posted
I've heard someone named Leslie died from Lyme. I have no idea who this person was but I was curious. I guess that leads me to a broader question: How do you know if someone died from Lyme or if it was another legitimate problem? Isn't mortality a VERY low worry? I know that it can impact your heart, but other than that, what else can it do?
Pardon my ignorance, I was just curious. I kind of always thought that people would say things about dying from Lyme almost to make it sound more serious than it was - to make their illness sound more serious. Not on this board, but others. I read somewhere that suicide was the main reason for death for people that had Lyme. That I can understand.
I mean, how do they rule out a heart attack caused by Lyme rather that one that was going to happen anyway? If it is so dangerous, then I would HOPE that doctors and insurance companies would take it more serious - if it were a legitimate concern...but am I wrong?
-------------------- ~*~Lyme POW~*~
I will escape. Posts: 100 | From n/a | Registered: Oct 2008
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Ocean
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Hope, Hi, I know what you mean. 'They' say dying from Lyme is rare. But, I've been reading that many people who die from Lyme don't even know that they had it until autopsy. Some people swear they have Lyme and doc says no, they request an autopsy and then it is found.
Hearing of Leslie's death has scared me a lot today. I've been sick for 12 years, never wheelchair bound though, but am afraid that I will succumb to this disease. I want to live. I'm tired of being like this.
I too wondered if it was her heart that killed her or a med or what. It's so sad though, as she really helped the lyme community!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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seekhelp
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posted
I know, it's so scary. I've taken time to read as many books on Lyme as possible and read one by someone called Alan Barbour. He made Lyme seem so innocent. The tone was SO SO different than The Lyme Disease Solution, Cure Unknown, etc. What a wide difference in interpretation.
quote:Originally posted by Ocean: Hope, Hi, I know what you mean. 'They' say dying from Lyme is rare. But, I've been reading that many people who die from Lyme don't even know that they had it until autopsy. Some people swear they have Lyme and doc says no, they request an autopsy and then it is found.
Hearing of Leslie's death has scared me a lot today. I've been sick for 12 years, never wheelchair bound though, but am afraid that I will succumb to this disease. I want to live. I'm tired of being like this.
I too wondered if it was her heart that killed her or a med or what. It's so sad though, as she really helped the lyme community!
Take care, Ocean
Posts: 7545 | From The 5th Dimension - The Twilight Zone | Registered: Mar 2008
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SForsgren
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posted
Suicide is the number one cause of death from Lyme disease. However, many people die of the disease due to the disease itself and not because they take their own life.
Leslie was a lover of life and though I do not know the exact details, I would be very surprised if she had taken her own life. She was a dear friend and I just saw her 2 weeks ago. She is in the movie Under Our Skin talking at a remembrance for others that had died of the disease.
Leslie was a hero and friend to the Lyme community. She was such a strong force.
I guess I wonder why it matters anyway. If a disease is so bad that someone did in fact take their own life, isn't the disease still bad? Does the possibility that someone took their life because they were in such tremendous pain somehow invalidate the fact that their disease process was a terrible one?
Take a look at lymememorial.org to learn more about people that have died of Lyme.
-------------------- Be well, Scott Posts: 4617 | From San Jose, CA | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by SForsgren: I guess I wonder why it matters anyway. If a disease is so bad that someone did in fact take their own life, isn't the disease still bad? Does the possibility that someone took their life because they were in such tremendous pain somehow invalidate the fact that their disease process was a terrible one?
Ummm, it doesn't matter! Not at all. I definitely am not making light of it whatsoever, however, I guess I am a skeptic and a cynic at heart. I always want to know details of everything, statistics, facts, etc.
I've sat in the bath during a terrible thunderstorm with a straight look on my face, almost daring lightning to hit my house - because then if something happened to me, I'd be out of pain and it would be "accidental". That was in one of my darkest moments, exhaustion from being in pain. Sick and tired of being SICK.
I definitely see why people would commit suicide. That's why that wasn't my question. I was asking besides heart issues, what else can it do?
Call me naive but I don't like flooding my mind too much with death thoughts and fear of this disease. I try to stay away from that way of thinking for the most part...after trying to find out what in the would was wrong with me earlier this year...it has turned me into quite a hypochondriac!
I always assumed heart involvement would not be good. I was just curious what else.
I feel incredibly sad for Leslie and her family. I feel like I have a knot in my stomach today and it makes me sad. I did not know who she was. Sorry, I do not know as much of all of you on here.
-------------------- ~*~Lyme POW~*~
I will escape. Posts: 100 | From n/a | Registered: Oct 2008
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oxygenbabe
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posted
If she took her own life, we need to know. It's like that support group leader who had been a musician, somewhere in Vermont or Maine, I don't remember, but everyone was shocked when he committed suicide because he did not tell others of his despair and had always been a source of inspiration to others with lyme.
If she took her life, then there needs to be better support for those with lyme so they don't despair alone.
If it's another cause I'd like to know as well. Like a drug overdose, (accidental) or something else.
It is very tragic and I do believe a few strains are bioweaponized and it seems evil that good people suffer and die.
Posts: 2276 | From united states | Registered: Jun 2004
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Ocean
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Scott, I'm glad that you had the chance to know Leslie, she seemed to be a vibrant person and did so much to help Lyme. I was assuming she died of cardiac issues, I read that she was very sick and had lesions on her brain, liver, spine, ect.
I have MUCH empathy for people who are suicidal. I was VERY suicidal the first 2 years I was sick. I even had a plan and was happy about it. God intervened and I'm still here and glad about that. Depression is a horrible horrible state to live with. It angers me when I hear people saying how 'stupid' suicide is, ect. Those people did not go through what the victim had in their life. Most people have not gone through what I had by the time I was 20 with this disease.
One of my parent's friends committed suicide this past spring. He'd been bipolar since he was in his 20's. He'd had many attempts, but always wound up in the hospital on life support. People couldn't understand it. But I could. I felt terrible for him and could only imagine what his pain was.
CaliforniaLyme
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posted
Leslie was not suicidal, I do not believe she took her life.
Main causes of death from Lyme disease are suicide, ALS presentation, cardiac complications or anoxic encephalopathy as well as treatment comlpications. She did not seem encephalopathic to me nor was she suicidal nor ALS. I would guess it was sudden organ failure or treatment compliations but I don't really know. Anoxic encephalopathy is when the autonomic nervous system gets affcted by the oxygen level and shuts down, stopping breathing. It COULD be that, I don't know. She did not seem encephaloapthic but you _cannot_ always tell.
I will wait for her family to tell us if they care to, they are overcome by grief.
At the recent conference I was delighted to meet her- she was a warm, delightful person. Weirdly, the last conversation I had with her was about people who "die from Lyme" and how they should always have autopsies. I referred to the body of someone dead as a "corpse" and she got very upset, said I should never call anyone a corpse but just by their name. So I will never call her by anything but her name and a lovely human being, which she was. She was very involved in life and very intent on living a good life, there is no way she was suicidal in my experience of talking with her specifically about life and death.
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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oxygenbabe
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Hey Sarah! Nice to see you around these parts and I hope things are okay with you.
Posts: 2276 | From united states | Registered: Jun 2004
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CaliforniaLyme
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Things are great with me, thank you.
Leslie died in her sleep- so anoxic encephalopathy, sleep apnea, I don't know- that's all I found so far.
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
A man in my town died from lyme, it eventually shut down his kidneys. I nearly died when my heart got so weak it was barely moving blood. I would've been dead in a week had a doctor not admitted me to a hospital and got me on the right heart meds.
I knew Leslie though, she helped me with my disability paperwork. I just can't believe this.. reality is tough.
Posts: 499 | From Indiana | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
I was so sorry to hear about Leslie's death, I never knew her, but as a fellow Lyme warrior there is always that "connection", knowing that they too have gone through life, and now death, with this terrible illness.
From what I've gathered, We do not know if she died from Lyme, or something else unrelated to Lyme, until we know for sure it's best not to speculate.
Rest in peace Leslie.
Posts: 43 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2008
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