Bowman's Thoughts and Things

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Ticks Aren't the Only Parasites

Hello, everyone,

I ran across this letter the other day and I thought I would copy it to the blog. I can't help but feel the exact same way this author feels about the physicians of the CDC who continue to show their ignorance about Lyme Disease. This was first published in Forbes magazine. It was written to Forbes as a letter to the editor by a pychiatrist named Virginia T. Sherr. I thank her for saying what needed to be said. I hope you all will agree.
I found this on a great website:
http://thehumansideoflyme.net/

Be well,

Richard

Dear Editor,
Neuro-Lyme, (persistent, chronic, active Lyme disease) is a burgeoning epidemic. My psychiatric practice has been filled with the unfortunate but previously misdiagnosed victims of tick-borne diseases for at least the last 10 years.
There are literally hundreds of high quality, peer-reviewed, easily obtained, scientific articles credibly attesting to the devastating persistence of this living spirochete-caused neurologic disease and its crippling effects on whole populations. However, instead of pursuing such research and presenting a balanced picture of the science, your reporter has cited only the Infectious Diseases Society of America, whose framing of the disease represents the most radically restrictive of all viewpoints in what is one of the more hotly-contested controversies in all of medicine.
For decades, physicians holding to IDSA's view of Lyme disease have turned away desperately ill patients by telling them they must be mentally unbalanced to imagine that they or their children are physically ill. These patients show up at my psychiatric practice crippled and in great pain, barely able to function. Only after receiving appropriate long-term antibiotic and immunity-enhancing treatments, usually far exceeding the IDSA guidelines, are their lives restored.
Alleged, inappropriate financial gain associated with some Lyme-treating physicians was alluded to in your reporter's poorly researched piece. IDSA authors, on the other hand, have documentable financial conflicts of interest that were never mentioned in your article. These include patents for a vaccine still under development in Europe and the US, financial interests in Lyme disease products such as test kits, and, most importantly, employment by the insurance companies that stand to lose money if the epidemic is acknowledged and paid for. The vested conflicts of interest of these authors are seldom revealed when they publish in their authoritative journals.
While these few exploitative yet influential academicians violate everything Hippocrates ever stood for, rank and file physicians stand by confused. In their impotency, they unknowingly are allowing this epidemic of tick-borne infections to grow exponentially.

Virginia T. Sherr, MD, DLFAPA

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Brooke Landau- A Battle with Lyme

Hi everyone,

Please take the time to watch this video. There are a few mistakes in the recording, but it doesn't compromise the message. I found this vide on you tube and it exemplifies the struggle of those of us with Chronic Lyme. Please note the mention of intravenous antibiotics and the use of a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber. I would love to here from anyone who has had success with the Hyperbaric oxygen. have been contemplating using this therapy, if I can figure out where I can get it.

http://youtu.be/iaAjCRBcKJs

Researchers Say Local Antibiotic Therapy Stops Lyme Disease

Hi all,

This a great article from our friends at Infectioncontrolltoday.com. This is the kind of research that is needed for us as Lyme sufferers. I am again on long term intravenous antibiotic therapy. My insurance company is trying to deny the payment of this treatment. I am appealing their decission, of course. Meanwhile, many of you know how effective intravenous antibiotic treatment can be for more than 30 days. If any of you have any experience with this treatment, I hope you would comment and let me know how you are doing. Your experience might be extremely helpful for those of us who are being treated or contemplating this kind of treatment. I started with two grams of Rocephin once a day, for 30 days. Now, I am doing one gram once a day and this has been going on for two months now. I have certainly been "herxing" and I have had some tough days,feeling really bad. However, I am feeling stronger in many ways and I feel as if I am getting a little better every day. I am being helped by my neurologist, who has had some experience with Lyme disease. I can't tell you great he has been to me. He is seriously trying to make me feel better. I have been plagued with this disease since 2001 and I have undergone many types of treatment. The only times I have really felt better is when I have intravenous antibiotic therapy. I have had a Groshong catheter inserted in my chest. It has never been a problem maintaining the catheter and keeping the area around the insertion clean. Previously, when Dr. Martz was in practice here in Colorado, he started me on the first treatment of the intravenous antibiotic protocol. I was really sick and in bed then. The therapy went on for about eight months and it got me out of bed and functioning as a human being again. I had the catheter removed and felt better for a year or so. However, that has been about six years ago and I have been struggling with flareups of the disease again. Many of you,probably, have had similar experiences, and all of us would love hearing about them. I am listening to the news right now and Colorado Springs has already received their first snow storm. It looks like winter time is on its way and we are going to skip fall. I hope not!!! I hate the cold since i have had this disease. It just makes everything hurt worse.

Be well,

Richard

Lyme disease is a dangerous disease which is transmitted by ticks. Blood-sucking ticks ingest the agents that cause the disease – bacteria of the species Borrelia burgdorferi and its relatives – during a blood meal, and subsequently transmit them to the next victim they feast on, often a person. It is estimated that, in Western Europe, up to half of all ticks carry the bacteria. Although the early symptoms of the illness are quite mild, if left untreated, it can result in serious damage to the skin, the joints, the heart and the nervous system, and effective therapy becomes very difficult.
A team of researchers led by the veterinary bacteriologist professor Reinhard Straubinger at Ludwig-Maximilians Universität (LMU) München has now shown, in an animal model, that application of a gel containing the antibiotic azithromycin to the site of the bite rapidly terminates the infection. The efficacy of this local antibiotic therapy for the treatment of borreliosis in humans is now being tested in a Phase III clinical trial. In the meantime, though, patients must still undergo antibiotic treatment for several weeks and, in many cases, the drug must be administered intravenously – which is distressing not only for children. Furthermore, treatment measures are often initiated on suspicion, because the bacteria are not detectable in the blood soon after one has been bitten by an infected tick.
"Our approach simply involves applying a transparent, self-adhesive plaster to the site of the wound," says Straubinger. "Because the plaster contains very little antibiotic, the effects are localized and side-effects are negligible."
Reference: Knauer J, et al. Evaluation of the preventive capacities of a topically applied azithromycin formulation against Lyme borreliosis in a murine model. Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy online, Sept. 15, 2011.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

How About some Diversion?

Hi My Friends,

I thought I would be a little different and offer a diversion to those of you who like games. Sometimes it is just better to take our mind off of our problems and get some diversion. If you enjoy airplanes and flying, well I have a fun game for you. The name of this game is Proflight Simulator and it is a lot of fun. It is a blast!! So if the Lyme b"blahs" have you down, I suggest you give this a try. I have to see a couple of doctors next week for some Lyme related problems and I have been dreading it. I needed to find something to do for some enjoyment. I hope it may work for you as well.

Be well and enjoy,
Richard

http://4e65bil9alkcdrnm5cg7ocleao.hop.clickbank.net/?tid=PROFLIGHT

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Lyme Disease Inspires Woman to Help

Richard Gwin

Tammy Farmer sits with her son Logan, 10, as he plays with his pet guinea pig Stewart. Farmer unknowingly was a carrier of Lyme disease when she gave birth to Logan. Farmer and Logan were diagnosed three years ago.

Micki Chestnut

September 11, 2011

When Tammy Farmer gave birth to her son, Logan, her life changed dramatically, but not in the usual way.
Without knowing it, Farmer was a carrier of Lyme disease, and it wasn’t until she went through the physical stress of childbirth that she began to experience symptoms like excruciating pain and cognitive impairment. Because the tick-borne bacterium that cause Lyme disease can pass through the placenta, Logan was infected before he was born.
As Farmer left the hospital with her newborn, she began the battle of her life, not only fighting for her and her son’s health, but also for other victims of Lyme disease by volunteering for Kansas Lyme Fighters Inc.
Lyme disease can cause a wide array of health challenges that range from gastrointestinal to neurological to musculoskeletal, making it easy to misdiagnose. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the 328,128 cases of Lyme disease that were confirmed between 1990 and 2008 represent only 10 percent of the actual cases of Lyme disease, according to the Lyme Disease Association. In fact, Farmer was misdiagnosed for seven years with baffled doctors telling her she had everything from multiple sclerosis to lupus.
At times, she was so devastated by the illness that she couldn’t function. “At my lowest moments, I was in bed, incapacitated, because it hurt so badly. It hurt just to have someone walking on the carpet outside my bedroom,” Farmer said.
Farmer and Logan were finally diagnosed three years ago and started aggressive antibiotic treatment. While she still has bad days, she’s beginning to recover. And she’s using her newfound health to help others who suffer from tick-borne illnesses through a nonprofit group she helped to found, Kansas Lyme Fighters. Her volunteer work has been so transformative in the lives of people who battle Lyme disease that the organization nominated Farmer for the United Way Roger Hill Volunteer Center’s 2010 Wallace Galluzzi Outstanding Volunteer award.
In addition to helping raise awareness of tick-borne illnesses, Farmer runs support groups and works as an advocate. But mostly, she comes alongside those who are sick and offers them support and encouragement.
“Tammy’s strength is building community,” said Peggy Blumhagen, president of Kansas Lyme Fighters. “She has opened her home to multiple people who were suffering and created an environment of acceptance, comfort and love. Tammy rarely shares how she feels except when it helps to encourage people who are about to give up on their life. When they realize how much she is suffering also, they gain courage and strength to keep trying to get well.”
Farmer shrugs off the praise. “After something so devastating has affected my family’s life, I couldn’t help but help others,” she says. “I was sick for years before it was figured out, and that’s not uncommon at all. It happens to people all the time, and their lives are as devastated as mine was. Or worse. I had family to support me, but I know a lot of people who don’t.
“When you go through something like this, you narrow down what is important in your life. People are important, and that’s what makes life go around. Making them feel better, even for just a moment.”
For information or to volunteer for Kansas Lyme Fighters, see kansaslymefighters.org.

Originally published at: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/sep/11/firsthand-family-experience-lyme-disease-inspires-/

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

New Blood Test Available- Great News

Physicians:

Patients:


		View more FPInterviews information New Borrelia Culture Test - Faster & More Accurate September 5, 2011 Joe Burrascano, Jr., MD has announced a new lab test available for Lyme doctors to use in determining if Lyme is present. There is no need to wait for antibodies to form since this is a culture-based test. This should provide much faster and more accurate detection, and allow Lyme patients to receive treatment as soon as possible. Please read below for Dr. Burrascano's description of the new test: In my work as a consultant, I have been working with a private lab located near Philadelphia, Advanced Laboratories, Inc. They wanted to develop a unique and high value test, and, with my interest in Lyme, I naturally encouraged them to work on a better Lyme Disease test. As a result of some very intensive work on the part of a group of some very brilliant scientists, they have succeeded in developing a reliable and rapid blood culture for Borrelia! See the attached press release. They actually have rolled out two separate panels- a basic one and an advanced one. In the basic panel, the blood sample is cultured and the positives are identified by histology and growth characteristics, and confirmed by fluorescent immunostaining. Positive reports will include a picture of the Bb growing in that very culture. The advanced panel will do this, but will also do PCR using well characterized and published DNA primer sets, and then all positive PCRs will be confirmed by DNA sequencing. Remarkably, turn-around time can be as brief as ten days for the basic test, and seven to ten more days for the advanced panel. This test is being rolled out gradually, with no big public announcements yet. That is why I am e-mailing you, so you can be among the first to be able to order this testing, before the lab gets swamped. Apparently you have to contact the lab to have test kits sent to you. The blood must be sent out the same day it is collected, and the lab provides a prepaid return FedEx mailer. As the lab is not yet accepting specimens over weekends, please do not collect blood on Fridays. The bad news- New York being New York, this culture will not be available to NY State practitioners for several months. The States of California and Florida may have a delayed availability- I am not sure, so please contact the lab to get this info. However, all other states are OK. I have no idea on pricing or on insurance issues- again, you will have to contact them for this info. The lab plans to have a booth at the conferences at LDA and at ILADS, so hopefully their presence will allow all to field questions. The next step in their research is also equally exciting and ground breaking, but I am not at liberty to say yet what is being planned. I will be travelling over the rest of this week, so I am afraid that I may not be able to answer any calls or e-mails until I get back, so if I do not respond to any contact efforts, please be patient. As many of you recall, I learned the basics of true, clinical Lyme over 25 years ago thanks to Bb culturing that was available to me by Dr. Alan MacDonald. The new methods being used by this Pennsylvania lab go far beyond what MacDonald was able to do, so I am very excited to not only share this news with you, but I also cannot wait to see how it will change how we practice. I also predict that Bb will be found in a lot of people, from mildly to severely ill, and that will redefine the role of the immunologist in Lyme to find out why some people recover and why others do not. Strain info as provided by the DNA sequencing data will be equally fascinating to follow. So, enjoy the good news, and PLEASE, if you are going to begin culturing your patients, keep good records of your results. Data collection and tabulation has never been as important as it is now, with a quantum advance in testing technology. Best wishes, from Dr. B................................! To read the press release with contact information, Click here