Check out Lyme Ribbons 2015, newly launched awareness effort…
Gratitude is harder with a chronic illness. Illness takes more away from life than it gives, which gradually and painfully lowers one’s expectations. Optimism and gratitude can’t reverse this completely, but can help if applied with determination, purpose, and consistency.
Research supports this, at least, so I’m hopeful that I will find this to be the case through personal application. Continue Reading »
The National Stamp Advisory Committee is willing to consider a Lyme Awareness Stamp if enough national interest is received. You can help with the (updated) letter templates and options provided here, or via groups noted in this post.
In November 2014, the leader of a support group called Lyme Disease Eugene Oregon, Deb (‘Dive GirlDeb’ on Facebook), suggested that a U.S. postage stamp would be an effective awareness tool, and further suggested that people write to The Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee in support of the idea. The idea spread quickly and was supported by patients and facebook groups, leading to contact with the Stamp Advisory Committee, letter templates and ideas, and hundreds of letters written by the end of the year. Still, it will take continued support (via letters to the Committee) to show the national interest the committee is looking for. Continue Reading »
Hub Pages (a writing website) kindly added a Lyme Disease Topic in their Health section. One of the author’s whose work I’d been reading was in Philadelphia, but hadn’t put it together until after sharing some of her work on Facebook. I have photos of both of us holding up/carrying the same sign. We met briefly the day I arrived and were both at the Vigil and the Protest. I love coincidences like that. Continue Reading »
Until at least 1949, only soft bodied ticks were considered to carry the spirochetes later learned to be associated with Lyme disease. Later it was found that hard bodied ticks carried them also, but I’m at a loss as to how it was forgotten that they also were carried by soft bodied ticks.
For the past several decades this information has mattered greatly in tracking and detection of Lyme and associated diseases, but soft Continue Reading »
Kristine is very fond of Hummingbirds. Photo by bonnieplants.com.
This is another patient’s letter from the 1,000 Letters Lyme Campaign, posted with permission.
See also Heather’s Letter, My Letter, or visit the group on facebook (The 1,000 Letters Lyme Campaign) to request membership (you can participate without being on facebook). More stories will be published over time, but these are just a few examples of the hundreds of letters being written by patients to educate doctors, politicians, and the media, and to raise awareness via additional venues in the future. Continue Reading »
Lyme disease is under-reported in animals in Montana (and everywhere), as it is in people. But, interestingly enough dogs are routinely tested and treated in areas where people are not. Many people have treated their dog for Lyme disease where I live, which is why it catches many people off guard to hear that the CDC still claims that Lyme disease has not and cannot be contracted by humans here.
The number of reported cases each year in Montana on the CDC’s Lyme disease reporting table is no longer zero, but there is an asterisk and a note that all Montana cases were contracted elsewhere. This is Continue Reading »
This did not take long to complete and is an opportunity to have your information, concerns, and situation represented. The more people that answer, the larger the sample size and the more meaningful and representative this information will be.
As an example, their past survey regarding Lyme patient quality of life had over 5,000 respondents, making meaningful, robust statements possible from the collected data.
Post-protest link lists SO FAR for the Oct. 10 & 11, 2014, IDSA IDWeek Lyme Candlelight Vigil and Protest organized by The Mayday Project . Links for photos, albums, videos, news articles and coverage found so far, groups and pages present/involved, contact lists to save, and follow up links (who to thank, tweet, etc.). This will be updated over the next few days, so all additional info and links appreciated.
How to Help From Home ~ Philadelphia Candlelight Vigil and IDSA Protest
Also see following blog post with Post-Protest links
I’ll be adding links to this if I can from the train, otherwise google the references to find the lists!!! Continue Reading »
I will be joining Lyme disease patients from around the country tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 10) in Philadelphia for a candle light vigil outside the IDWeek Medical Conference and a peaceful protest outside the conference the following day (Saturday, Oct. 11, my husband’s 40th birthday). Per the MayDay Project’s event Facebook page:
We are calling on IDSA to update its guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease to reflect the current state of science and improved standards for patient care. We demand an end to the conflicts of interest by researchers who create guidelines that discourage doctors from providing the best standard of care.
Before I contracted Lyme disease along the Middle Fork of the Flathead River in northwest Montana, I had everything I wanted. I had pretty much reached all of the major goals I had set for myself and then some.
Thesis field work, 2003.
Not only had I gotten into (and completed) graduate school, but I had done so under the former Chief of my agency, and a conservation, wildlife, and wildland fire hero. I had landed the perfect job, which was created for me, in my first choice location. In fact, it was a combination of the districts that together made up my top choice location in the nation.
I decided to carry this over from my corresponding Facebook page (Invisibly Lyme Montana) as perhaps the beginning of a (gratitude)habit, or just a piece of my story to share.
I posted this last Sunday. Monday I had a rough day—a bit of Continue Reading »
Invisibly Lyme Montana 