Please contact the theater for show times. Andy will be present for a Q&A following the show.
Posts: 7052 | From Colorado | Registered: Mar 2003
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Great Documentary....Saw it in Concord, NH a couple of weeks ago...It was rviting....the hour and 45 minutes flew by and kept us captivated.....I just wish my family could have atteneded to better understand what this disease is all about....
Posts: 59 | From NH, USA | Registered: Oct 2004
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Melanie Reber
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Choose the Kabuki theater, click on the link for future showtimes, and pick your date and time for Under Our Skin. Daily showtimes are 11:20, 1:40, 4:24pm, 7:10pm, and 9:45pm !
The hosts will be present at the Friday and Saturday 7:10pm showing, but please come to see it whenever you can make the show!! The director and some cast members will be present for a Q&A after as well.
Posts: 7052 | From Colorado | Registered: Mar 2003
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AliG
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posted
^
-------------------- 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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I thought the 4:24 was a goof at first - who starts a movie at :24?
Posts: 13171 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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Melanie Reber
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Filmmaker revives discussion of Lyme disease
Justin Berton, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, September 14, 2009 Andy Abrahams Wilson's interest in Lyme disease began as ...
The first question filmmaker Andy Abrahams Wilson hears about his latest documentary: Lyme disease? Really?
Wilson's "Under Our Skin," which screens Friday at San Francisco's Sundance Kabuki Cinema, has managed to transform the unlikely topic of a bacterial infection into a critical hit on the festival circuit.
The film is also credited with reigniting a discussion about the merits of Lyme, an ailment that's been largely misunderstood - or flat out denied - by the medical establishment. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 35,000 new cases of Lyme disease last year, a 71 percent increase over the past two years, which means new Lyme cases are almost as prevalent as new HIV cases (39,000). Because Lyme tests are inaccurate and cases go unreported, one CDC estimate put the true number of current cases at 300,000.
"If this were HIV or West Nile virus," Wilson said, "we'd be doing everything we could."
Wilson's first contact with Lyme began as a child when his twin sister was diagnosed. "All I knew about it was that she was achy, tired all the time, and complaining."
But it became a topic of serious interest about five years ago when a friend in Marin who'd originally been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease - "a death sentence," Wilson said - turned out to be suffering from an untreated case of chronic Lyme.
As Wilson learned, patients are often misdiagnosed with maladies ranging from chronic fatigue syndrome to multiple sclerosis to Lou Gehrig's. Making the disease more difficult to identify, as many as 50 percent of all Lyme tests are inaccurate, and patients are often told their case is psychosomatic. Because there's no cure (antibiotics are an early treatment), many sufferers are left to treat their symptoms with no hope of solving the disease.
"I uncovered a whole world of untold suffering," Wilson said. "And what seemed to me like a medical fraud."
Lyme is a bacterial infection, a vector-borne disease passed along to humans through a deer tick. It's been commonly believed that the ticks live only on the East Coast, but Lyme cases have been reported in all states and all continents except Antarctica, according to the CDC.
Early symptoms include fever, headaches and fatigue, making it difficult to detect in the critical early stages. One of the questions that nagged at Wilson during filming was trying to understand why the big pharmaceutical companies weren't working diligently for a cure. After all, with plenty of patients and potential customers, profits would be a boon.
Wilson came to a multipronged conclusion. First, because Lyme is not easily defined and diagnosed, it's difficult to find a singular cure. Second, the best treatment can be antibiotics, which generate little profit for the big pharmaceuticals.
"But there is a lot of money in keeping people chronically ill," Wilson said, noting that steroids, painkillers and a slew of drugs can treat the symptoms of Lyme.
"I think we're moving away from magic bullet era and into understanding illness as combination of factors," he said. "That's one reason the disease is difficult to grasp - it challenges our current understanding of medicine."
So far, Wilson's film has been viewed by health organizations and doctors who are reconsidering the threat of Lyme. He also receives e-mails from patients who've found hope in the subjects he profiled.
"I get comments saying, 'Your film saved my life,' " Wilson said. "And really, what better reward can you have than that?" Ailment largely misunderstood
In 2008, there were 35,000 new reported cases of the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC acknowledged that the actual number of cases in the United States could exceed 300,000 because of flaws in testing and reporting.
Lyme cases have been reported in every U.S. state and on every continent except Antarctica.
Only 35 to 59 percent of Lyme patients reported the red circular bull's-eye rash after the tick bite that confirms infection.
Lyme is commonly misdiagnosed as chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, lupus and multiple sclerosis, among other ailments.
Melanie Reber
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Tonight! Posts: 7052 | From Colorado | Registered: Mar 2003
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Melanie Reber
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Such an amazing film, each and every time I see it.
There seemed to be a full house at the 7pm show. Andy was wonderful with the Q&A portion of course, and Dana was there as well with her new handsome husband. She looks and sounds SO much better!
The film is playing all week, so please make time to support this very important work... and be sure to encourage others to attend as well. 2 of my former colleagues surprised me and showed up. They were very impressed with the film, but also walked away with a new found appreciation of what we experience and perhaps more importantly... 2 new voices of accurate information to share with others.
Many thanks to those who set up this particular showing, the venue was perfect. Easily accessible with fairly close parking. (difficult to find in the Big City) And, I am told... the popcorn wasn't half bad either. Posts: 7052 | From Colorado | Registered: Mar 2003
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Im not coming home till the 29th of this month.
Does anybody know if it will be showing anywhere else for a longer period of time???
Posts: 48 | From San Francisco, CA | Registered: Mar 2009
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Dana came to our Q&As! She is the woman in the film on tour with U2 and then goes for treatment with Klinghardt. She mixed abx with alternative treatment.
Posts: 13171 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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Hi, That's great that she came. I relate most closely to her in the film. When she spoke I felt she was saying how I feel she also contracted it around the same time as me and had many of the same symptoms as me. I wish I could get out to see Dr. K and was so glad to see she is doing better. Thanks for sharing that very well writeen article I will be sharing with others!
Ann
-------------------- If you keep doing nothing...nothing changes!
Melanie Reber
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You are most welcome Ann, and I'm sure Dana would be so pleased that you related to her story.
When speaking with her Friday, she said it was difficult for her at the time of filming to know if she was able to convey what she was going through. Another really interesting insight that she had to share... was that she was truly unaware that there were so many others like her at the time who also were suffering with the ramifications of TBDs.
She felt so terribly alone and overwhelmed... and just thought that she had to push herself beyond what she was capable of to get by. I think that you can really sense her enormous relief in the film when she finally got to Dr. K and finally found her true love to help with her journey.
Posts: 7052 | From Colorado | Registered: Mar 2003
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seekhelp
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Part of me wishes I could afford and get to Dr. K. I have amalgams though so it wouldn't work anyways. It seems like he cures all he touches!
Posts: 7545 | From The 5th Dimension - The Twilight Zone | Registered: Mar 2008
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Dana has an ability to connect well with audiences - she is a very honest and quiet-spoken person - made me lean forward to catch what she was saying. And her husband is very nice, too!
Posts: 13171 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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Melanie Reber
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last day!
Posts: 7052 | From Colorado | Registered: Mar 2003
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bettyg
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already!!
robin's filled me in her busy week of daily activism; boy, she would be running circles around me in a stationary spot.
so many great contacts she has made and they all have been so receptive to her.....
now tell me really, WHO can TURN DOWN ROBIN? lol she's so irresistable, cuddly, and lovable
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Aaahhh, Betty - that was so sweet of you - wish you could have been here to do the work with me! It's been a great week - we are blessed with a great film!
Just heard there's major news coverage going on right now for the San Rafael showing with Q&A tonite!
Posts: 13171 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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I have a suggestion for future UOS showings in theaters - to have anyone or a couple of experienced Lyme patient advocates who can handle audience questions be present at the end of a showing to pass out UOS brochures and any state/local ones.
When I look back at what I did this week, which included emailing/calling/flyering/meeting the audience, it was this last one that mattered in a big way, in terms of people's health.
Many people are going to this movie who are symptomatic and don't know what to do and whether they should do anything. These were the most important conversations - about sx/dx/tx.
So to have people there after a showing to help the public is important.
Posts: 13171 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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Melanie Reber
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Yes, that is a very good point Robin! I too spent at least another hour speaking with patients and following up with them via emails.
Thanks for all your hard work this week, you are amazing... and so very appreciated!
Posts: 7052 | From Colorado | Registered: Mar 2003
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It seems like he cures all he touches!
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