nefferdun
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 20157
posted
I don't know if I should cry or go into a rage. I called a local doctor asking if they treat chronic lyme and I was referred to two infectious disease "experts". When I asked if they treat chronic lyme, I was told "there is no 'lymes' disease in Montana".
I called two doctors and got the same message. I was outraged and told the receptionist to convey a message to each doctor that there is lyme disease here - I will be glad to show them my positive lyme test which passes CDC guidelines with flying colors. I told them they are killing people not properly diagnosing lyme and treating it.
Meanwhile I am sick and that is why I can't get well. Everyone is just plain stupid -
I will have to go somewhere else and I don't know where to go. It makes me really sad and angry at the same time.
If you have been cured, not just better, please pm me the name of your doctor. I have to fly so it does not matter how far away it is.
I have been sick four years and in treatment for two. I get better and then relapse. I need someone who knows what they are doing. Presently I tell the GP what to give me but I am running out of options. This GP is busy giving every pothead in the state medical marijuana cards and the soonest I can get into seeing him is over two weeks - an emergency basis! Good grief.
It is a long story but in a very short time I feel sick again and I need a doctor that knows his stuff and can help me.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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treepatrol
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 4117
posted
Yeah and birds swim fish fly and as long as the wind blows and the grass is green:) NOT referred to two infectious disease
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
posted
As far as I'm concerned, if your state has evergreen trees then you are going to have ticks and then you are going to have Lyme.
While it's not a true statement that ticks are only in evergreen trees, as my worst experience with them was in Nebraska bushes, but ticks in the mountainous states sure do love the coniferous trees.
Posts: 194 | From Colorado | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
You can tell them that any territory anywhere now has ticks with Lyme and co-infections, since birds can fly ticks all over the world and insects and animals get infected. When a noninfected tick bites an infected animal, the tick gets infected.
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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posted
I know lots of facts about the Lyme "controversy" (travesty, conpsiracy, political mess, war, or whatever word you want to call it.)
I am still struggling to get my head around the fact that doctors, and not just a few but seemingly the vast majority of them, will say to a sick person "You are not sick, and I will not treat you, and actually, treatment for you is not recommended."
What has happened to the Hippocratic oath?
I am sorry you are struggling to get good treatment. I hope you get what you need soon.
-------------------- Don't forget to laugh! And when you're going through hell, keep going!
Bitten 5/25/2009 in Perry County, Indiana. Diagnosed by LLMD 12/2/2009. Posts: 756 | From Inside the tunnel | Registered: Jan 2010
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nefferdun
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 20157
posted
I diagnosed myself Jan 2008,while researching chronic fatigue online. An article came up which had been published in a local newpaper interviewing the state epidemiologist. He said the state collected 345 ticks that had bitten people around the state in 2004 and 6 of those people developed an EM rash.
He called this "new disease" the "cousin to lyme". I was told this new disease would not test as lyme so did not bother. Two months ago I did take a test and it came back very positive.
I was bitten by a wood tick and I hadn't been anywhere else. I had three EM rashes a few days after removing the tick, which was on me for over 24 hours. 5% of people get multiple rashes. I went to the first doctor while I still had the rash and was told they were spider bites.
After that it was the same thing every visit. I described classic lyme disease without a clue that I had it, and every doctor said "You can't have lyme because it does not exist in Montana."
I guess we all come across this ignorance but this just hit me very hard today.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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Silly! Didn't you tell the wood tick it couldn't have Lyme because it was in Montana??!!!? I guess it can't read maps either!!!
I feel for you! It is so frustrating - I do remember being told that I probably had "spider bites" also... Bull-Crap! I've had to dx myself also as Lyme "isn't in TN" either!
Posts: 238 | From Jackson, TN | Registered: Mar 2010
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sparkle7
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10397
posted
I was in ground zero for Lyme & I got the run around, too. I used to live in NJ...
It's not just Montana. It took 9 years & over $10,000 to get a proper diagnosis in my case. I still don't know if it's really accurate. The tests are all so inaccurate. I had a clinical diagnosis.
Many of us have gone through this. You are not alone (unfortunately - for all the people suffering with inadequate medical care).
Posts: 7772 | From Northeast, again... | Registered: Oct 2006
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- According to the Oregon Medical Board, there is "no lyme in Oregon" either. Even with recent tick bites and bulls eye rashes, doctors are still telling patients this. Oh, lots of dogs get lyme here but people are discounted. The vets are much smarter than the MDs.
I am pretty sure I read (or heard) the other day that LLMDs have protection to treat in just NINE STATES. I wish I could remember where I saw/read that.
It may have been Dr. K's radio interview. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
Does anyone recall that dog and cat map of reported Lyme cases by vets? It pretty much shows every state is infected.
Posts: 194 | From Colorado | Registered: Nov 2008
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posted
No Lyme here and no Lyme there? Few docs tell truth anywhere.
Only go to ILADS docs 'Cause they give us the right tick talks.
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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littlebit27
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 24477
posted
There's no Lyme in Ga either. My PCP says Lyme doesn't happen in GA. I'm not from GA, I've been sick for a long time I explained to him. I'm from MD and VA, oh well it doesn't happen like this. He's nuts, and even the CDC has reported cases of Lyme in GA, not many but some still the same.
I'm half tempted to print out the stats and take them to the doctor, well if there is no Lyme in GA how come there are confirmed and reported cases? Just to be a smart *** and see what he says.
treepatrol
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 4117
posted
I dont care what anyone has said.
Wood Ticks , Dog Ticks, Deer ticks ,soft ticks, any blood sucking insect, arachnid can carry it.
-------------------- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Remember Iam not a Doctor Just someone struggling like you with Tick Borne Diseases.
posted
littlebit - very good idea to take the stats to the doc + look at them with him.
Stand in front of the closed door + block his way out till he goes over the stats with you. Tell him it's science + math + they can't be wrong !
Then bring out the spider + infected tick + have them each bite one arm + remind him no lyme = no need for antibiotics so he is not allowed to take them....
The Hippocratic oath is now hypocritical for sure.
If there is no lyme disease in Montana then there are NO brains in docs heads either.
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
My PCP said the same thing......."we don't really have Lyme Disease in Mississippi". Then he said "but we do have Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever". That is just so stupid!!!
The hippocratic oath is a big joke!
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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posted
My doctor told me that "Lyme disease is extremely rare in Indiana."
I did take her the stats for both dogs and people, to show her that there were confirmed cases reported in the county where I got bitten, in the county where I live, and in most other counties of the state, even though most cases never get reported.
She is still skeptical about whether I have Lyme, but she did look at the research articles I showed her, and wrote down the names of the Lyme books I took in.
It's completely illogical, if you know nothing about the number of officially reported Lyme cases or results of tick testing in your area, and when confronted with obvious evidence that there is Lyme in the area (i.e., a person who just contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite in a nearby spot), to immediately deny that Lyme could possibly exist.
Premises: Person A has Lyme. A tick in [your state here] caused the Lyme. Conclusion: Therefore, there is no Lyme in [state].
That is invalid reasoning that fails the logic test.
-------------------- Don't forget to laugh! And when you're going through hell, keep going!
Bitten 5/25/2009 in Perry County, Indiana. Diagnosed by LLMD 12/2/2009. Posts: 756 | From Inside the tunnel | Registered: Jan 2010
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massman
Unregistered
posted
No logic, just knees jerking
With babbling mouths wired to those knees
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posted
Here's the link I was thinking of, that probably a lot of us have seen already. If vets are reporting Lyme in dogs in every state, well then people should be at risk. I don't think ticks discriminate.
Neffedun, Next time a doctor says that to you, show them this article that was printed in the Libby paper March, 2010. Obviously our Montanan doctors are not getting the memo. Note: it references FWP and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ticks make appearance; check after time outdoors Posted: Wednesday, Mar 24, 2010 - 07:24:18 pm MDT
By The Western News Warm weather has brought an early arrival of a not-so-welcome critter - ticks.
Local outdoorsmen have reported the presence of ticks in the woods, so the Lincoln County Health Department reminds the public to protect itself from the disease-carrying arachnids.
``They're a vector of disease,'' said Amy Smart, county public health emergency preparedness coordinator. ``They carry around microorganisms that can cause problems for humans or animals.''
In Montana, ticks are known to be disease carriers of Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Colorado tick fever, tularemia and Lyme disease.
Tick season lasts from the onset of warmer weather in the spring until about mid-July when hotter temperatures and low relative humidity cause them to become inactive.
They live in moist, humid environments in wooded or grassy areas and crawl up on low vegetation to wait for people or animals to pass by and brush up against them.
Luckily, preventative measures can be taken before heading outside.
``Wear light colors so that you can see them,'' Smart said. ``Tuck your pants into your socks so that they can't get in and climb up your pant leg inside, and check yourself when you get in.''
Children and pets should also be checked for ticks, Smart said.
If certain symptoms occur in a person who spends time outdoors, it may mean he or she was unknowingly infected by a tick bite. The most common disease known to be carried by ticks in Montana is Rocky Mountain spotted fever.
``The symptoms are headache and fever for no other apparent reason and feeling really tired,'' Smart said. ``If you are one of those people that spends time outside, that could be something to check for. The disease that they carry can go undetected.''
Keep ticks away
* Use repellent with DEET (on skin or clothing) or permethrin (on clothing).
* Wear light-colored clothing that allows you to see the ticks.
* Wear a long-sleeved shirt that can be tucked in, long pants and a hat. Don't wear open-toed shoes and tuck pant legs into socks.
* Inspect your body and clothing for ticks during outdoor activity and at the end of the day. Check children and pets for ticks.
* Remove ticks right away to prevent some infections.
Sources: Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Posts: 123 | From Montana | Registered: May 2009
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posted
The belief is lyme disease is not an opinion it's a fact. You could have been in a different state and gotten bit. If you break your arm in CT but live in TX do you go back to CT for treatment? Of course not because that would be obserd. Just as obserd as saying that there is no lyme disease is any other state.
Any doctor who calls it's "lymes" should be a tiff off. The problem is that these doctors go to conferences where they are told that lyme is not an issue. So in order to help your doctor it's important to lay out your case. Make a time line. If the doctor can't draw a connection suggest lyme. See if they are willing to considerate it. Then say you know people take doxy/mino etc for their skin all the time, would it be harmful to try 3o days and see what happens? And then as you improve, you guide them. Doctors are for the most part arrogant, so if you make them think they thought of it and massage the idea you may have better luck.
Posts: 484 | From Burlingame, Ca | Registered: Sep 2005
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sutherngrl
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 16270
posted
The CDC says 0 cases in my county in 2008; but I personally know at least 15 ppl that were infected during that time just in my county alone. Plus I have heard of others that I don't personally know. I guess none got reported. Isn't that a huge surprise!
How ridiculous!
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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nefferdun
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 20157
posted
Bringing this up to thank you for the replies. I was sick all week with something - a virus I hope.
I left a message with the receptionist of one doctor telling him to call me if he wanted more information but he hasn't.
We are lucky because we know what we have, whereas thousands are literally dying that are misdiagnosed. But we are unlucky because we can't get the treatment we need.
Thanks again.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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posted
I agree with Smiles..if a Dr. calls "Lyme Disease".... "Lymes" ...he obviously doesn't know what he is talking about period.
-------------------- ~Things may happen in my life time to change who I am but I refuse to let them reduce me...~ Posts: 968 | From private | Registered: Jan 2005
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