Topic: House episode misleads millions of viewers about LD
lymebytes
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11830
posted
Here is another network to write ASAP.
Here was the scene in case you missed it: An intern commented that "the patient may have Lyme Disease and is probably why the patient responded to cortisone treatments!" House snapped, "Yeah but your wrong because there would be a huge rash in the middle of his face!" or something similar.
This is really serious...cortisone as we know mixed with any bacterial infection can be deadly, but can disseminate LD like a firestorm throughout the body as it did with me nearly killing me. Not to mention, the rash - we all know that in most cases is never seen.
Please send comments with a your subject line "eye catching" i.e., House episode could cost lives! etc....
posted
I threw the book at them, so to speak...Challenged them to get their facts straight on the greatest scourge to ever hit this planet...
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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posted
They were wrong when they talked about melanoma of the eye not long ago as well. My boss has gone through that.
Its for entertainment purposes only. Who would find what we go through even remotely entertaining.
HOUSE STILL RULES IN OUR HOUSE....Its our favorite show. My son watched it but I have it tapped to watch after work.
Posts: 347 | From WV | Registered: Jan 2007
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
My daughter and I BOTH caught that last night. In fact we rewound it just to be sure he actually said that. DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brilliant diagnostician NOT!!!
(But he still sure is HOT!)
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
There was an episode like that in Scrubs too. The guy had heart problems, and they finally figured it out by shaving his head, and there was a bulls-eye rash!
Of course, he almost certainly wouldn't still have the rash, if he were at the heart-problem stage. It reinforces the idea that the bulls-eye is ALWAYS there if the patient has Lyme, and that the bulls-eye is the only way to diagnose Lyme.
Hopefully people are less likely to believe Scrubs than House, but either way, people take in "information" from all sources, and inaccurate medical fictions that reinforce people's false beliefs are undoubtedly harmful. I'm not suggesting censorship, it's just frustrating to know that there is yet another avenue for the IDSA stuff to get reinforced in the public's minds.
Lorima
Posts: 74 | From MA | Registered: May 2007
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posted
They also said that if the patient had Lyme that the steroids he had been given would have "taken care of it"!!!
Posts: 78 | From Rhode Island | Registered: Jul 2006
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lymebytes
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11830
posted
It looks like the movie link is the only way to send "feedback" another way would be to join their forum and leave a message on the boards, here is the House link: http://www.fox.com/house/
ILLITERACY runs rampant and we are the only ones that can educate these people.
I nearly kicked the TV when the girl said, " .....Lyme Disease, is the reason he is responding to the cortisone!"
Yeah I responded, like a grenade exploded in me & believe me when I look back, I don't know how I survived, I honestly don't.
This makes House (the intelligent character) look like a complete idiot! But the writer's didn't do their homework...I emailed them the Ilads website to learn about LD and the link to my story so they can read a real "cortisone + LD" experience.
If we let these kind of illiterate comments slide....it will never change and people will never be educated.
posted
Some people do initially respond pretty well to steroids, but the problem is afterwards. My mother went from being unable to walk to walking with steroids, but then she got progressively worse. She's now bed bound.
-------------------- The best index to a person's character is how he treats people who can't do him any good, and how he treats people who can't fight back. -Abigail van Buren (Pauline Esther Friedman) (1918-2002) Posts: 409 | From Florida | Registered: Dec 2005
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AliG
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9734
posted
I liked that they were able to cure it with cosmetic surgery.
Did anyone notice that they didn't Tx it, but it was gone by the end of the show?
-------------------- Note: I'm NOT a medical professional. The information I share is from my own personal research and experience. Please do not construe anything I share as medical advice, which should only be obtained from a licensed medical practitioner. Posts: 4881 | From Middlesex County, NJ | Registered: Jul 2006
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lymebytes
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 11830
posted
Yes I have heard some can tolerate oral steroids for sometime, but ultimately in the long run are totally destructive.
I had cortisone shots right into the area I believe I was bitten..the pain was unreal before the shots and after the shots it disseminated a pain I didn't know existed body wide.
Burrascano - "More evidence has accumulated indicating the severe detrimental effects of immunosuppressants including steroids in the patient with active B. burgdorferi infection. Never give steroids to any patient who may even remotely be suffering from Lyme, or serious, permanent damage may result, especially if given for anything greater than a short course".
stymielymie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10044
posted
i saw the show. the whole diagnosis was out of place. first he would not have had heart damage from an initial bite. the lyme had to been their previously. second steroids will decrease the inflammation initially, but he had very few signs of lyme.
the bulleye rash was not bulleye. this meant he was bit within 1 week.
if thats what lyme does to you then i'm going to shoot myself now!!!!!!!!!!
docdave
Posts: 1820 | From Boone and Southport, NC | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
I still love house its entertaining. It is mainstream medicine, but I lost respect for Gregory House this week. The bullseye comment and the steriods remark. Atleast they didn't make any comments on how rare Lyme was. Also, why pick heart blockage, and vomiting blood? Those aren't your typical Lyme symptoms. The only symptom that fit was the twitching finger.
Posts: 649 | From United States | Registered: Dec 2003
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