair from being told that something is "only in your head", well...I'm willing to take that risk. People need to be their own advocates on this subject and read about LD as much as they can. Hopefully more doctors out there will consider LD when an otherwise healthy person shows up in their office with strange new symptoms and they have a history of deer tick exposure. Many people think that LD is rare and easily treatable, I am one who strongly disagrees with this viewpoint.
Posted by: Steve Welzant | July 29, 2009 9:26 PM
The FDA together with members of the CDC and IDSA have spun lies and deciet about Lyme Disease for over 35 years now.
If you don't believe me, get the minutes from the meetings held in 1994 with the FDA and CDC!
Please go and see the patents many of the IDSA/CDC/FDA personnel own, and how they narrowed the disease definition of Lyme to profit
off the sick and dying.
http://www.lymecryme.com
View LymeCryme Overview PowerPoint presentation:
http://www.lymecryme.com/rich_text_18.html
EMPOWER yourself, EMPOWER others....
Posted by: Concerned Citizens | July 31, 2009 7:27 AM
"I've received dozens of e-mails and posted comments from people who claim to have the chronic Lyme disease that mainstream medicine says does not exist. You can read them in these earlier blog posts."
- You never posted mine - either blog comment or e-mail. What's the story, Dan?
Posted by: Dr. John Seidel | August 7, 2009 3:34 PM