posted
An evening in Albany with Dr. Cameron June 3rd, 2010 26 May, 2010 04:28:00 Empire State Lyme Disease Association Font size: LYME DISEASE - The Professional Challenges and Obstacles in Diagnosis and Treatment The Empire State Lyme Disease Association, Inc. (the Capital Region Chapter and the Adirondack Lyme Disease Foundation) presented an evening with Dr. Daniel Cameron, Internist/Epidemiologist.
Chronic Lyme cases take time Physician urges more treatment for patients with stubborn symptoms
By CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY, Staff writer First published in print: Thursday, June 3, 2010
Jim Grady felt like he had a bad cold that never went away: a stiff neck, joint pain and head ache that progressed to blurry vision, fatigue and an inability to concentrate. His doctors told him nothing was wrong.
Then the North Bethlehem resident went to Dr. Daniel Cameron, a Westchester County physician known for treating Lyme disease. Cameron diagnosed him with Lyme, a tick-born infection that has become epidemic in upstate New York.
"He asked me so many questions," Grady said of Cameron. "He was covering all his bases and trying to really uncover what was going on."
After six months of antibiotics, Grady, a tree nursery specialist turned insurance agent, finally felt better. He credits Cameron with ending his two-year battle with Lyme.
Cameron believes that some people get a long-term version of Lyme disease that does not respond to the standard treatment, which is a 14- to 21-day course of antibiotics. Many of Cameron's patients, like Grady, take antibiotics for months.
"Eighty-five percent of the time if you can treat right at the time of the rash, you usually have a good outcome," Cameron said. "But that still leaves a sizable number of at least 15 percent who are still sick."
Cameron will be speaking in Albany today at an event sponsored by the Capital District and the Adirondack Lyme Disease Foundation, chapters of the Empire State Lyme Disease Association.
Doctors are the target audience for Cameron's presentation titled "The Professional Challenges and Obstacles in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Lyme Disease." The event will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. today at the Hilton Garden Inn across from Albany Medical Center. The event is free.
Lyme is a bacterial infection caused by a bite from an infected tick. If left untreated, it can spread to the heart, joints and nervous system. Nearly 9,000 cases of Lyme disease were reported in New York in 2009, according to the state Health Department.
The Infectious Disease Society of America recommends treating suspected Lyme cases with a short course of antibiotics and, if the symptoms persist, for another four weeks of antibiotics.
From the IDSA guidelines: "Randomized controlled studies of treatment of patients who remain unwell after standard courses of antibiotic therapy for Lyme disease are in progress. To date, there are no convincing published data that repeated or prolonged courses of either oral or IV antimicrobial therapy are affective for such patients. The consensus of the IDSA expert-panel members is that there is insufficient evidence to regard 'chronic Lyme disease' as a separate diagnostic entity."
The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, an alternative group for which Cameron is a past president, recommends longer courses of antibiotics that end when the patient feels better.
Ideally, treatment would stop when the Lyme bacteria have disappeared from the blood stream, but there is no reliable test for measuring the bacteria levels, Cameron said.
Albany doctors tend to follow the IDSA guidelines, Cameron said, so many patients with chronic Lyme find their way to his Westchester office.
Today, he hopes to convince more Capital Region doctors to try treating Lyme his way.
"If 15 percent (of Lyme patients) are still sick, why not treat them a little longer," Cameron said.
Cathleen F. Crowley can be reached at 454-5348 or [email protected].
If you go
When: 6 to 9 p.m. today
Where: Hilton Garden Inn, 62 New Scotland Ave., across from Albany Medical Center, Albany
What: Dr. Daniel Cameron, a Lyme disease expert, will talk about treating chronic Lyme disease.
Also: A free screening of "Under Our Skin," a documentary on chronic Lyme disease, will be held at 6 p.m. June 10 at the Bethlehem Public Library.
Posts: 501 | From Hudson Ticky Valley, NY | Registered: Aug 2009
| IP: Logged |
posted
I went but I could only stay for the first half (we were taking a plane to go out West the next morning at 5 am and I still hadn't packed so I really, really had to get home!)
I was hoping to hear from others what he said in the second half. The first part was pretty research oriented, and I think he was going to get to more direct treatment issues the second half.
Did you see him Jenn? If so, what did you think?
I like his general approach to treatment - he uses the phrase "evidence based practice" meaning he tries to use the research to apply to clinical treatment. He seems pretty thoughtful and definitely doesn't accept IDSA guidelines.He showed how research from their own IDSA people often is in direct conflict with the guidelines. (His presentation was kind of dry though!)
I actually went to him aa a patient a few times and if anyone wants my take on that, pm me about it.
Posts: 34 | From Saratoga Springs, NY | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
The second half was Q&A and less "clinical." Not much more came out of the Q&A than what we see here.
The talk was supposed to be aimed at doctors. The basic "upshot" was, when you hear someone say there's no evidence that "lyme does that," don't buy it until you look at all the available data, yourself. And, if you hear, "the Guidelines don't say to treat that way," respond that there's disagreement about that and here's another set of peer-reviewed Guidelines (the ILADS Guidelines). He presented some of his studies/research that support the ILADS Guidelines and counter IDSA Guidelines.
I was encouraged to see a number of area doctors asking about cases they've seen and the ILADS Guidelines.
Posts: 252 | From New York | Registered: Apr 2010
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic