Lyme Disease Awareness Month!

Ok... I will get to posting pictures of Easter and Madilyn's "egg hunt" and our new home (once we have couches and a kitchen table), but today I want to focus on something quite close to my heart.

Within the last year my aunt was diagnosed with Lyme's disease after a very long struggle with an "unknown" disease and issues so great they thought she may have a brain tumor, or MS. All along it was Lyme's Disease. The month of May is Lyme Disease awareness month. I know it's not quite May, but I wanted to post this now before I forgot. Down here in the south, ticks are not quite as prevalent as in the northeast and midwest, but they are still here! It's spring, it's warm and they are out there!

Here's some unknown facts:

1). You are more than 10 times more likely to get Lyme Disease than West Nile Virus. Ticks are everywhere and you are most likely to be bitten in your own yard.

2). Lyme Disease has surpassed AIDS as the #1 infectious disease in the U.S.

3). Testing for Lyme Disease is UNRELIABLE. To be tested correctly you must have your blood tested through a tick borne specialty labe such as Igenex Lab in Palo Alto.

4). The average primary Md knows NOTHING about Lyme Disease even though they believe they do.

5). Lyme Disease, if not caught right after the bite can become chronic with multiple systemic (body-wide) symptoms that is extremely hard to treat and patients only hope is long term antibiotics, sometimes YEARS and hope for remission.

6). You know someone with Lyme Disease and they likely don't know it. It is the "great imitator" If you know someone with pain, back problems, knee problems, Fibro, anxiety, migraines - you know someone with Lyme. There are 100 symptoms of Lyme Disease.

7). Only Lyme literate Md's treat Lyme Disease effectively, not found in your local phone book either. Contact The Lyme Disease Association for more information Lyme doctor referral.

8). Lyme Disease enters the central nervous system almost immediately and even if "cured" you can relapse many years later.

9). The symptoms of LD are so devastating it can be completely disabling with symptoms similar to Parkinsons, Alzheimer's, MS or minor as migraines and insomnia and may be the cause of these diseases!

10). Lyme Disease may be responsible for all psychiatric illness and the number one cause of LD death is suicide.

11). Lyme Disease can kill.

These are not all necessarily approved and noted by doctors, but something to think about! The best Lyme disease treatment is still controversial! My aunt went to one of the best hospitals in the country and was told she had psychiatric problems... when she was tested properly (almost 2 years later), she was informed she had Lyme's disease. It goes unnoticed and improperly diagnosed SO often!

For more information you can go to my aunt's blog mylifeinthelymelight.blogspot.com and she has links and videos for more information.

The more people are educated, the more we can spread the word and hopefully there will be more accurate ways to test and diagnose in the future... hopefully the near future!

Thanks for listening! :)