Now we have THEIR reporters and editors working to help us.

See the new article in todays paper...

http://www.stardem.com/article.asp?article=2666&paper=1&cat=1

I replied to it with my lengthy comments.

Best wishes Thurs. How many of you will be speaking at this event?

As a former Maryland resident and person with Lyme disease, I am pleased to see that Maryland is being proactive in their attempts to support the treatment of Lyme-infected residents.

It is surprising to me that states allow insurance companies to deny antibiotic treatment in the absence of a positive Lyme test when the CDC itself states that Lyme is a clinical diagnosis (not test dependent).

This bill would right that wrong, bringing patients, physicians, and insurace companies in line with the treatment necessary to fight this prevalent and sometimes disabling disease.

By Mitzi Perdue
Sunday, March 6, 2005

See Daily Times Article

Respond to Daily Times Article

Cambridge Daily Banner (MD)
March 6, 2004

Hearings slated for this week

Sen. Colburn reported on several bills he has sponsored that are scheduled for hearings before the Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee this week in Annapolis.

"On Thursday, Senate Bill 596 (Licensed Physicians - Treatment of Lyme Disease - Discipline - Insurance Coverage) will be heard. This bill has two main provisions.

"It will protect physicians who use clinical symptoms in addition to or as well as the surveillance criteria as set forth by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to aid in the diagnosis of Lyme Disease. If professional misconduct charges are levied against a physician based on a complaint from an insurance company, pharmacy benefit manager, or health services plan, in relation to that physician's clinical diagnosis, or treatment of Lyme Disease, that physician will have access to the complaint and related information prior to the hearing.

By GREG MAKI
Staff Writer
March 7, 2005

Friday, 1 p.m.

* HB1323: ``Task Force to Study Lyme Disease'' -- Establishing a Task Force to Study Lyme Disease to study and make recommendations to the General Assembly on issues relating to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease. (Health and Government Operations)

THE STAR DEMOCRAT

Editorial, March 8, 2005
Speak up for bill to give better Lyme Disease care
March 8, 2005

There will be hearing in Annapolis on Thursday, March 10 at 1 p.m. on a bill of particular importance to Eastern Shore residents.

Pam Andrews, vice president of the Lyme Disease Association Eastern Shore of Maryland, is championing efforts to get the word out about the bill and about the threat of Lyme Disease on the Shore.

As a region, Maryland's Eastern Shore has one of the highest incidences of Lyme disease in the state, and Maryland is among the top 12 states in the country with the disease.

In 2002, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reported 95 percent of the year's 23,000 cases were in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic and north-central states.

Over the past two years, the Eastern Shore Lyme Disease Association has asked legislators to improve the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme Disease in the state.

Typically, Lyme Disease starts with a bite from a deer tick. Bacteria carried by the tick enter a person's bloodstream and establish in various body tissues. Untreated, the disease moves through three phases of symptoms. Late stage symptoms include arthritis in joints, numbness in limbs and neurological disorders such as dizziness, short-term memory loss and an inability to concentrate.

The disease can be treated and cured with antibiotics, but testing for diagnosis has been unreliable.

Andrews said ELISA, the first of a two-tiered system used to diagnose the disease, has an accuracy rate of about 50 percent. If the ELISA test comes back positive, a Western Blot test follows, with a much higher accuracy rate around 90 percent. Physicians and insurance companies must rely on these results.

Over the past two years, the Eastern Shore Association has asked legislators to improve provisions for the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme Disease in the state.

Senate Bill 596, sponsored by Senators Richard F. Colburn, Roy P. Dyson, Nancy Jacobs and J. Lowell Stolzfus, would make it easier for physicians to diagnose Lyme Disease through clinical means. This is the first of several bills addressing their concerns.

``Clinical diagnosis...hearkens back to the days before fancy tests,'' said Andrews. It's when a doctor evaluates a patient's symptoms to make a diagnosis.

Andrews said results from the ELISA and Western Blot tests should be factored in with a clinical diagnosis but should not be the sole determinant.

The bill would allow physicians to prescribe long-term antibiotic treatments for patients diagnosed with Lyme Disease through clinical means. Health insurance companies would have to provide coverage for the treatments.

Several other states in the region -- including Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hampshire and New York -- have passed or are debating similar legislation.

For people on the Shore attending the hearing, bus transportation will be available. The bus will make stops in Cambridge and Easton before heading to Annapolis. To reserve a seat, contact Jackie King of the Lyme Disease Association Eastern Shore, at 410-896-9965. If you are too ill to attend you may submit written testimony.

Speak up. Let our legislature know just how serious Lyme Disease is here on the Eastern Shore.

TO RESPOND:
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July 04, I was finally diagnosed with late-stage, chronic lyme after being misdiagnosed for 34 years! I'd seen 50 plus drs. to date to get this diagnosis.

I've been diagnosed with 30 illnesses & symptoms including:

late stage lyme disease, diabetes 2, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, fibromyalgia pain, chronic fatigue, migraines, TMJ, osteoporosis, multiple chemical sensitivities (allergic to most smells including cigarette smoke & on their clothing, perfume, after shave, hairsprays, office & cleaning supplies, etc.); acid reflux, hiatal hernia, and extreme super sensitivities to light/glare/reflections and sounds/noise plus more!

In Iowa, I discovered does NOT have 1 full-time lyme literate MD, LLMD, in our state! We do have some infectious drs. who are not lyme literate and do NOT treat patients with lyme full-time.

Iowa does have a handful of LLMDs who will treat only ONE lyme patient per week for a maximum of 20 lyme patients. We take a lot of time to see because we have so many things wrong with us, and on so many different types of meds for our countless illnesses.

Lyme disease mimics 300 OTHER illnesses, and that's why it's so hard to get the correct diagnosis! I was raging mad until I found this fact out.

See this site for the list of 300 other illnesses and NIH, Natl. Institute of Health's citations about them including these:

Parkinson's, ALS, mental ilnesses, MS, FMS, CFS, IBS, etc. and was posted on www.lymenet.org. Hope you each find some good info there. Saw it's from Art Dougherty, Calif. in 2001.
http://www.geocities.com/lymeart3/misdiag-links.html#disease

other 300 medical condtions mimicking lyme disease w/citations and author's name, Art Dougherty, Calif., 2001, is at bottom of site page!
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/misdiag-links.html

IMPORTANT: We need to have the WESTERN BLOT IGM & IGG blood labs sent to ONLY 2 USA diagnostic labs: IGENEX and MD LABS.================

They are the ONLY 2 labs who test for ALL 16 protein bands for ALL strains on lyme disease!

Elisa is NOT effective; my 2 were both negative.

My western blot IGM & IGG were also sent to the prestigious Mayo Cllinic in Minn, which came back NEGATIVE. They tested 1 for 2 bands only, and 2nd for 5 bands only...both NEGATIVE! From Mayo's results, I lost my previous faith in Mayo Clinic's reputation.

Lyme disease eventually causes us to lose, quit, or be asked to resign from our jobs since we no longer can perform to our previous potentials.

Then we file for Social Security Disability Insurance benefits based upon our lifetime of employment.

SSDI fights our "invisible" illnesses like: lyme, fibromyalgia pain, chronic fatigue, and the mental illnesses. I've been in this frustrating, endless red tape of sending me the same forms over & over now for 4.6 years!

Maryland NEEDS to pass Lyme DiseaseSB 596.

All states need to be approving long-term treatments for all of us late-stage lyme disease patients, insurance coverage, and NOT prosecuting the LLMDs who have chosen to try to get us back to "remission" since we can NOT BE CURED!

We can not thank these LLMDs enough for taking their medical oaths seriously, to treat ALL patients. Our LLMDs are a God send to us lymies. Thank you all.

Betty Gordon, Iowa