Lyme Light Podcast

The third episode of the Lyme Light Podcast is now available for download from itunes, zune, yahoo and google. You can listen to it from the website at http://sdawson.podbean.com/ or subscribe to it to listen on your ipod.

In this, the third episode of Lyme Light, I have a wonderful conversation with my good friend and fellow Lymie, Dr. Bill. This is my first interview with a non-family member. Dr. Bill lives a whole state away so we did the interview over the phone. I’m still trying to figure out the best way to do this on no budget. So please bear with me on the sound quality. Dr. Bill has a lot of great things to say and offers a unique perspective on life with Lyme disease because of his medical background. I spent months sitting next to Dr. Bill while he was treatment with me and I hope you will discover what I did; that he is a wise, insightful and endlessly optimistic man.

After you enjoy this podcast, please don’t forget to leave me your comments and critiques at http://sdawson.podbean.com/. Also, if you use iTunes, please don’t forget to give Lyme Light a rating in iTunes. It will go a long way towards securing more listeners.

Thank you and enjoy!

P.S. The audio is a little rough on the latest episode as we are experimenting with cell phones, recording and out of state interviews. We really appreciate Dr. Bill's perspective on living with Lyme Disease.

Follow us on Twitter too:

https://twitter.com/tixsuk

https://twitter.com/LymeDiseaseStuf

Lyme Disease Hats, Mugs, T-shirts : Twist of Lyme

One of our favorite Lyme Disease Apparel designs is:

We offer this design on hats, ceramic travel mugs, coffee mugs, women's cut t-shirts, and men's t-shirts. We offer unique, one of a kind Lyme Disease clothing items at our Cafepress store. Visit our store directly at www.cafepress.com/LymiesUnite to see our other products.

Our Twist of Lyme hat is available in tan and white.

Our Twist of Lyme coffee mug is the perfect size for your favorite morning beverage or late night brew. It's dishwasher and microwave safe.

Our Green Twist of Lyme 100% Hanes Authentic Tshirt is preshrunk and durable. It is easily the most comfortable t-shirt we sell and comes in Standard Fit. Available in S, M, L, XL and 2XL.

Our Women's 100% cotton tee is preshrunk, durable and guaranteed. It comes in Light Pink, Light Yellow, Light Blue and looks great! Buy one today!

www.cafepress.com/LymiesUnite

As the wife of a Lyme Disease IV patient I firmly believe that Lymies need to stick together so that is what led me to start Lymies Unite! As a designer, art is my therapy and what better way to educate those around you than to wear your heart on your sleeve? If you have been affected by Lyme disease then you understand what I mean. Help us spread the word about Lyme Disease because education is the first step towards eradicating this disease!

Lyme Disease Podcast: Lyme Light Episode 2

The newest episode of our Lyme Light Podcast is available for free HERE! Our Lyme Light Podcast is meant to encourage and enlighten those suffering with Lyme Disease and to offer support to their friends, families and caregivers.

Finally, after a month and a half I have finished Episode 2, Part 2 of the Lyme Light Podcast. In this episode i finish up my interviews with my family. In episode 1 you met my three boys, now in episode 2 you meet my elusive 12 year old daughter and my wife, who is my primary caregiver. This episode is a little longer than the first one but I think you’ll enjoy the conversation my wife and I have. Not only is she a bonus mom (step mom) to my four children and my caregiver, but now her mother lives with us and has added a new dimension to our daily life. My wife, Dawnua, is an incredibly strong and inspiring person. I know you’ll be encouraged by what she has to say. We’d love to know what you think about this podcast. It seems one episode per week may have been an over-ambitious goal. But if you find this podcast helpful and informative, we’d love to know! Enjoy.

Visit our Lyme Light Podcast at http://sdawson.podbean.com/ and click on the Listen Now button to hear this episode.

Lyme Podcast

Hello! Scott here. It's been a while since we've updated this blog. But I have some very important news! I have started a podcast called Lyme Light. The point of which is to encourage and enlighten those suffering with Lyme Disease. As well as offer support to their friends, families and caregivers. Now, I'm still in IV therapy for Lyme Disease, have been for over 20 months. But I will try to release one new podcast every week.

For the first episode I interviewed my three sons. It is wonderful to look at life through the eyes of children. Not only is there honesty, but there is strength as well. For Episode 2, Part 2, I will interview my daughter and my wife/caregiver.

Ultimateky, the goal of the podcast is to interview others whose lives have been touched by this awful disease. Additionally, I will be speaking to disability lawyers, health care professionals, health dept. officials, etc. I also hope to interview those who have come out on the other side of this battle in order to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

You can listen to Episode 1 by searching Lyme Light in the podcast section of iTunes, or go directly to my feed site where I will also be posting show notes. Go to sdawson.podbean.com, scroll to the bottom and have a listen. You can also add a podcast player to your blog, facebook page, etc. When you done listening, please a comment. I love to hear your thoughts on the podcast as well as any suggestions for future shows. Thanks and come back often!

Scott Dawson

Lyme Disease Shirts: Ignorance is a choice...

It seems that everywhere we go, we run into a wall of deliberate ignorance...and I am growing weary. It is time for a change. It is time for compassion and understanding. It is time for you, our doctors, to admit that you can't fit Lyme Disease into a pretty little box and call it good. It is a complex, multi-systemic bacterial infection that wreaks havoc on entire families and communities. It is time for you to take a stand and start saving our lives.

You can buy this new LYME DISEASE SHIRT online at www.cafepress.com/lymiesunite

Long Term Antibiotics for Lyme Disease

Bethesda, MD, June 21, 2009 - Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced she has signed a bill allowing doctors to prescribe long-term antibiotics for a patient clinically diagnosed with Lyme disease without fear of sanction for state health regulators. The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS (www.ILADS.org)) applaud Connecticut legislature for unanimously passing the bill and the governor for signing a bill that will protect physicians who treat Lyme disease.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“The fact is that infection with the bacterium that causes acute Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, may also cause a chronic, complex, and often life altering disease that can be highly difficult to diagnose. Reliable diagnostic tests are not yet available,” says Daniel J. Cameron, MD, MPH, president of ILADS, “Chronic Lyme disease patients may face a long hard fight to wellness.”

The bill addresses acute and chronic presentations of Lyme disease and includes a clinical diagnosis of Lyme disease as determined by a physician “…that is based on knowledge obtained through the medical history and physical examination alone, or in conjunction with the testing that provides supportive data for such clinical diagnosis.”

Despite all the progress in raising public awareness of Lyme disease since its discovery in state in the state of Connecticut in the 1970s, the numbers and complexity of Lyme disease continue to grow. The bill offers hope that more physicians knowledgeable about Lyme disease will be encouraged to practice within the State of Connecticut.”

“One of the burdens of Lyme disease, finding treatment, will be lifted from their shoulders, as this law offers hope to residents that more physicians who are knowledgeable about Lyme disease will be encouraged to practice within the State of Connecticut, according to Maggie Shaw, Newtown Lyme Disease Task Force, a patient leader in the Connecticut effort.

ILADS www.ilads.org is a nonprofit, international, multidisciplinary medical society, dedicated to the diagnosis and appropriate treatment of Lyme and its associated diseases. ILADS promotes understanding of tick-borne diseases through research and education and strongly supports physicians and other health care professionals dedicated to advancing the standard of care for Lyme and its associated diseases.

Media contact: Barbara Buchman Lymdocs@aol.com

Click HERE for the direct link to the story.

The Lyme Disease Controversy

The CDC clinical criteria for Lyme Disease which exist for the purpose of monitoring the rate of Lyme disease nationally are quite narrowly defined in order to ensure a high degree of specificity in the diagnosis. These criteria are mainly useful for the early stages and rheumatological presentations of Lyme Disease,such as when a patient appears with an erythema migrans rash, arthritis, a Bell's palsy, or early central neurologic Lyme disease (meningitis or encephalitis). The CDC criteria are not very helpful for helping the clinician to detect late stage neurologic Lyme Disease. For example, the most common manifestation of late neurologic Lyme Disease is cognitive dysfunction (often referred to as "encephalopathy"). A patient who presents with new onset encephalopathy and a positive blood test for Lyme Disease would not be considered by the CDC to be a case of Lyme disease. Although the CDC recognizes that Lyme encephalopathy exists, encephalopathy is not part of the "surveillance case definition". Hence, physicians who rely on the narrow surveillance case criteria of the CDC for clinical diagnosis will fail to diagnose some patients who in fact do have Lyme disease; in these cases, the patient's treatment will either not occur or be delayed. Such delay in treatment may result in an acute treatable illness becoming a chronic less responsive one.

Other physicians who use a broader more inclusive set of clinical criteria for the diagnosis of Lyme disease will make the diagnosis of Lyme Disease and initiate treatment. The latter group of doctors, by treating some patients for "probable Lyme Disease", will make use of antibiotic responsiveness to confirm their diagnostic impression. These physicians, by erring on the side of not letting a patient with probable Lyme Disease go untreated, will help many patients who otherwise would not get treatment; undoubtedly, however, because of the inclusiveness of their diagnostic approach, these physicians will also treat some patients with antibiotics who do not have Lyme Disease. These physicians would argue that the serious consequences for physical, cognitive, and functional disability associated with chronic Lyme Disease outweigh the risks of antibiotic therapy.

Both sets of doctors are practicing medicine in a reasonable fashion based on the application of certain diagnostic principles, although the therapeutic approaches differ considerably stemming from the narrow vs broad criteria for diagnosis. This is the essence of the medical controversy surrounding chronic Lyme disease. Until medical doctors have a test that definitelyy identifies the presence or absence of infection (and such a test does not yet exist), the controversy about the diagnosis and treatment of chronic Lyme Disease will continue. (posted by my friend K.N.)