The entire article is amazingly ridiculous, but here are some excerpts: "After visiting multiple doctors, physicians told his parents that there is a good chance Scott contracted the tick-borne disease Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Blood work will determine his final diagnosis."
"Treatment at a clinic in Newport News helped Scott feel better, but he will be on medication for the next few days."
"'If a bite is spotted, it does not mean you have contracted a tick-borne illness,' he said. 'When you start seeing a red rash spreading around a tick bite, you need to be seen.'"
Seriously, did these doctors ever graduate from high school?
I wonder how many doctors in the US are like this...
Posted by levity101 (Member # 1528) on :
Sadly, many appear to be that ignorant... have you seen this satirical take on the subject?
I wonder how many doctors in the US are like this...
Unfortunately, about 99% of them!
Posted by Tincup (Member # 5829) on :
Good catch James! I was just coming here to report this same thing!
BAD STUFF!
People need to write to the reporter about it. Nicely!
By Cara R. Anthony, cranthony@dailypress|247-7429
Can that be an email address? Copied from website?
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
In answer to your question:
YES!! Posted by kd888 (Member # 29652) on :
Just saw my new PCP (didn't like my other one) for something unrelated to Lyme. Of course this new doc wanted a history so I told him I have Lyme + co. and am currently being treated.
He asked how I was diagnosed.
I wanted to be brief and replied: "On my multitude of symptoms....my blood test was indeterminate...but after many months on ABX I am finally getting better."
Well....he about fell off his little stool, shook his head sadly and with frustration and replied: "You should never be treated for Lyme unless you have fully positive test results. You obviously don't have Lyme."
Need I say more.
Posted by Dogsandcats (Member # 28544) on :
I have learned, when the doc is obviously thinking he/she is brilliant, to ignore their ignorance.
My gyn, GP, etc look at my list antibiotics and shake their heads like I am gleefully trying to poison myself.
And -they alway provide me with their diagnosis of no Lyme.
Posted by scorpiogirl (Member # 31907) on :
Yes!! I lost 3 PCP already due to ignorant! Now that my LLMD is out of the country I have NO BACK up!! Desperate one time I went to the walk in clinic. Once the Dr. heard "Lyme" he patted my hand and started talking to me slower and slower as if all of a sudden I became crazy or dumb to him and can't understand him or something! Idiot!!
Posted by coffee71 (Member # 17467) on :
I guess I was lucky one. My PCP tested me for Lyme in 2002, and again she was the one to test me in 2008 when my Lyme test came back positive trough Qwest.
What I have learned in past 3 years during my Lyme treatment is that doctors I have seen can be categorized like this
Totally ignorant-have no clue about Lyme and do not want to hear or learn at all, some of them do not know their own s@#t
Moderately ignorant-have heard of Lyme disease and Lyme controversy, dismiss Lyme diagnosis because they like to treat one disease within their practice, but when tests do not support their diagnosis then they mention Lyme disease very quietly.Yes, my rheum just told me few days ago that my problems could be Chronic Lyme disease -after blood work did not support Lupus dx.
"Brave souls MDs" = and nurses- I run into them during my visits to ER - they know about Lyme disease,they show great understanding and compassion, they do not judge and they help as much as they can within main medical guidelines
And of course God sent LLMDs ....
Posted by Old Chico (Member # 32204) on :
Below my comments there is a statement by a Doctor friend that has been studying my case along with his doctor buddies.
I live in Montana. They say there is no Lyme in Montana.
Last fall my shoulders and hips became so painful I could not work.
So the MD put me on prednisone for the winter and it did relieve the pain. When he took me off of the prednisone the pain all came crashing back.
The MD never came up with a diagnosis. Just maybe Lupus or some kind of Myalgia or Auto Imune problem.
Any how I went to a Naturopath and she sent a blood test to Igenex for the Western Blot. She also put me on hydro cortisone orally and that relieved my pain somewhat as it had spread to my neck, wrists knees and feet. Also have lost 30 lbs.
The IGM 34kda IND 41kda IND 83-93kda IND
The IGG 31kda ++ 41kda +
She told me these results are conclusive in her opinion.
I have a friend in CA that is an MD. He has been looking at all my test results. He is not convinced that I have Lyme.
His main reason for this is that whenever I am off the steroids my pain comes back. He thinks this is inconsistent with Lyme.
He also wants me to go ahead with the treatment that my Naturopath has started me on. A-L complex Herbal drops and 3 different anti biotics.
From my Doc friend:
Hi B
Hope you are feeling ok. After some consternation I have decided to stick my neck out and recommend you see a full fledged Rheumatologist. I have not heard back from Dr. D and perhaps will not...but after several curbside consults from colleagues of various medical specialties, Internal medicine, Endocrinology, ID,and and ortho pedist as well as a few F.P. friends, asking them what they would recommend or think, the consensus is that you DO NOT have chronic Lyme. I am not saying to stop the antibiotic treatment you are on just yet, but I think the time will be well worth spent doing so in the meantime. The fact that without the Hydrocortisone you get immediate pain tells me it ain't Lyme. Make sure he is a board certified Rheumatologist, not someone who says he's a Rheumatologist. Sorry to be so adamant about it but I just think pussyfooting around is not going to give you peace of mind( as opposed to peace inside which I know you already have)
OK enough said
Bi
***edited name of LLMD***
[ 06-08-2011, 05:29 PM: Message edited by: Lymetoo ]
Posted by James1979 (Member # 31926) on :
quote:Originally posted by scorpiogirl: Yes!! I lost 3 PCP already due to ignorant! Now that my LLMD is out of the country I have NO BACK up!! Desperate one time I went to the walk in clinic. Once the Dr. heard "Lyme" he patted my hand and started talking to me slower and slower as if all of a sudden I became crazy or dumb to him and can't understand him or something! Idiot!!
Scorpio - I don't know how you were able to put up with that! Wow.
I wish that the truth would finally come out soon, and all of these people would realize how mistaken they were. But that's probably just wishful thinking. Even if these people were proven wrong, they would probably still think they were right.
Posted by MissMolly (Member # 32156) on :
If you want to hear an amazing screwup when it comes to ignorant doctors, I was diagnosed with Lyme at the Mayo Clinic. BUT the reason I was even AT the Mayo Clinic was because the doctors I had been seeing here had diagnosed me with leukemia, and I was supposed to be starting chemo. Talk about a lucky save for me and a pretty big friggin oopsies for my doctors. And they still won't admit it was Lyme.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by MissMolly: If you want to hear an amazing screwup when it comes to ignorant doctors, I was diagnosed with Lyme at the Mayo Clinic.
- That's a HUGE shocker!! "We don't do Lyme MAYO??"
Posted by MissMolly (Member # 32156) on :
Yep. In 1995. They saved my life.
Posted by Robin123 (Member # 9197) on :
MissMolly - we're curious to hear more about how Mayo dx'd you with Lyme!
Literally, not much training. I've been dealing with this issue at the dental school, and I AM their Lyme school at this point!
Posted by lyme in Putnam (Member # 11561) on :
Most sick is a month ago, a friend thats a mom came to me with the tick in a napkin in her hand shaking she took this from her 4 year old ear, engorged. Took here daughter to the Dr., bullseye there, he said wait to see if it gets bigger and we'll wait to do the tests. he wouldn't give antibiotic. Thank God her husband found a doc to give her amoxy, but they only gave 3 weeks. Hope it cuts it. Ignorance??????
Posted by Blackstone (Member # 9453) on :
This isn't always a case of ignorance, but rather just following the IDSA criteria. If the supposed "Authority" on mathematics taught you all the way through your education that 2+2=5, you would be misinformed, but not because of ignorance, willful or otherwiese - you're misinformed, not uninformed. This is what's happening here.
IDSA ID docs obviously follow the criteria of their order. Most of them don't know that the guys who came up with said criteria were corrupt and involved in bad science. Other MDs basically just have tangential knowledge of tick-borne illnesses and if the "book" says "needs a rash, cured with 2 weeks of therapy", that's what they believe.
Thus, we need to change the "book" so to speak, and lots of work is being done in that arena to discredit the IDSA standard. Its not willful ignorance or hubris on behalf of /most/ physicians, they simply have a poor education.
Posted by lymeboy (Member # 24769) on :
yea... most of them are tools....
Posted by scorpiogirl (Member # 31907) on :
Well I plan to go back and visit every single one of them when I'm well, especially the 5 Neurologists/Neuro-surgeons who told me I may only had months to live due to my Brain Lesions! One even said "I know you WANT it to be Lyme disease because that's easy, but even if you did have it, it doesn't mean you don't have brain tumors". Essentially they wanted to open up my brain to take tissue samples from the 3 lesions. They said no way Lyme can do that and since NONE of the tests they ran on me showed anything I think they were very annoyed w/ my case!
I don't know if it's ignorance, stupid or denial... but I'm sorry... if someone come in who was healthy and now sick and everything you "thought" they had came back negative, WHY wouldn't you test for Lyme? I was tested for HIV and Syphilis and TB, stuff that was not even a remote possibility yet they refused to test me for Lyme until I BEGGED them.
Secondly, those who did get a diagnosis and didn't respond with the 28 days of antibiotics why are their Doctors abandoning them? They truly can't SEE that the patients are still sick? I think the corruption is much deeper than what meets the eyes. Many of these Doctors that turned their backs on us are BRILLIANT individuals, so I find it hard to accept that A. they are not curious enough find out more about Lyme and B. they truly don't know how insidious Lyme is.
And if they truly have been brainwashed to just "follow" and not lead then God help us all!
Posted by momlyme (Member # 27775) on :
Amen to that!
God help us all!
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by MissMolly: Yep. In 1995. They saved my life.
- OH..they don't "do lyme" anymore, trust me.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
scorpio... brain lesions with Lyme are not uncommon.. I THOUGHT most doctors knew that .. but maybe I'm delusional.
Posted by Carol in PA (Member # 5338) on :
quote:Originally posted by Old Chico: His main reason for this is that whenever I am off the steroids my pain comes back. He thinks this is inconsistent with Lyme.
Lyme causes inflammation, which causes pain. Steroids reduce inflammation, reducing the pain.
Yes, when you stop the steroids, the pain comes back, because the inflammation comes back.
This reason for thinking it's not Lyme DOESN'T HOLD WATER.
Carol
p.s. You can take systemic enzymes and fish oil to reduce the inflammation.
Posted by Old Chico (Member # 32204) on :
Thanks for the tip Carol!
Posted by scorpiogirl (Member # 31907) on :
Lymetoo,
I went to see the "Michael Jordan" of brain surgery. I mean this man is the HEAD of Neurosurgery at a major hospital for goodness sake and he said no way Lyme could do that. In fact one of his partner, the Neurologist called me yesterday. They called every 3-4 months but I never answered before. Now that I have passed the 9 months mark of my death sentence I'm finally able to believe that I don't have brain tumors and this is indeed from Lyme! So you can say the scared the living life out of me!!
Posted by ardraneala (Member # 31416) on :
...everyone should be posting in the comments sections of these articles
Posted by ardraneala (Member # 31416) on :
its also funny cause i have the usmle study guide electronic lectures and the microbiologist expert says clearly to students that lyme is "kinda" hard to test for, with false negatives and positives and there are no standard treatment lengths given and that not everyone has nor sees the rash....
Posted by DoctorLuddite (Member # 13853) on :
Chico, if I was to apply the dictates of reason to your problem, I would look at what is certain: You have pain, it started in the Fall, and it is relieved fairly quickly with corticosteroid, a supply of which you should be able to get from your own adrenal glands, therefore, test the adrenals to see if they are able to respond appropriately to stimulation. If they cannot, you have adrenal failure. Since you posted that the joint pains started in the fall, that would coincide with declining serum vitamin D levels that occur in people in your region at that time of the year. If no one has tested you for this, they are missing a powerful treatment modality AND leaving you at risk of other symptoms of vitamin D deficiency.
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