I am writing a letter to the local newspapers about Lyme disease. I need some information and help, sorry but I still have a Lyme brain.

Is April Lyme disease awareness month? or March?

Any ideas of important topics to touch on?

I was going to write it from the angle of 'Ah! Spring is in the air. But before we take advantage of the beautiful weather outdoors we should make our families health and safety a priority and educate ourselves about the risk of Lyme disease'.

Please any inout would be appreciated. It is hard to get my brain to put something together so I'm hoping you guys will have some great advice.

thanks,
daniella

Start out by painting your swell spring day,

then that there is a MONSTER in the woods.

Almost invisible it will attach silently,

It will find you, your kids, your pets,

by the CO2 gas mammals exhale,

It will ride into your home on your pets,

it will attack you as you sleep,

and it will attack your children as they sleep.

It will then destroy with a cocktail of bacteria.

Well you get the idea

Noob

BTW - picking brains, is really is a poor use of words when addressing the tickbit.

It sounds like I have only had Lyme since last spring but actually it's been 10-20 yrs but I didn't want to complicate the article.

I apprecaite your feedback.

When you picture Lyme disease what comes to mind? I used to think of a bulls eye rash, joint pain, a reliable blood test and a cure by several weeks of antibiotics. Boy, was I ever wrong.

In the fall of 2003 my dog went blind. She tested positive for Lyme. Now, in March of 2005 she is still taking antibiotics and her eyes are still red although her sight has been restored.

In the spring of 2004 I began to feel tired and a had a sore throat. My Lyme blood test was negative. As summer passed I grew increasingly fatigued, then in August my back really started to hurt. From August to October I visited a local doctor many times, had blood work done and several expensive imaging procedures. Late in October I went to the ER at a local hospital with a temp of 101.3. They were clueless what was wrong with me. Another Lyme blood test came back negative.

Thank goodness for the Internet. Here I learned that the screening tests for Lyme are often falsely negative and another test, the Lyme Western Blot, is more useful. Bingo! My Western Blot showed exposure to Lyme, matter of fact, it satisfied the CDC requirements as reportable Lyme disease.

Okay, so now you may think I was out of the woods. Wrong. Through local Lyme support groups I learned there were no doctors in the area whom they could recommend. I am now being treated by a Lyme literate MD 2 hours from my home. I have been on antibiotics for 5 months and am only slightly improved. My Lyme doctor recently told me she expects that after another year I will be 80% better.

I never saw a rash, never found a tick and twice my Lyme blood test was negative. According to an article ``The Complexities of Lyme Disease'' by Tom Grier at the Canadian Lyme website(www.canlyme.com) common and frequent symptoms of Lyme are: a stiff, crunchy neck, visual complaints, heart palpitations, muscle twitches (especially in the face), fatigue, depression, urinary frequency and memory problems. Another excellent website is www.lymenet.org.

Noob that would be an attention getter...

Janet your letter is very informative..Did you send it in yet? Are you going to send it as a letter to the editor? Or as an article?

I will show you mine soon....

I hope to see my article published next month.

The editor told me if there's anything i can't back up it will not be published.

So I tried to just tell my story.