The Other Point of View

An article that was published in September 2011 called “Antiscience and ethical concerns associated with the advocacy of Lyme disease” was mentioned by Congressman Smith during the Lyme disease hearing on Capitol Hill which I attended last year and wrote about this past February and March in this blog. He stated that the article reflected the degree of hostility toward patients, treating physicians and the Lyme charities that were formed to support education and research on behalf of chronic Lyme disease patients. He also posed the question, "wouldn’t it be much better if instead of belittling, insulting, and smearing patients, treating physicians and advocates, the authors of that study had asked themselves and posed the question to others, what can we do to better understand and address the needs and concerns of patients, physicians and advocates.”?

Here is a quick refresher about Lyme Literate Doctor's (LLMD) from my November 7 post titled “I’m Going To Need A Bigger Pill Box”.

“A physician with the expertise to consider clinical symptoms in addition to blood tests may be preferable to one who relies solely on blood results. Many LLMDs will treat suspected chronic Lyme cases with antibiotics even in the absence of the early symptoms the CDC requires and will track a patient’s symptomatic response to antibiotics known to mitigate the disease. Long-term treatment with higher doses of antibiotics is the norm while getting treated for chronic Lyme by an LLMD. Due to the political controversy and legal challenges facing Lyme doctors, most of them prefer to keep a low profile, and for this reason can be difficult to find. Most accept new patients only by referral from one of the Lyme disease patient support associations or from other Lyme patients”.

Click here for the article. It is four and a half pages and quite an alarming read; especially for somebody who is about to start month 17 of treatment for chronic Lyme disease. The stark contrast between the testimony I summarized from the Lyme disease hearing and the information discussed in this article really highlights the polarizing views in the on-going chronic Lyme debate. 

More on this next time.