Putting together the puzzle pieces

by Kim Nimmons, RDH

``One of my patients reported on her medical history that she was taking antibiotics -- a yearlong course of Doxycycline to treat Lyme disease. She explained how she got the disease, its symptoms, and how she was diagnosed.

While nothing about this condition affected her oral care, I was able to use the information to help another patient. Several weeks after learning about Lyme disease, one of my long-time patients came in for her hygiene visit. She had not been well for some time so I asked her how she was doing.

You hit the nail on the head!

Your comments are so valid!

Yes! In answer to ALL of your questions.

Now, if we had just "known"...like you said hindsight is 20/20!

On the other hand, people have to be open to this. I have tried to get several fibromyalgia patients to consider Lyme. Nothing doing. One is outdoorsy, prime candidate, well educated. She tells me she has had 4 negative titers, therefore, no Lyme. Doesn't do any good to explain about the pitfalls of testing. My current position is that if people have been coping with the symptoms for a long time and are not disabled, well, maybe that is a viable course of action, given the horrible trouble getting treatment, getting insurance to pay, and the chances that it is too chronic to cure anyway. If I could cope without drugs, that is what I would be doing at this point.