Topic: A great Lyme disease TV video report in Ohio
Ann-OH
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2020
posted
It took a long time to get this piece on the air as it was proposed last November and some of it was filmed in February, but it turned out really well!
Crystal was so sick when this was filmed, but she did an amazing job. So did Alicia Booth in up-dating and putting the story together.
Lyme Disease Strikes 3 Members Of Local Family Doctors Disagree On Whether Tick-Borne Disease Is Threat In Ohio
POSTED: 4:55 pm EDT May 8, 2007 UPDATED: 6:33 pm EDT May 8, 2007
CLEVELAND -- Doctors can't agree on how to treat Lyme disease, but anyone who goes outside can contract the disease that's starting to get more attention in Ohio.
Gov. Ted Strickland just agreed to make the month of May Lyme Disease Awareness Month in Ohio.
Lyme disease may not mean a lot to most people in northeast Ohio because it is not heard of much around here.
That's how an Ashland County woman felt until the disease almost ruined her life, reported NewsChannel5's Alicia Booth.
Crystal Stull suffered through two years of headaches, muscle aches, confusion, fatigue and vertigo before finally learning what she had: Lyme disease, transmitted by the bite of a tiny disease-ridden tick.
But that's not even half the story. Stull learned that her daughter and granddaughter had Lyme disease as well.
"And then you've got to wonder, if all three of us got bit, how many other people around here have been bit? How many other people are walking around with this that don't know they are?" Stull said.
Complicating matters, the disease itself is riddled with controversy.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn't acknowledge the existence of long-term Lyme disease, and NewsChannel5 had great difficulty finding a local doctor willing to talk about it.
Cleveland Clinic infectious disease specialist Dr. Steve Gordon agreed to talk about it, and admitted there's a lot still unknown about Lyme disease.
"That is a very difficult population I think to treat because it's still controversial as to whether more antibiotics is actually beneficial in that regard," said Gordon.
Stull can't find a doctor locally willing to treat her long-term with antibiotics. She travels to Pennsylvania for primary treatment and takes her granddaughter Raven to Connecticut for hers.
Stull's daughter, Courtney, isn't getting treatment at all.
Just paying for the medicine has been a financial nightmare for Stull. After five years of suffering, she knows she may never get better, but she is committed to spreading the word that Lyme disease is here.
"It's not that it's not as common in this state, it's just that people are not realizing that it's here," she said.
Many in the medical community still do not believe that tick-borne Lyme disease is a major threat in Ohio.
"I guess in a perfect world it would be great if everyone acknowledged it and could come to terms with the fact that it's really there and come to terms with the fact that it's really quite this tug of war and quit fighting over it," said Stull.
CDC acknowledges that Lyme disease is under-reported.
Some signs of early-stage Lyme disease include a bull's eye-type rash or other rash on your body at the site of a tick bite. You may also experience flu-like symptoms or muscle and joint pain.
If you experience these symptoms, ask your doctor for a Lyme disease blood test.
Melanie Reber
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 3707
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Thanks for the link to this video Ann. They really did a nice job with it.
So sad that the daughter Courtney is not being treated...I hope that can change soon.
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Ann-OH
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2020
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Thanks,Melanie.
I am glad you saw the video. I hope other people did and or that some read the print version. One posts things here with hopes one can help inform and educate, and to honor the brave person who agreed to an interview and was so articulate about Lyme. We all owe Crystal our thanks.
I am really sad about Crystal's daughter not being treated. Her daughter comes first. I know other people who put off treatment when a child had Lyme as well. It is really tragic.
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