Author Archive

Art Recognizing Lyme Disease

https://www.lymedisease.org/emily-bromberg-art/

Her art reflects long-term struggle with unrecognized Lyme disease

By Dorothy Kupcha Leland
2/23/24

Emily Bromberg is a painter and ceramic artist based in Seattle, Washington. She’s struggled with unexplained chronic pain for much of her life. Things dramatically intensified in 2021, however, forcing her to stop working.

It took two more years of visiting about a dozen doctors before she was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease and began treatment.

She has recently completed a body of work called “For your Convenience.” It is an art installation that combines paintings and ceramic vases in a reflection on her long-term struggle with misdiagnosed and untreated tick-borne infection and mold illness.

Creating visual representations of her heart, lungs, and gut covered in ticks, infectious bacteria, intracellular parasites, and mold, is a cathartic process through which she hopes to make visible what is often an invisible illness.  (See link for article)

See more of her work at her website: emilybromberg.com. Her Instagram handle is @emily.bromberg .

For more:

Category:

Activism, Lyme

NYC Ticks Found to Carry 5 Different Infections

https://www.lymedisease.org/nyc-ticks-found-to-carry-5-different-infections/

NYC ticks found to carry 5 different infections

People often associate ticks with being in rural or suburban areas. But the infection-carrying arachnids can be found in densely populated cities as well.

In a study recently published in the Journal of Medical Entomology, researchers collected 2500 ticks from parks in four New York City boroughs—Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, and Brooklyn.

When they tested the ticks, they found pathogens for five human diseases:

  • Lyme disease
  • ehrlichiosis
  • babesiosis
  • anaplasmosis
  • Rocky Mountain spotted fever

You can read the open-access journal article here.

For more:

Category:

Activism, Anaplasmosis, Babesia, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme, research, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

Self-Amplifying mRNA COVID Shot Gets Green Light in Japan

https://lionessofjudah.substack.com/p/get-ready-for-more-shedding-self

A NEW self-amplifying mRNA (sa-mRNA) COVID shot received the green light from Japan’s Ministry of Health.

This frightening new technology is an addition to the already unstable modified mRNA jab, but replicates to create more copies of the modified mRNA over longer periods of time, creating higher levels of spike protein.

We have witnessed the avalanche of horrific adverse reactions to the COVID jab, and it stands to reason that we could see a significant increase in devastating reactions with the introduction of sa-mRNA.

Although manufacturers of the sa-mRNA have yet to seek approval in the U.S., they have filed for European regulatory approval. It is only a matter of time before the U.S. becomes the next target.

Source: RogerHodkinson

(See link for video)

_______________

For more:

Category:

Activism, vaccines, Viruses

How Safe Are Topical NSAIDs Like Voltaren Gel?

https://www.peoplespharmacy.com/articles/how-safe-are-topical-nsaids-like-voltaren-gel

How Safe Are Topical NSAIDs Like Voltaren Gel?

FDA’s warning on doctor-prescribed topical NSAIDs like Voltaren Gel is scary. Are gels as dangerous as oral NSAIDs like ibuprofen or naproxen?
Joe Graedon
February 20, 2024
 
When the FDA allowed drug companies to sell NSAIDs over the counter we were concerned. That’s because drugs like ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin IB, etc) and naproxen (Aleve) came with some pretty serious side effects including stomach irritation and bleeding ulcers. Given that tens of millions of Americans use such drugs every day, the potential problem worried us. When the FDA gave the green light to topical NSAIDs like Voltaren Gel (diclofenac), we thought it was probably a good idea. It seemed to suggest that people could get localized relief for arthritic fingers, knees, shoulders and hips without as many systemic side effects. Were we wrong?

Oral NSAIDS Come With Other Worrisome Side effects:

Americans are in a lot of pain! Medscape provides physicians and other healthcare professionals up-to-date medical news and information. It offered this overview of “Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) Toxicity” on Sept. 15, 2023:

“More than 70 million prescriptions for NSAIDs are written each year in the United States. With over-the-counter use included, more than 30 billion doses of NSAIDs are consumed annually in the United States alone.”

(See link for article)

_____________

**Comment**

Important article for Lyme/MSIDS patients who deal with excruciating pain.

Many oral NSAIDs can cause heart attacks and strokes, hypertension, irregular heart beats, dizziness, blood clots, fluid retention, heart failure, tinnitus, and liver or kidney damage.

Regarding topical NSAIDs, a Cochrane review for ACUTE pain showed that they provide similar relief as orals with minimal adverse events. So topical NSAIDs used for a short period of time appear to work and are fairly safe; however, less than a year later some of the same authors published a new review for CHRONIC pain which found they only worked for 10% more people than those who got a placebo for osteoarthritis and that there is no evidence for other conditions. While the authors admit the quality of evidence was low, the side-effects were wide ranging but supposedly mild and included:

  • headache
  • diarrhoea
  • drowsiness
  • dyspepsia [heartburn]

Some patients wrote in that they experienced more serious side-effects like stomach pain, abdominal cramps, and high blood pressure.

The article author is puzzled as to why the FDA took so long to allow topical NSAIDs to be sold over the counter when orals have been available OTC despite scary warnings.

For more:

 

Category:

Activism, Pain Management, research, Treatment, Uncategorized

Immunosuppression Has Doubled & Immune Compromised Mice More Susceptible to Bartonella

https://lymediseaseassociation.org/news/increased-immunosuppression-in-us-adults/

Increased Immunosuppression in US Adults

JAMA Network (Martinson, M.L. and Lapham, J.) 02.15.2024, published “Prevalence of Immunosuppression Among US Adults.” In this study, researchers found that immunosuppression in adults has increased in the past 8 years (2013-2021) through self-assessment reporting. The previous national estimate from 2013 was 2.7%, while the 2021 national estimate increased to 6.6%. Authors suggest that COVID 19 may have played a role in this increase.

The patterns in the distribution were similar in 2013 and 2012 for immunosuppression by sex, race, and age. Immunosuppression prevalence for women (7.9%) was higher than for men (5.2%). The highest rates of immunosuppression were found for American Indian or Alaska Native respondents (8.4%); White respondents (7.4%); and aged 60 to 69 years respondents (9.5%).

Authors note, as this population is at increased risk from viral and bacterial infections, increase of prevalence is an important consideration for public health in the US that would benefit from further study.

For More Information: 

Read JAMA Network Article

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0297280

A comparison of Bartonella henselae infection in immunocompetent and immunocompromised mice

Rebekah L. Bullard, Mercedes Cheslock, Shiva Kumar Goud Gadila, Ricardo G. Maggi, Edward B. Breitschwerdt, Ahmad A. Saied, Monica E. Embers

Published: February 12, 2024

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0297280

Abstract

Bartonellosis refers to disease caused by the Bartonella genus of bacteria. The breadth of disease manifestations associated with Bartonella is currently expanding and includes regional lymphadenopathy, rheumatic, ocular, and neurological disorders. The dearth of knowledge regarding diagnosis, treatment and pathogenesis of this disease can be partially attributed to the lack of a reliable small animal model for the disease. For this study, Bartonella henselae, the most common species associated with human disease, was injected into Swiss Webster (SW) mice. When the outcome indicated that productive infection did not occur, SCID/Beige (immune compromised) mice were inoculated. While SW mice may potentially harbor an acute infection, less than 10 days in length, the SCID/Beige model provided a sustained infection lasting up to 30-days. These data indicate that SCID/Beige mice can provide a model to study Bartonella infection, therapeutics, and vector dynamics in the future.

For more:

Category:

Bartonella, research