TOUCHED BY LYME: Share your views about Dr. Phil’s Lyme show
After you’ve seen Dr. Phil’s Lyme segment, please post your comments here.
Today’s much-awaited Dr. Phil program, called “Deadly Consequences,” included a segment about Lyme disease. As I write this blog, it hasn’t aired on the west coast yet, so I haven’t seen it. But I’m getting ready to.
Guests include former model Stephanie Vostry, who is fighting to survive chronic Lyme, TV weathercaster/Lyme advocate Brooke Landau, Dr. Phil’s senior producer Kathy Giaconia, who has Lyme disease, Lyme-literate physician Dr. Chitra Bhakta, and the IDSA’s Dr. Paul Auwaerter.
After I’ve seen it, I’ll be blogging about my reaction. And I want to know what you think about it too. Will you post your comments here? (Hey guys, keep it clean–and no personal attacks, okay?) I’ll forward the responses to the Dr. Phil show.
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TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, LymeDisease.org’s VP for Education and Outreach. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.
I would love for ANY of the people who don’t believe chronic lyme exists to allow me to donate some of my blood to them & IF they end up ever getting a Lyme dx then they can have 21 days of doxy… I have had this disease for at least 18 years without knowing, & I passed it to my children because no one who dealt with me knew that a false positive for syphilis could be lyme… It isn;t easy to find a dr to treat you & even harder to find a dr who will believe that I gave it to my children… this makes me so sad & angry too
What an awesome thing to say to that ISDA guy! Offer to share our blood with him or his family members! I would have loved to have seen his facial expression. I was told by the American Red Cross via email that after treatment I would be able to give blood again. (I have kept this email) I never again had clear titers so I have not infected the blood supply but imagine how many others may have. Let Dr. ISDA think about that. Perhaps the entire blood supply of the American Red Cross is tainted. What if his mother or his child needs a transfusion? Cross contamination.
The words THANK YOU just don’t seem strong enough.
I was diagnosed at 40 with Lyme and co-infections. My Dr.’s believe I’ve had it since I was about 12. All of my children have lyme and co-infections. I’ve been advocating for Lyme education and awareness for the past 6 years. I was not expecting to react the way I did to “Deadly Consequences”. I was sobbing throughout the show and still am. Our stories are all very similar with being misdiagnosed, ignored etc for years and years. To have our stories told and validated today on Dr. Phil was just so emotional. The floodgates opened. Thank you everyone who participated on this show. Your voices are speaking for 100’s of 1,000’s of us. God’s blessings on you all!!
Perhaps one of the medical professionals should weigh in on these seizures. Any thoughts they are coming from her use of “whippits”? Does anyone besides me think this is odd and and most dangerous? Isn’t this same drug use “whippits” what caused Demi Moore to have a seizure? As someone on the show stated, during most seizures, one loses consciousness. Why is she not on anti-epileptic drugs?
You do not have to lose consciousness in order to have seizure..For example, simple partial seizures vary in severity,duration,and symptoms depending on area of brain affected, and you do not lose consciousness..She obviously was having seizure activity and severe neuromuscular symptoms and was using the whippits as a coping mechanism to dull her symptoms and sedate herself..
I would like to add to my previous reply post..I am a medical professional..I do have chronic lymes..Was seen by top MD’s and they could give me a definitive diagnosis, but confirmed I had neuro deficits like achalasia on barium swallow..Google achalasia’ ..it’s one symptom you can’t fake..went to lyme lit MD and confirmed on lab lymes…have been quite ill almost 3 years..probably had it a lot longer..newly diagnosed..This is sickening to know people are suffering from something with treatments that work, and they’re not being diagnosed or treated
I went to Mayo..where confirmed achalsaia, among other neuro deficits..but was not given any diagnosis or cause for all my symptoms..they never tested for lymes..Even though I had received 3 weeks iv rocephin for severe urinary tract infx and consequently had a bad herx while on IV, but after tx a lot of neuro signs were improved, some gone..when I asked neuro MD at Mayo what he thought about the correlation between IV antbx and symptom improvement, he abruptly ended the consult and left room..for myself, if a patient evere displayed that kind of reaction to a treatment I would explore why and continue to treat if they were still symptomatic…Call me crazy, but is that not just plain common sense? Do no harm to ur patients, that includes not leaving them in a state of suffering if there is safe treatment to cure their illness..
Hi,
I have been diagnosed with an esophageal motility with several other neurological symptoms also. I have gotten bit by several ticks and wondering if I have Lymes disease. What test did you do? How have you treated it? Are you any better? S Griffin
She is using the nitrous oxide to help reduce pain because she can not get the help she needs from doctors. You do what you need to do if you can’t get help from the medical society. Anyone that has been in terrible pain and can not get the appropriate help and medication understands, those that have never been in this situation where you just want to die because you hurt so bad don’t understand. She is not on anti-seizure meds because she can not afford them or get them because the doctors are being stupid and saying it is all in her head. Those of us that have Lyme have been through the same thing over and over with doctors not believing us. Doctors are so hesitant to prescribe the pain medication necessary it is rediculus and criminal in my opinion. We have the medication to help with pain but they won’t prescribe it – stupid.
Dear Dr. Phil,
Thank you for doing a show on Chronic Lyme disease. Education for all about this very serious, real, physical disease is imperative to improve timely diagnosis and proper, effective treatment.
My life has been taken from this terrible disease because I was not properly diagnosed and as a result, not properly treated. My prayer is that your show will be a springboard of awareness about Lyme disease, resulting in no more lives lost through death or no quality of life, as a result of Lyme disease.
Please feel free to use my story as an education tool of what undiagnosed, untreated Lyme disease can do; the devastation it can cause.
http://www.helpelizabeth.net
Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Incoherent structure to the show left me with an unsatisfied feeling. Even tho the good Dr. says he doesn’t show seizure videos in order to be sensationalistic, can’t help thinking that, in fact, is exactly what he is doing. Show was unbalanced, should have had better medical advisors and given them more time to debate the issue of whether Lyme is “real” or not (as if that is really the question). Overall, a missed opportunity to educate people about prevention and/or enlighten them. Disappointing.
I do hope Dr Phil gives this topic a full hour so it can be talked about in a more detailed, methodical fashion. But I’m happy that he dared cover the subject; not too many are brave enough to do that. Doctors just don’t want to lose their licenses so who can blame them.
It was great..Of course that dumb doc who says long term antibiotics is a placebo affect needs to go!!!! PLEASE…really? This is the crap we lymies have to put up with… Dr. B was awesome! Good for her… Tell those women that they didn’t get better with long term antibiotics and I thought they were gonna rip that doctor via skype, right out of the screen. Would like to have seen that debate progress. Good show. Good intro to lyme.
So very emotional today. Chronic Lyme is so very true. I’d like to see more television shows covering like you did today. Thank You
Thank you dr phil we need more leaders such as yourself to talk about lyme and why drs are not allowed to help us get better. I found a dr who has given me back my life. But why do we have to hide our illness? We need help telling our stories
me back my life by treating me. I would be i a wheelchair. If not for him. But why
Thank you Dr. Phil this only touched on the physically and mentally that this disease does to a person. I would love to see a whole show dedicated to Lyme.
When I was diagnosed with lyme I was told the test showed I have had it for some time and further testing would show how long. I felt it was unnecessary, just fix it. The idea of someone to say it is all in your head. Please just try to put a 12 year old boy to bed, to tell them they are now sick and can’t play sports or run with their friends because their mother thinks they should be sick. I know the argument of slowly making a child a hyprO???? but OVER NIGHT?? Please give us your explanation for that one. and a hundred more. Please look at the human side of your research.
Disappointed it was only 1/2 hour. My partner and I have been on a merry-go-round since last May. He has been to numerous doctors, specialists, 17 day stay in a psychiatric hospital for depression and anxiety, lost 30 pounds in four months, spent 19 days in a physical therapy facility. Not once was the word Lyme Disease mentioned. When describing the symptoms two different people said “it sounds like LD to me:.I asked my primary doc to do a lyme test and of course it came back neg. I got on the internet found a Lyme Literate Doctor. My doctor called her, she faxed the tests to be done by Labcorp. GUESS WHAT IT CAME BACK POSITIVE. Finally he is on antibiotics and other supplements. Too soon to see any results, but most of his symptoms are neurlogical, and EXTREME weakness. This is a crime the way this disease has been and is continuing to be handled. What is wrong with the medical society? I guess when some politicians family contracts LD maybe then will something be done.
What were the tests to be done? and where is that lab? Were you on longer term antibiotic and if so what kind?
My husband went through IgeneX lab in CA. They will test the proper strands to determine Lyme or not.
Thank you Dr. Phil for starting the conversation about the reality of Lyme. I would ask that you please continue it in a full hour show. My 15 year old daughter has been extremely sick for 5 years. She has lost her childhood and we are very concerned about her future. She was sick for a full year before we got her diagnosed. In that year we saw 40 doctors and went to four hospitals….nobody would help. She was dying, literally…she couldn’t walk, feed herself and at times couldn’t even open her eyes. She was a classic Lyme case…yet we had doctors tell us Lyme didn’t exist in CA! Please help get the real story out there….it could have saved my daughter and hundreds of thousands of dollars from us and our insurance.
I am so thankful that Dr. Phil featured this program. I hope that it helps wake Americans up to the reality of Lyme disease and its deadly, and life-undermining effects. It would be nice to for once be take seriously, to stop the stigmatic reactions. to inform the public of the truth, and to begin the process of integrating Lyme and its diagnostic and treatment into consciousness of the medical community. It is time for the empirical and clinical debates to merge and start working for the people who are ill and need help.
I was not impressed by the Dr. Phil show today on Lyme disease. Yes, he did provide 3 great lyme stories and even featured some footage from the wonderful movie “Under Our Skin”, but he kept putting his psycho-babble spin on it and taking the critic point of view while hounding the guest with questions about whether or not she was faking her illness, in spite of the fact that she was sobbing onstage after watching the videos of her own horrific seizures. He took this point of view to play devil’s advocate—I get that—but he did not stress to the public how often lyme patients are not believed by doctors, family, friends, and the public or what we go through to get one doctor to diagnose/treat us properly. A lot of people think Dr. Phil is a know-all and they look up to him, and his demeanor today was enough to reinforce what the nay-sayers believe anyway about lyme disease and those who “claim” to have chronic lyme. I wonder if he would have done that if it were HIS family member or members suffering the way we suffer!!
Thank you for taking the time to address Lyme Disease. My family is actually just learning about it…2 months ago, we got life-changing information. My almost 3 year old ‘autistic’ son, tested positive for Lyme and co infections, and it turns out, my husband and I also tested positive. Thank goodness we found this out now. Our son’s prognosis is now full recovery in 2 years thanks to our amazing LLMD. We are paying completely out of pocket for our treatment, but recovering our son is priceless. Lyme is indeed an epidemic, and I started a blog to document our journey recovering our son (ldmommy.wordpress.com)
Have had Lyme Disease for years but was just diagnosed with it 1 1/2 years ago. Believe, I have had it for 12-13 years. Only caught a portion of the show but my Dr. (IDS) does not believe that there is a such thing as Chronic Lyme Disease. However, there are many more vectors of Lyme Disease then just the tick, which is the most common. There was a short time when being treated with Doxy that I began to feel like my old self but it only lasted 1 month. Looking for a Lyme Disease Specialist in the Springfield Illinois area. Please advise of the treatments that worked for you and durations.
Dr. Phil & brave lyme ladies…
Thanks for helping to spread the word about chronic lyme! Our story is another variation on the same theme…..6 years to get a lyme diagnosis on my very sick child…and in the meantime my other child was stricken with lyme….
Keep up the good work!
Sue V.
Dr. Phil Gets it! It was an excellent show and the IDSA doc looked foolish. To say that there is no study that shows the persistence of lyme is false. The tragedy of this disease was well covered and Dr. Phil’s personal experience with someone he knows helped immensely!. I am so excited that awareness is growing and that this is the year of recognition!
I caught most of the show and have so many more questions now. Mostly what prompted Dr. Phil to do this show? I have an almost 5 yr old autistic son. I have a NT 2 1/2 yr old. Last summer I got very sick and ultimately was diagnosed with Fibro. I tried Lyrica and it made me worse! Did nothing for the pain, could barely talk and had little ability to move my body. I went to a naturopath and got a little bit better, but still so fatigued and pain was managed by muscle relaxants. In December I was prescribed doxycycline for acne and within a week I felt like a fully functioning person again. I went off meds almost two months later b/c my acne wasn’t getting better and within a week I was tired, in pain and not able to more than I could stand with my kids. Then I got the stomach flu, much worse. I went back to my dr and begged for the antibiotics. He dismissed the lymes questions, I’m in HI, however grew up in NJ and lived all over the mainland. My naturo wants to do lyme testing, but it costs so much. I just wish the dr would do it since I have insurance. But for now hopefully he continues to give me the antibiotic because everyday I feel so much better!
I missed it. Can anyone give me a link to where I can view it online?
Here is the link we viewed it through. Lymedisease.org/news/lyme_disease_views/drphil-lyme-episode.html
The problem is that Dr. Phil and his crew were LAZY! The REAL issue here is that LD sufferers in North America are being denied proper medical treatment because, due to the high cost of treatment and the large, ever-growing number of people being infected with LD, insurance companies and governments are striving to shirk their responsibility to pay for treatment. Even THEY know that denying the existence of LD is an outdated strategy for this! So instead, they are making claims that “antibiotics are too dangerous” and taking steps to systematically strip LLMD’s (Lyme-literate MD’s) of their medical licenses – to discourage the majority of physicians from providing treatment! There is no shortage to the controversies surrounding LD. Yet, the show fixated on, and gave a voice to, outdated strategies that OBSTRUCT HEALING. Come on, Dr. Phil! DIG DEEPER! And TRY to make a difference in our lives!
I cannot agree with Chris more. Dig, Dr. Phil. You can find millions of people who have been told, sorry, nothing I can do for you. Here’s some pain medication. You just have to live with it.
I was happy to see national coverage for chronic lyme. My daughter, my husband and I have all been diagnosed with chronic lyme, however, my daughter is the one who is suffering the most. We have fortunately found a doctor who will treat us and she has improved. One of the biggest problems for us is that insurance does not cover the expenses because the guidelines that are put forth by the IDSA are so restrictive that the insurance company uses them to deny coverage and say that we do not have lyme disease. Our out-of-pocket expenses are enormous, as are so many who suffer from this illness. This is where I think the show fell short. More time should also have been given to the controversy within the medical profession and how much it impacts the patient financially, along with the IDSA’s restrictive and ridiculous guidelines. I think a week could be spent on so many aspects of this topic. But I am happy that someone took a first step in trying to create some awareness of the suffering that has been going on. Good job but please keep it up.
I’m glad he did it, but it was way too short. It didn’t give alot of info. Next time he needs to devote a full episode to it.
Dr Phil Thank you for your coverage of Lyme Disease.
Thousands around the World are being left to struggle years with this chronic illness when many of us can and have recovered with long term antibiotic treatment something that is denied us by the IDSA outdated and discredited Guidelines.
Those Guideline authors along with their cronies in other countries have construed to deny the existence of chronic ongoing infection based on only four randomized placebo controlled trials even though persistence has been proven in mice, dogs and monkeys even following 90 days of antibiotics – patients under IDSA guidelines are lucky to get even two weeks antibiotics.
These same IDSA guideline authors and their cronies meanwhile receive many thousands of dollars for research into finding a vaccine. It is like a search for the Golden Fleece – it has taken over thirty years and still no successful vaccine. However a search of the vaccine applications shows these same researchers who deny chronic infection actually contradict themselves when it come to an application for a vaccine – then they recognise chronic on going infection, persistent infection despite several courses of antibiotics and inadequacy of testing.
Here in Europe there are some changes afoot. Certain doctors now in Germany are also like the ILADS doctors finding the guidelines based on IDSA guidelines totally inadequate. In UK where I live our Dept of Health informs me that they are working with the charity Lyme Disease Action and the James Lind Alliance who are reviewing all the research- yes not just the few cherry picked studies that the IDSA authors and their cronies quote ad infinitum in order to support their OPINION.
At last change is afoot here in the UK our IDSA crony has now retired along with her colleague and testing is now going to be done with a different test and in a different lab- here is hoping that those now in charge of this work can move on and let good science be heard and develop better approaches for us here in the UK.
For too long we have been influenced by the IDSA guidelines holding us back – we have several other species of Borrelia in Europe not found in US and so those IDSA guidelines should never have been used to dictate European treatments.
One UK Consultant said to me some years ago that this was the biggest medical disgrace of all time.
The IDSA with it’s Lyme Disease Guidelines has brought it’s own country, one of the biggest nations in the World, into disrepute with these guidelines and doesn’t even realise the damage that has been done to it’s economy by allowing so many people to become chronically ill and thus a drain on economic resources.
It took 4 years of chronic illness to diagnose me by my doctor and then my doctor treated me on long term antibiotics because she could see that on them I improved and off them I deteriorated. Despite being told by our UK, IDSA crony to stop antibiotics she continued to treat me and now I have recovered.
Many are not so fortunate as I have been.
I hope you can do some good investigative journalism on the caliber of Pam Weintraub and give more media time to this dreadful disease and the politics that leave so many thousands around the World suffering un necessarily.
What really upset me (on Dr. Phil) was when the model said that doctors were/are telling her that she is a beautiful girl, and that she just wants attention. The doctors told her she needed a psychiatrist. It is sickening that no one except “Lymies” understand- and did you catch the part where they said doctors are losing their licenses for treating people with Lyme/Chronic Lyme. That is why doctors do not want you to even mention Lyme. They don’t want to touch it with a ten foot pole for fear of losing their license. I went to an infectious disease doctor, and she was going to treat me long-term(via I.V.), but the Centers for Disease Control called her three times and told her she could not treat me. I was ill for five years, feeling like I had the flu everyday, and now, two years later, still tire easily. Doctors have to report that they have a patient that tested positive for Lyme, and the CDC will keep their eye on those doctors, therefore their hesitance to treat patients. I have been reading all of these comments for years, and not commented myself, because people just do not want to hear about it, but I did see Dr. Phil yesterday, and I, too, think he should have spent the entire hour on it. I have been ruined physically, mentally and financially due to this dreaded disease, and have sympathy for those still showing positive for it.
This is exactly how I feel. Doctors won’t even comment when it comes to Lyme. I have shown my blood results to infectious disease and other drs all they do is ignore it. I am frustrated with the ignorance of the medical community. Had I been treated right away for lymes my now 3 year old wouldn’t have been born while hydrocephalus and torticalus. Frustrating yes but I want to know what I can do? I want to make helping chronic Lyme sufferers my new life goal.
Dr. Phil, you are a brave and coureagous man! You have followed your sense of righteousness and exposed on live TV the bizarre lyme disease matrix. We all know that the AMA and the IDSA are very powerful & tight knit organizations that have their hands on the wheel driving us all down this road of out dated tests/treatment/lyme guidelines with blinders on due to the fact that they are only protecting their status/egos/financial gains. It is a very inhumane and self serving to those in power. The only way this will change is for all of us to keep plugging away in our local areas & putting pressure on IDSA, doctors, etc. Dr. Phil, you just gave us all a huge lead in this fight!!!! THank you! We would love to see more on this issue,, Please continue to help us!
My PCP has known me for 30+ years and after reporting titers to the CDC offers only symptomatic treatment. I am sure he fears repurcussions with proper treatment because the only doctor in our little town who did lost his license. I am awaiting an appt with a LLMD in May and am hoping he can save me. How are they to help us with the big dogs at the gate threatening them? I have offered to drive to another state to be a subject in university studies but never got a call. All they have to do is ask and I can guarantee they would have plenty of subjects for their tests. I have an advantage for now; I know exactly when I was infected (2 yrs ago) and am hoping to stave off the long term disease processes with this new doctor. I can only hope that this is the beginning of a public forum for a documented disease. We can’t all be crazy. Good luck to all and bless us, every one.
i posted on dr. phils site. i think we all should. Perhaps if the response is overwhelming he will do another segment. here is url: http://community.drphil.com/boards/?EntryID=31912&SubCategoryID=84&CommentID=0#CommentID_0
Dr. Phil,
Thank u so much for taking a leap into such a controversial debate. Just like so many on this message board, our family has been struck with this awful disease. My husband has been sick for years and has been in and out of drs offices. Finally, last summer he was diagnosed with lyme disease. He has dealt with similar symptoms that the guests on your show expressed. Lots of neurological issues, body twitches, fatigue, flu-like symptoms, heart palpatations, seizures, and severe pain. These should not be symptoms of a 37 year old, at one time athletic man. After 3 months of oral antibiotics our Lyme literate dr has scheduled IV meds to start the first of May. We r hoping that this will help him get his life back.
If you are looking for support and information about Lyme disease, please join other patients and caregivers in our online state group. Find yours by going to http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/statenamelyme.
An after show that only seen in Lyme forums is unacceptable. I am deeply disappointed with Dr. Phil and what and whom he choose to focus on. It appeared he was debunking a portion of “Under the Skin”, or he just thought his show would be improved by showing a young girl thrashing about in her shorts. But you can bet even though it was presented as a question “Is Lyme Disease sexually transmitted”, that will make an impression. Not the kind of impression I want, as in more funds for Lyme Disease Study. I was in one of the four government studies at the NIH, good heavens, that was back in the late 1990’s. Dr. Phil presented a show that will lead the public to continue thinking we are hypochondriacs.
I am so glad that Dr. Phil has addressed this issue. It has quite possibly become endemic in size, but our medical community is in denial about thousands suffering. My husband died last year from lyme disease. He was first misdiagnosed with ALS and even after we provided our own Western Blot + test for lyme, Kaiser denied that test result and told us to take him home to die. We paid out of our own money to treat him and 6 months later, we went from being paralyzed and on a vent to walking 50 yards and red plugged. If he truly had ALS, this would have been impossible. It is so sad that such a small group of people are waiting for the human vaccine to come out so that they can make millions upon millions of dollars while they spend time now just lying to the suffering community and miseducating the medical community to regurgitate what they are teaching. We know the dirty truth, as does the attorney general. We used the website Caringbridge.org. to let all our friends and relatives know how my husband was doing and met up with hundreds of other lyme sufferers who were following our story. It was hearbreaking to see him get so much better with his lyme literate doctor and then to realize we could not save him. He had the bacteria in him for 8 years before he died and it had destroyed his muscle system so it was impossible to breath on his own. I am writing this for my husband Bart, 47 years of marriage. He said if he could save one person with his story then this was ok. Heidi Fenolio
Thank you for giving attention to Lyme disease – it’s a story that needs to be told.
Dr. Phil, I just wanted to say i have this disease and God has kept me alive even though im suffering 24 hours a day, so i can help spread the word about the devastation it causes. Back in 2007 i was so healthy, homeschooling my son and taking care of my adult daughter with mental retardation and cerebral palsy in a wheelchair. I started to experience symptoms and went to so many doctors and had so many tests that most people didnt believe i was even sick at all cause all test would come back negative…so most of the docs i saw that it was in my head and so the tortuous journey began…the suffering is hard to put into words, but i lost the strength to care for my daughter anymore so i had to send her to her grandmas house far away…i still miss my angel…and she doesnt even have any idea of what this disease is like ..she wouldnt understand…And i just had my son left who is 15 now…hes spent most of his middle school and some of his high school years watching me suffer horrible and hes so afraid…hes prayed for me everyday…hes an angel sent from heaven…i would have never made it this far without him…And my husband lost his job..due to all the time he had to be off work…now things are deperate..We are fixing to lose our home of over 10 years…But i know others are suffering even more i pray for them too…i will never loose hope…I WILL SURVIVE THIS!!!!!!!My whole story is to long to put here…but i would be willing to come and tell my story to the world to save others from the unbelievable pain and suffering…and what i do now to survive without any support from doctors…Thank you so much…Keep me and my family in your prayers….Blessings Cynthia
Hi Dr. Phil and staff, I want to thank you for attempting to cover such a controversial and complex issue as Chronic Lyme Disease. I am a health care professional, and after watching the show, was left with several concerns:
– The show was too bried
– The topics were not adequately covered
– There was too much emphasis on subjective information, esp the guest on stage, who shared some ambiguous information (talking seizures, and use of nitrous oxide) which I think ended up confusing and unfocusing the issue
I hope you are able to readdress this issue in a future show. I suggest that you ask Dr. Joseph Burrascano to be a guest (ILADS, LLMD). This issue actually brings up the adequacy of current medical practices to deal with chronic illness and with emerging new diseases and symptoms. It’s a big deal, and one that is REAL, and cannot be ignored. This is a turning point in medicine!
I thought that the show was fairly well done. However, I was a little worried in the beginning about the way that Dr. Phil was questioning Stephanie and how he was coming up with reasons why people make up diseases.
One thing that was pretty clear several times during the show is that Dr. Phil probably would not have done this show had his producer not been severely affected by Lyme. Regardless of the reasons though, I think it is a positive way to bring awareness to Lyme disease. Unlike other radio programs and news articles I’ve seen which only present the IDSA standpoint on Lyme, Dr. Phil did feature a LLMD and painted long-term antibiotics in a favorable light to viewers. All of the patients had improved with long-term antibiotics. Risks were minimally discussed, which is a good thing in my opinion.
Thanks to Dr. Phil and Kudos to you all for producing an excellent fair, true version of what is going on out there. Thank you for following up behind the scenes in ‘uncensored’.
I have two children with Lyme Disease. My son has missed an entire year of school from neurological issues, neuropathy, GI problems, profound exhaustion and the list goes on.
Local hospitals have no answers as (according to them) he’s really not sick. Fortunately, we travel to a LLMD that is getting both of the kids well through long term antibiotics.
Please keep the press coming… your helping hundreds of thousands of people.
Dear Dr. Phil:
Thank You For Helping Us Show That There Is Such A Disease As Chronic Lyme Disease!
I Was One Of Only 35 Patients Chosen For A Study At Columbia Presbyterian Hospital In NY Several Years Ago Led By Dr. Brian Fallon. He Had An Extremely Hard Time Getting The Results Of That Study Published! (Can You Just Imagine)
I Myself Have Had Lyme Disease For Over 20Years. I Have Suffered Many Many Physical,Neurological and Cognitive Problems Over Those Years. I Am Not Going To Get Into A Long Recitation Here As I Do Not Feel It Is Necessary Other Than To Just Simply Say Thank You Sir From The Bottom Of My Heart!!
After viewing your show with Dr. Bhakta on Lyme Disease, it would be greatly appreciated if you would do an hour long show on this disease. After having a daughter with Lyme for the pas 18 years, some people do not believe it does exist. So many people listen to you Dr, Phil that I’m sure an in depth show would “maybe” convince people that Lyme does exist. Thank you very very much !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dr. Phil,
Thank you for being brave and considerate enough to open up this debate on your show. I hope that you continue to explore this disease. I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease approximately 18 months ago, by a Lyme Literate physician after I was displaying neuro symptoms. I live in the “hotbed” of tick-borne illnesses in Dutchess County, NY. Even many physicians here ignorantly deny the existence of chronic Lyme Disease. It is a crime that so many people are suffering. The funny thing is that many physicians in our area such as orthopedists, ob/gyns, dermatologists, etc are much more open and accepting of this disease than the internal medicine physicians to whom most patients present to with their symptoms. The specialists seem to “get it”, yet those who should be in the forefront (internal med and family care), are the ones who do not want to get involved. Denying medical treatment, and accusing patients of needing psychiatric help is the method of treatment they choose. Our own infectious disease specialist told me my symptoms were psychological and asked me if my husband beats me. Nothing in our conversation should have steered him there – he simply didn’t want to help. I have since been told that he has “treated” hundreds of patients in our area the same way, by belittling them and turning them away sad, furstrated and ill!!! He barely touched me during the”exam”, and he knew I had been bitten. If it was not for friends whom I now consider my angels, I would have struggled much longer looking for help. These friends have had their own experiences with chronic Lyme disease and quickly put me in the hands of a Lyme Literate office, led by Dr. K. Liegner. I appreciated your show, the women who spoke from personal experience, and Dr. Bhatka for having the compassion and intelligence to truly care for these people. God bless them all. Please do not stop with this one show!
I’m skeptical about this. I’ve had crnhoic fatigue for more than 10 years, and have gotten suckered into spending tons of money on countless useless supplements that promise miraculous results and then don’t deliver. I’m tired of getting my hopes up like this is it!! I’ve finally found the thing that will cure me! only to be let down when the product doesn’t work. This ribose stuff sounds too good to be true, and basically Dr. Teitelbaum is the only doctor who is promoting it.
Thank you Dr. Phil and staff for bringing this issue to light. I have suffered from chronic lyme for 18yrs. I did not get the diagnosis until Dec. 2011 and I am currently seeing a LLD. I am being treated with antibiotics, about 2 1/2 months now, and I am still struggling. I can’t imagine how many people out there are suffering with lyme and don’t even know it and the people that have been diagnosed are denied coverage from Health Insurance and cannot afford to get the treatment they need. It is a very sad situation. Like many others who have commented, I believe this only scratches the surface. I would love to see more episodes on this subject
I think it was a start of a national conversation, but needs improvement, like not disbelieving a suffering patient, Stephanie, who gave permission to have her seizures shown on the show. I think more discussion with an LLMD needs to happen, to give people lots of medical info about what’s happening. I think it is imperative to discuss some preventive habits.
Yes it was good that this subject was brought to light on this show. However I was disappointed as it barely scratched the surface. I refer to the thousands that go to multiple doctors before they can get one to listen. The tens of thousands of dollars that are spent because the labs and treatments are not covered by medical insurance. I personally went undiagnosed for 12 years before finding a doctor that figured out that I had lyme. I was hospitalized 3 times for a week at a time because my whole system was so unstable. Yet they said they could find nothing wrong. I have spent over $150,000 dollars in treatment, lost my house, and now am just treading water as I am unable to pay for the help I need. This disease is devastating – physically, psychologically, and financially. That is what need to be brought to forefront.
I too have Lyme Disease and have been treated for 10 yrs+ with 2 yrs of high dose antibiotics in Pic-lines and all OTHER PRESCRIPTION DRUGS available…I too have seizures and NO…I do not use “whippits”! The pain is great but I do not want to take any more drugs than absolutely neccessary. But then again, I try to take everything natural to help before any medicine and I have never done recreational drugs in ANY for. No alcohol or smoking etc…. EVER! And after all that I have been through I can not imagine why anyone would ever take drugs at all unless it was LIFESAVING! Not for emotional outlets but for physical neccessity only. It is absolute HELL and I am so grateful for the visual on National TV of someone else having seizures with Lyme!!!
THANK YOU DR PHIL!!! PLEASE DO ANOTHER SHOW ON LYME…and I agree…WE NEED THE FULL HOUR! Much Love to those who shared on the program already. You were Courageous and Truthful! XXXOOO
I ALSO passed Lyme disease on to my 6 children in Uteral and they all have the disease at varying levels…if anyone ever wants multiple testimonies of the varying affects of Lyme from mild to wild together in one easy spot…COME TALK TO US!
Some very exciting research lately has discovered why Lyme disease resists antibiotics and keeps coming back – often worse! When chronic diseases – especially Lyme disease – are threatened by antibiotics or the immune system, they are able to defend themselves by building protective biofilm shields! Then antibiotics and the immune system defenses can’t get to them. They are protected.
The Lyme spirochete can sense a negative living condition, or if an outright attack comes against it. It will start to collect blood cells, heavy metals and other plasma to build “mucus” around it. Then, it adds fibrin, a fibrous mesh, to hold everything together. In a real tight form, it is often referred to as a cyst.
Then a biofilm usually adds many other different co-infection bacteria and can become quite a complicated structure. It is also still active behind the biofilms (cysts are inactive). Sometimes an antibiotic will have a short success and, then, stalls out. When the antibiotic is removed, Lyme disease spreads out and can become even more active!
Even worse – if the Lyme was exposed to an antibiotic before protecting itself, it can mutate behind the biofilm. Then, if exposed to the antibiotic again, it has become resistant to it! That is why so many Lyme patients have had to go through many different antibiotics over years.
I love all of you! Hope you all the best. My test is in the mail headed to california! I know what each of you is going through, and Stephanie, keep your head up!
Peace out
gong
My partner has been suffering with Lyme desease for 4 years, he has seen over 15 different doctors none of which have diagnoise his illness. He paid 500 euros to a clinic in Germany and finally has been diagnoised, he took the diagnosis to his doctor and all his doctor said was “Are you sure you have Lyme desease” shame on all doctors and the governments, there is no help for this desease infact i think they really don’t care, as this silent killer slowly kills off thousands of people every year. When the public finally realice how serious this desease is it will be too late. it seems like a conspirasy as doctors surely cannot be as ignorant as they pretend to be.