Credit: David Boyle in DC’s flickr stream
Since learning so much about the horrendous impacts of lyme disease—and living many of them—I am absolutely astonished that I don’t see coverage of this health crisis daily in the news. Lack of information is the reason I got so sick myself.
The few articles I’d seen before I got infected erroneously said lyme is easily treated with a short course of antibiotics, and implied that lyme is no big deal. While this is true for many people, for many others it couldn’t be further from the truth.
I had read that a negative test means you aren’t infected. That’s simply not true; testing is inaccurate. Too bad my health care provider and I didn’t get that information.
Sure, a smattering of articles appear here and there. But not enough. And not enough with a full and accurate picture of this complex illness—and the controversy surrounding it.
Meanwhile, I’m encountering or hearing about lyme patients every single day now, and just about all of them say they never knew it could be so devastating—or so complex to diagnose and treat—until they got it.
Shouldn’t lyme be covered as often as possible in the media so people can protect themselves? Shouldn’t everyone be alerted so they know how to get a proper diagnosis and treatment if they’ve been infected by a tick?
Here’s some good news: From my local support group to LymeDisease.org, there’s buzz about a fantastic series of articles on lyme—a series many hope will make it into the Pulitzer Prize spotlight.
LifeLoveLyme 