Great Article a must read!

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Please check out this great article from Hagerstown Magazine. The direct link is http://www.hagerstownmagazine.com/articleDetail.aspx?id=1737.



Once Bitten: Lyme Disease
For Lyme Disease Sufferers, Severe Symptoms Don’t Always Lead to a Clear Diagnosis.

by Rachel Pappas + photos by Jamie Turner

• • •

For 15 years, Hagerstown’s Sagittarius Salon & Spa Owner Marsha Knicley-Masood suffered brain fog, chronic fatigue and trouble breathing. The dozen endocrinologists, cardiologists and neurologists she met couldn’t offer a clear diagnosis, and doctors at Johns Hopkins Infectious Diseases Department assumed she had an infection, though they knew not what it was. Marsha, now 63, who once played 18 holes of golf, cut back to two holes, then to one, then couldn’t even sit up. “I’d come home from my shop Saturdays and get into bed until Wednesday when I had to go back in,” she recalls. “I felt so sick that even the sheets hurt.”

Lyme titer and Western blot tests, which identify antibodies the immune system produces to fight bacteria, found the culprit — Lyme disease. Maryland has the sixth highest prevalence of the disease in the country, and it is near epidemic proportions in Frederick and Washington counties — with the Washington County Health Department tallying 50 possible cases over a two-month period in the spring of 2010. Even so, the disease, caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and contracted through deer ticks, is underreported in the region, say local practitioners. “Most medical doctors are not educated to recognize it, and there is no campaign to educate the public,” says Marianne Rothschild, M.D., a family practitioner in Mount Airy, Md., who also is certified in holistic medicine. Dr. Rothschild says it’s hard to recognize if you don’t get the bull’s-eye rash, a common indicator of Lyme, but one that 20–40 percent of sufferers neither get nor notice.

Marsha did not get the bull’s-eye rash and was shocked after learning of her diagnosis. “I had been tested at Johns Hopkins several times, and all tests were negative.” The disease is said to lay dormant for years in some sufferers, and Marsha’s symptoms didn’t begin until shortly after she caught spinal meningitis at 48 years old. Marsha and her doctors assume she contracted Lyme from a tick bite during one of her many childhood summers along the Potomac River, but the meningitis may have triggered an onset of symptoms more recently.

‘Under Our Skin’
While most sufferers are symptom free after a month on antibiotics, for some patients the disease is hard to treat. Even after her diagnosis and antibiotic treatment, Marsha still experienced vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue and chills. Recently, much of her pain was alleviated through three months of at-home, long-term IV therapy, in combination with herbs, probiotics and an infrared sauna. Most herbs are trial and error, but Marsha says she benefited from resveratrol, maca and others. Supplements such as vitamins B-12 and D3, alpha lipoic acid, glutathione and artemisinin have helped as well.

At her small practice, Dr. Rothschild sees two to three cases of Lyme weekly during tick season (spring and fall). She refers the toughest cases to Greg Lee, an acupuncturist, herbalist and co-founder/owner of Two Frogs Healing Center in Frederick. Greg says the biggest challenge with diagnosing Lyme is that it often looks like other diseases, such as arthritis, flu, lupus and fibromyalgia. “Another problem is that the medical community is going on old guidelines,” he says. “To this day, medical textbooks say treat Lyme with short rounds of antibiotics.” They say the blood must contain five of 10 antibodies for a Lyme diagnosis; however, more recent research suggests a patient can produce three or four and still be positive. “Some patients will go on for five years before producing more antibodies,” Greg says. “By then, the infection gets stuck in the body.”

Frank Boddicker is a classic case of Lyme caught late — eight years after he began seeing doctors who misdiagnosed him with everything from depression and flu, to sinusitis and hypochondria. The 58-year-old contracted the disease 30 years ago, before the medical community knew of Lyme. He believes he was infected after a tick bit him during a trip to Summit Point Raceway near Summit Point, W.Va., leaving the classic bull’s-eye rash days later. Frank was a fitness addict, lifting weights three times a day, running every morning, hiking and biking. Then, he was stricken with flu-like symptoms, debilitating fatigue and later Bells Palsy, also associated with Lyme.

Today, Frank lives in a trailer in the woods outside of Knoxville and is on disability because, even now, his fatigue won’t subside. “I finally found a doctor that put me on long-term antibiotics. It put me back to where I’d been for three years. I was able to go back to work.” Frank says rest and supplements have helped, as well as avoiding gluten, dairy and shellfish. “But having the infection for so long and my age have caught up with me, and I have slipped.”

For years Frank has reached out to other Lyme sufferers. He started support groups in Frederick and Hagerstown but shut them both down when members became too sick to attend. Frank still fields calls from patients throughout the Washington, D.C., Baltimore and West Virginia areas, offering advice on supplements and probiotics, and encouraging callers to find a “Lyme-literate doctor.” Marsha, too, is a strong advocate of Lyme disease awareness. At Sagittarius, she sells a film called “Under Our Skin,” an Academy Award-nominated documentary that educates viewers on diagnosis, treatment and how to find a Lyme specialist. “People I don’t even know call me every week,” she says. “I tell them to see ‘Under Our Skin’ and read ‘Cure Unknown.’ They’re excellent sources for learning how to get good care. And, when you read about others who’ve experienced it, you don’t feel so crazy.”

The Sooner, The Better
Jon Weaver is one of the lucky guys; his Lyme disease was caught fairly early. The 35-year-old Frederick resident contracted Lyme in 2007. “My symptoms began in winter, which is an odd time to get Lyme because we aren’t outside a lot and ticks aren’t active,” he says. Jon’s initial symptom was a constant tightness in his right knee, which continued to get worse. “It filled with fluid, and later my left elbow got a large, swollen puss ball on it.”

Jon thought his ailment was a soccer injury. “Being a typical guy, I figured it would go away and waited two months to see a doctor.” He then endured three grueling months of doctors’ visits and misdiagnoses, even after blood work and an MRI. Jon was scheduled for knee surgery, until the orthopedic surgeon he was referred to discovered the problem was actually Lyme disease and began treatment. “About three months after I started antibiotics I was able to hike, then jog and finally got back on the bike,” Jon says. “Getting to normal speed and strength took four months.” He’s been symptom free for several years and was told he is cured.

Doctors say more accurate tests for diagnosing the disease are in the works, including those that screen for newly identified mutations found in people with Lyme, but they are years from FDA approval. In the meantime, it is important to remember to be your own strongest health advocate. Dr. Rothschild urges anyone bitten to take the tick to Clongen Labs in Germantown, Md. “Patients can download information on Clongen’s site on what to do. I urge them to take the situation in their own hands.” Jon advises anyone with flu-like symptoms and persistent fatigue to do their homework, and consider Lyme disease as a possible ailment. “Don’t let [doctors] shrug it off,” he says. “Get a test, and get a second opinion on the results.”

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A Closer Look
Knowledge is Power When It Comes to Recognizing and Treating the Symptoms of Lyme Disease.

Symptoms
• Often a red rash that looks like a bull’s-eye
• Ongoing fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Intermittent aches and pains
• Confusion and forgetfulness
• Trouble with balance, digestion and sometimes heart problems (in severe cases that have gone unchecked)

To diagnose
• Patients should get a full panel of blood work, including the Lyme titer and Western blot test
• Take infected tick to Clongen Lab in Germantown for further testing. Visit www.clongen.com.

Treatments
• Antibiotics for 30 days if caught early, longer if the infection persists
• Vitamins
• Probiotics
• Lymphatic drainage
• Detox techniques such as infrared sauna and brushing. Brushing is circular motions with a hand-held brush starting at the feet, working up toward the heart, followed by brushing the arms, again working toward the heart.
• A diet that is low in or free of dairy and gluten, free of shellfish, and includes meats without hormones and preservatives

For more information on the symptoms, diagnosis procedures and treatments for Lyme disease, visit www.cdc.gov.

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Ticked Off
Guard Against Ticks and Bites With These Helpful Tips.

Ticks prefer to live in wooded areas, low-growing grasslands, seashores and yards. Lyme disease is a year-round problem, although April through October is considered tick season, with ticks being very active in the spring and early summer. Limiting possible exposure to ticks reduces the likelihood of infection to tick-borne diseases, and a careful inspection and prompt removal of crawling or attached ticks is crucial. The Washington County Health Department recommends these precautions in areas where ticks are present:

• Wear light-colored clothing, which allows you to see ticks that are crawling on your clothing. Tuck your pants legs into your socks so that ticks cannot crawl up the inside of your pants legs.
• Apply repellents to discourage tick attachment. Repellents containing permethrin can be sprayed on boots and clothing, and will last for several days. Repellents containing DEET (N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide) can be applied to the skin, but will last only a few hours before reapplication is necessary. Follow instructions carefully, and use DEET with caution on children.
• Conduct a body check upon return from potentially tick-infested areas by searching your entire body for ticks. Use a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body — including under your arms, in your belly button, and in and around your ears. Remove any tick you find on your body.
• Check children for ticks, especially in the hair, when returning from potentially tick-infested areas. Ticks may also be carried into the household on clothing and pets and only attach later, so both should be examined carefully to exclude ticks.

Visit www.cdc.gov/Features/StopTicks for additional tips and information on reducing ticks in your yard.