posted
You know, I was thinking about doing that myself. It would be SO great to have her do a show on Lyme. She could singlehandedly ignite something with so many people watching.
She goes for the human side of the story - maybe she would do a segment with Amy Tan since she's a FAMOUS person with Lyme. Man, I wish I was Amy Tan's publicist right now...she has that new book out...perfect timing....arrrgh! lol
Frustrating.
Cheers,
Alison
--------------------
The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. --- Edward R. Murrow Posts: 923 | From California | Registered: Aug 2005
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cantgiveupyet
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8165
posted
I dont think Oprah will get involved. Remember how much trouble she was in for her comments about Mad cow.
We do need someone though.......i just cant think of anyone at the moment.
-------------------- "Say it straight simple and with a smile."
"Thus the task is, not so much to see what no one has seen yet, But to think what nobody has thought yet, About what everybody sees."
-Schopenhauer
pos babs, bart, igenex WB igm/igg Posts: 3156 | From Lyme limbo | Registered: Oct 2005
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JERRY: "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome back to the Jerry Springer Show. Today we have People With Lyme and their Poorly Informed Doctors"
("oooooh" sounds from the crowd)
LYMIE: "Yes Jerry, despite years of being sick and numerous doctors, I was unable to get a diagnosis of Lyme until I figured it out myself. I've lost my job, my house and my health benefits."
JERRY: "And, let me introduce our other guest, one of the twelve doctors that misdiagnosed you!"
(DR DUCK walks out to loud sound of booooos)
JERRY: "Now, Doctor, is it true that, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary....you diagnosed this woman here with . . . mild hysteria? Is that right?"
DR DUCK: (Looking smug) "Well, you know Jerry, Lyme is such a rare disease, obviously this woman came to me just seeking some attention."
LYMIE: (to doctor) "I have a @*!$& Positive Western Blot you ignorant, power-tripping $%@!*$% and 32 out of 36 possible symptoms for Lyme, you #@$^%#@ ing !#$%!!!!!!! WHO'S the (beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep) ing delusional one here?!?!"
DR DUCK: "Well. Since she never had a bullseye rash, it's obvious that a referral to a psychiatric specialist may hel-"
LYMIE: "You don't have to have a bullse-"
DR DUCK: "Oh, and Jerry, she tried to tell me that the 50 pounds she gained in a year was due to Lyme. (looks aghast) Can you believe it?!"
(Picks up chair and throws it at doctor. Steve rushes in while order is restored . . . total pandemonium in the crowd . . . )
Yes....it's a little past my bedtime....lolololol
A.
--------------------
The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. --- Edward R. Murrow Posts: 923 | From California | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
I guess through the last 4 years of this hell, I have lost a lot of faith in people, in general. But, I still believe Oprah has a good heart. Yes, she was given hell by the beef industry for her segment on Mad Cow. Lyme is a different thing though.
How could a story on Lyme be seen as attacking an industry? Maybe if more of us sent her our story. What do you think?
If she would do a story on this, I've got to believe it would potentially have a HUGE impact.
Posts: 856 | From Texas | Registered: Jan 2005
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lymemomtooo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5396
posted
Amy Tan would certainly be the way to go..But I saw Larry King last night and Meredith from the View hosted and it was about her husband and others with MS..Wheels were spinning..Perhaps if someone could educate some of them...And one of them gets well...Just a thought..
NOt sure if we have anyone who has an "in" with the rich and famous but think they should get off of the fence and just do it for all of us and the future children that will be sick.
And many in our lyme support group have said it is a shame that Ronald Reagen did not seek a lyme Dr. Now in light of the reports of the presentation from ILADS on lyme and alzheimer's it would have been very possible that he did have lyme disease.
I think Alison is missing her calling..She should do lyme standup..Unfortunately only "we" would get it..
I also contacted Oprah..Sent email, etc..Even posted many times on the group site that someone from here started..Never anything in return from her show..Very disappointing..
Perhaps Mya Angelo, if she is still living, could be contacted and educated..She has always been a mentor to Oprah..
Perhaps we all need to dress as ticks and go to DC. lymemomtooo
Posts: 2360 | From SE PA | Registered: Mar 2004
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
lymetoo, you are so funny. Springer fan are you?
Amy Tan would be the one to get Oprah to do a show. Maybe we need to work on Amy as a group.
The recent news story on the quarterback young man from Florida State would be another one that could tell his story on Oprah. I think his story with the mental breakdown was a side of lyme disease that people had no clue about. Oates from Hall & Oates recently in the news.
Oh, some day??????
Take care, Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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Ann-OH
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2020
posted
Oprah has not turned a deaf ear. She has done a couple of really good programs. One with a doctor from CA who had Lyme disease and some of her family members did as well.
Another featuring Emerging Diseases which Karen Forschner of the LDF participated.
I think there have been others as well. It would be good to have the group of Lyme Literi on her show.
quote:Originally posted by map1131: lymetoo, you are so funny. Springer fan are you?
HA! You know me better than that, don't you! Can't stand him.
Great idea about Daryl Hall and Amy Tan and the Lyme Literi....and Wyatt Sexton.
Ann....those shows must have been a LONG time ago. I've been here 5 yrs and I know she hasn't done a show during that time.
She's due for another.
Map....Alison is WAY FUNNIER than me! That was AWESOME, Alison!!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
Yeah lymetoo, I did skip over the other comments to throw a line at you.
You're right Alison is funnier. I bet she was laughing so hard while she was typing she had tears running down her face.
Laughter helps,
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Thanks! I'm glad it made some people laugh! It was 1 AM and you know how you get those strange little thoughts in your Lyme-addled head late at night when you can't sleep? Well this was one of those times for me.
After I posted that, I was like "What did I just DO?!?!?! Now people will think I am some crazy Springer Lyme nutcase!!!" Which...sadly is not entirely untrue.
I felt so silly that I ended up sending a whole letter in to Oprah about exactly why she should do a segment on Lyme. This was around 2 AM.
So it balances out....lol
A.
--------------------
The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. --- Edward R. Murrow Posts: 923 | From California | Registered: Aug 2005
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Andie333
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7370
posted
It would be good if Alice Walker would be willing to talk about her bout with Lyme...
Once there are some celebrity faces and voices, this could start getting some visibility.
Andie
Posts: 2549 | From never never land | Registered: May 2005
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heiwalove
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6467
posted
i agree with all of the above (and jerry springer! haha!). it would be wonderful if oprah had amy tan, alice walker, etc on her show to talk about lyme; as well as some non-famous lymies, perhaps. also, and sortof unrelated, alice walker is my hero.
posted
...Hey I got an idea...my 2 cents...the thinker still works sometimes, can't depend on the memory though How about Dr Phil and how LD is breaking up marriages and familys!!!
-------------------- "Life is mostly froth and bubble; Two things stand like stone; Kindness in another's trouble; And courage in your own." TTFN -laserred- Posts: 493 | From MidWest NorthWoods | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
AN OBSERVATION: LYME CAN'T KILL A SENSE OF HUMOR! Has anyone thrown all those names at Oprah? (Alice WAlker, Amy Tan, Rebecca Wells). As much as she loves literature, these names might grab her attention.
Posts: 422 | From Herndon, Virginia | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
Hello, Just wanted you to know that my husband wrote a long letter to the Oprah Show also hoping to get the word out. Well he didn't tell me he did it till recently but I guess we never heard back. Maybe if enough of us write her show then maybe we could finally get heard and tell the ugly truth about Lyme. He wrote her almost a year ago. UGH!! Michelle
Posts: 79 | From Oxford,MA,01540 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Linda LD
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Member # 6663
posted
I threw those names at her--in fact I went to the post we had about famous people gathered up all those names and threw ALL of them at her.
I told her my kids were sick--didn't talk about the hallucinations, cause that is my son's story to tell, not mine.
If I thought dressing up as a tick would help I would do it. I wrote to the guy who climbs buildings illegally and asked him to climb a building dressed as a tick--LOL--I really did. No surprise he never wrote back.
If we weren't all sick and poor we could hire someone to help us.
I wrote Wyatt Sexton a get well card--did you know there are over 100 people in the Tallahassee Lyme support group?
I figure that this is just a drip, drip, drip thing. Enough water will become a flood.
Allison, I laughed and laughed! You gave yourself away as a Springer fan because you had "Steve rush in." I was thinking, "who's steve? Oh yea, the bouncer!"--you know the bouncers name so ya gotta be watching!
What if we all started going to hospitals and tieing green ribbons on their trees. Or we all put green ribbons on our own trees. Something subtle but that people would start asking themselves, "What's with all the green ribbons?"
It's a thought... L
Posts: 1171 | From Knoxville, TN US | Registered: Dec 2004
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Linda LD
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6663
posted
What if we put a green ribbon out for every person in the house with Lyme disease?
It wouldn't be much here--but maybe Martha's Vineyard or New Jersey and Connecticut--people would start realizing how many people REALLY have this disease!
L
Posts: 1171 | From Knoxville, TN US | Registered: Dec 2004
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hopeful123
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 3244
posted
allison, too, too funny. thanks for the truth and the laugh!!!
-------------------- some days you're the bug, some days you're the windshield Posts: 1160 | From NY | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Linda LD: What if we put a green ribbon out for every person in the house with Lyme disease?
It wouldn't be much here--but maybe Martha's Vineyard or New Jersey and Connecticut--people would start realizing how many people REALLY have this disease!
L
Good idea!!
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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lymeloco
Unregistered
posted
How about Dr. Phil and psychiatric issues from lyme? It is his field!
How about Brian Williams? I do have an obsession with him. Not the way you think, but I love the way he presents the nightly news.
I do believe he has his own blog.
It will have to be somebody with intellect that will have to correspond, and whose brain hasn't been totally ravaged by this freaking disease!
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posted
Co-incidentally, I just read an article that Oprah will be on David Letterman to promote the broadway version of The Color Purple written by . . . Alice Walker!
So if she had Alice Walker on her show I'm sure it would be all about The Color Purple and probably not all about Lyme.
But...I had this other thought . . . OK, raise your hand if you're a person with Lyme who has gained 50 or so pounds from Lyme.
Oprah and the other shows LOVE people who gain weight. How sad that the weight angle might be the only "hook" to get it in but I am more than happy to haul my fat butt on stage if need be.
Along those lines I wrote this to a friend yesterday:
I have decided that IF indeed Lyme is a biological warfare weapon that has been unleashed on an unsuspecting populace by its own government from a secret facility on Plum Island....IF this is true then those evil people have made ONE FATAL ERROR.
Dum Dum DUMMMMMMMMMMMM.........
If you are going to engage in biological warfare on your own population, rule one is that you do NOT, you DO NOT release a disease where one of the side effects causes up to 50 POUNDS OF WEIGHT GAIN IN WOMEN.
Because IF you were STUPID enough to do that, then you would realize that EVENTUALLY, you would be brought down by an army of furious females. Destroyed. Decimated. Because no woman with Lyme is going to take that kind of torture sitting down. Uh-uh. They're going DOWN. It's only a matter of time. I will crush them between my giant thighs. I will sit on them with my huge bottom.
You know, I could handle rashes, pain, suffering, whatever. But WEIGHT GAIN!?!?! LOLOLOL
Alison
--------------------
The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer. --- Edward R. Murrow Posts: 923 | From California | Registered: Aug 2005
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Andie333
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posted
Alison, I smiled as I read your post...and I'm still grinning!
Andie
Posts: 2549 | From never never land | Registered: May 2005
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
When you guys mentioned Alice Walker, I didn't have a clue who she was. Did a search on her and I'm going to check on books by her on my next libary trip.
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6478 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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Andie333
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posted
Oprah has a link on her site for show ideas to be submitted...
Andie
Posts: 2549 | From never never land | Registered: May 2005
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Linda LD
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Member # 6663
posted
Alice Walker was on tery gross' "Fresh Aire. Terry asked Alice Walker what her brothers thought of her books since there is so much incest and rape by brothers. Alice answered, "and what makes you think that my brothers can read?"
I'm still laughing over that one and the image of Allison sqeazing the life out of some little bearucrate with her thighs!
L
Posts: 1171 | From Knoxville, TN US | Registered: Dec 2004
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lymemomtooo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5396
posted
This is too good..Maybe someone should just mail the post to Letterman and let him decide if Lyme does not have a humerous side..
Well, we all know down deep it doesn't but this would be great as a skit..
Posts: 2360 | From SE PA | Registered: Mar 2004
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henson2
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 463
posted
Hi,
Just to let you know, about 2-3 years ago, I wrote numerous letters to Oprah suggesting a program on Lyme Disease. I kept thinking of new potential angles, including a show on this website, in which people who are seriously sick do a lot to help each other. I tried the Prevention angle. I tried the "inspiring story" angle, with people w. Lyme accomplishing and being brave.
I know many folks have written to try to get Dr. J. on her Angel Network show.
I never heard back.
I'm all for continuing to try, though!! Maybe the producers will have to say, "So many people are writing about this, we should do something about it."
But I'm not sure she wants to involve herself in any sort of controversy. (Didn't she get sued for saying something about not eating hamburgers once?)
But do keep trying! Posts: 1066 | From East Coast | Registered: Dec 2000
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posted
I wonder if Montel Williams would be interested in doing a show about Lyme Disease. He has MS and has created his own foundation to help find a cure for MS.
With the direct connect between Lyme and MS, he might find the stories everyone here has interesting.
Just a thought.
Posts: 681 | From California | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
oprah took a heavy hit with the mad cow thing. she "danced in the moon light" with the industry forces. i'm sure she lost more than a nights sleep on that.
i'd say let it go, and not to press her on the lyme. leave it to some other show host.
one heavy battle is enough, even for oprah.
Posts: 2708 | Registered: Feb 2005
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posted
"Hello my fellow Lymies", I had also written Oprah & Montel ( about 1 yr. ago) but did not try Dr. Phil. Well I think it's about time he gets a one. Wish me luck! Robin
Posts: 139 | From Panama City, FL., USA | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
dr. phil sounds good, but he, and his show may not be as financially robust as oprah to stick through this, as oprah had with the mad cow topic.
being a psychologist, he should be most piqued by the works of bransfield, fallon, scherr, leigner,raxlen esp. those of bransfield and fallon.
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...Hey I got an idea...my 2 cents...the thinker still works sometimes, can't depend on the memory though ![[confused]](graemlins/confused.gif)
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