Re: test results Bridget

[Guest guest]

Bridget,

I understand your anger and frustration.When I first became chronically ill my

primary MD said it was psychosomatic! That was 5 years ago in NY state. I have

since moved to western Mass. where I was finally diagnosed last June. My new

primary MD, who is young and a good listener, at first questioned the test

results after calling an infectious disease specialist. But when I reported to

her my severe, incapacitating reaction (herx) to one month of Doxycyline

(ordered by different MD who finally diagnosed my illness) she agreed I had

Lyme. The next hurdle came when I went for my yearly physical in Dec. I

brought my DVD of Under Our Skin and a 20 page paper (from online) about

treating chronic Lyme & Co-infections by a well-known NYC neuro-psychiatrist.

She gave me a look of disapproval when I told her how many antibiotics I " d been

taking under the care of my LLMD. She said, " All the spirochetes have been

killed by now. " Well, she promised to look at the paper and the DVD. I also

gave her info & website of my LLMD, who is prominent in the field.

If our family doctor is not Lyme Literate, we have to find some skillful means

to educate them--without bruising their sense of authority. My initial reaction

to my primary MDs ignorance (not her fault) of chronic lyme, was a bit

defensive. I think our relationship is improving. She's a caring person. She

called me about a possible abnormality in some red blood cells from my routine

blood work and faxed the results of all lab to my LLMD. She ordered a repeat

CBC, in case it might indicate babesia. She read the paper and is planning to

watch the DVD when she has time.

My advice: don't lose your cool during appointments and see if you can find

good solid evidence--research from online or the book Cure Unknown by Pamela

Weintraub or the ILADS guidelines for treatment to prove that the CDC/IDSA

guidelines are being disputed by treating physicians & some researchers. S/he

might not be aware that the Attorney General of Connecticut is investigating

conflicts of interest not disclosed by the IDSA panelists who updated the

guidelines in '06. In fact, a new panel was formed--excluding any physicians

who had made more than $10,000 treating patients for chronic Lyme because they

may have been motivated to over-treat for financial gain! This is touched on

briefly in the film.

You don't want an adversarial relationship with your family doctor. But if

your doc isn't open-minded, it might be time to find one who is.

That's my two cents,

Kim

[ ] test results

So I was fuming last night, just thinking about my family doctor a couple weeks

ago saying I supposedly was diagnosed with lyme, but got a negative result from

the CDC, well I thought of a good one for people to say if their doc gives them

crap, I know people that have had negative pregnancy tests time after time when

they were indeed pregnant, so maybe tests aren't always accurate!!!!! Just

thought I'd throw that out there, kinda makes you think, just because it doesn't

show a positive test, doesn't mean there isn't something there.

Bridget