LymeDisease.org launches interactive Lyme Disease Symptom Checklist
The number one problem that Lyme disease patients report is that it takes so long for them to be diagnosed—two or more years in most cases. We all know that early diagnosis is key to successful treatment.
The problem is that people don’t have a convenient way to take evidence to their physicians. At LymeDisease.org we want to change that.
For Lyme Disease Awareness Month, we are launching a new tool on our website—the Lyme disease symptom checker. Our goal is to give patients a way to determine if Lyme disease is likely. And we want to give them the information they need to educate themselves and their physicians about the disease. After answering a series of diagnostic questions with our tool, patients can print out a checklist of symptoms for their physicians.
It’s a brief symptoms checklist that asks up front, “Do you have Lyme disease?” Then it has people check yes or no on various questions. As they check, a text box pops up with some detailed info.
For instance, “Have you been bitten by a tick?” tells them that most people with Lyme don’t recall being bitten by a tick. So it’s instructional in some basic Lyme facts, as well as collecting their data. When they’re done, they can print out the filled-in form and take it to their doctor—where the education process continues. The print out not only describes basic facts that every healthcare provider should know, it also explains the two standards of care and endorses the ILADS guidelines.
The symptom checklist is a good way to increase awareness, educate physicians, and provide patients with the tools they need to be diagnosed and treated more quickly. Patients educating doctors this way can be very effective!
I can’t tell you how many people have said that this type of tool would have prevented major delays in diagnosis. Click here to take the test and then tell all your friends about it.
Many Lyme groups are wondering what might be a good project to launch for May to recognize Lyme Awareness Month. In Arizona, Lyme activists have launched a billboard campaign asking simply “Do you have Lyme disease? Check your symptoms” with a link to our symptom checker. We also have posters. If you or your group is interested in posting a billboard in your area or using the posters at an event, contact pmervine@lymedisease.org. We have some financial support available for this project.
THANK YOU
phyllis,
on your interactive check list, could it be edited and BULLETS added for each sentence so it could be read easier and completely by neuro cognitive folks undiagnosed/untreated for decades?
thanks for your consideration PM 😉
bettyg, iowa activist
47.5 yrs. chronic lyme
Thank you so much for this easy and valuable tool. I can’t wait to spread the news!
That’s Awesome, now if we can get the CDC and Dr.s outside the upper Midwest to acknowledge that Cronic Lyme exists. My friend diagnosed me just with symptoms. Then I was able to find a Lyme Literate Dr.
This is a good tool, Thank You!!
Yes, a bullseye rash is associated with Lyme, but any rash that doesn’t go away can be caused by Lyme as well. I had small red raised lesions, mildly itchy.
very good tool! Thank you!
The idea that Lyme disease only comes from ticks is a popular but erroneous medical myth. Not only can you get it from multiple types of insects, you can also get it in the absence of contact with insects. Borrelia Burgdorferi is everywhere. Many different species and mutations or borrelia exist so the symptoms can vary greatly.
It’s also sexually transmittable and transmittable from mother to fetus
I had lyme last june and was hospitalized for 10 days , had the bulls eye and brain rage .. Last week i pulled a deer tick out of my leg is it a strong possibility i could be infected again?
Thanks, Kelly Clover, for your comment. The “ticks only” Lyme disease connection keeps many people from realizing that they might have the disease, because they haven’t been bitten by a tick.
There’s mother-to-fetus transmission, as well as sexual transmission. It could even be transmitted by saliva. Just because there’s no research about saliva, doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.
I have spoke to the local Township in regard to what is being done to kill the tick population ? Stop the spread of ticks. No action plan. I emailed four State Senators and signed a petition to get help at the state level to get money to the townships. Emailed Senator Gillibrant, no answer. I also email the NYS Tick task force. I signed a petition to help stop the spread of lyme disease now. So, I have not given up. My dog also got lyme and anasplasmosis. So the crisis is here. I was sick for 6 months and went for 3 northern lyme tests. All negative . Then after 27 tubes of blood I tested positive to the western panel from a script from an intelligent doctor. Lyme is a epidemic but no one is helping the patients or communities or educating the medical field. It is horrific. I have to say there is a lot of resources on prevention of lyme on line etc. Need I say any more.
Cheri Domanico Voorheesville,NY
1992I first got diagnosed with LYME disease 1999 I was rediagnosed with not only full reaccuring LYME but two different strains of LYME disease and sick can’t Evan get Dr. To test me
Hello to All,
I am writing articles for publication on the subject of voice (vocal, language or speech related) issues arising from infections with tick-borne diseases. If you would like to share your experiences anonymously I would appreciate your contact information and statement of approval for inclusion in my articles. Please use the title of “Lyme voice symptoms.” I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you.
Virginia T Sherr MD
Thank you for this important work. I would be curious to learn down the road as more patients use this tool if they are still being dismissed by most doctors.
I was bitten by a tick in the Smokey Mountains, Tenessee while on holiday there last August – I had the erythema migrans rash, and visited a medical centre, but had no treatment as I had No other symptoms at all. For the last few months I have had symptoms that could be late Lyme disease – severe muscle and joint pains – I have been putting them down to age (52). Is it possible to have the rash, but not be infected ( I don’t think the tick was on me for long)?
The rash is considered diagnostic for Lyme disease. However, sometimes other symptoms take a while to show up. Recommend you be evaluated by an ILADS-affiliated physician, for Lyme as well as co-infections.