Author Archive

Fauci’s World & Wuhan Researchers Publish Paper on Assembled Monkey Virus Strains

https://thehighwire.com/videos/tony-fauci-americas-gaslighting-expert/

May 20, 2022

Out of the Horse’s Mouth: Social Distancing, School & Business Closures, Wearing Masks.  ‘Whatever it Takes’

– But has the gall to say we never locked down…..

Fauci gives viewers a teachable moment in gaslighting, something Lyme/MSIDS patients are quite experienced with, as he attempts to tell Americans that they didn’t experience any lockdowns over the last two years.

“Now is the time to do what you are told.” ~ Dr. Anthony Fauci

For more:

BTW: Fauci’s wife, U.S. Bioethics Chief at the NIH, just published a paper telling corporations they can ethically ‘pressure employees’ and ’embarrass vaccine resistors.’  The paper posits ‘vaccine’ mandates can “be ethically appropriate” if there is “clear articulation about the consequences of not complying with the policy.”  The paper also gives the tactic of using “targeted statistics (such as 75% of the company or unit have been vaccinated) to spur competition or even implicitly embarrass vaccine resistors.”

The unearthed paper comes amidst controversy over Fauci’s decision to fund research on “killer” bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. His wife’s supervision of ethics of NIH research and policy are a conflict of interest given Fauci’s role in shaping COVID-19 response and ‘vaccination’ guidelines.  Source

And speaking of papers…..

https://thenationalpulse.com/2022/05/22/wuhan-assembled-monkeypox-strains/

The Infamous Wuhan Lab Recently Assembled Monkeypox Strains Using Methods Flagged For Creating ‘Contagious Pathogens’

Natalie Winters

May 22, 2022

The Wuhan Institute of Virology assembled a monkeypox virus genome, allowing the virus to be identified through PCR tests, using a method researchers flagged for potentially creating a “contagious pathogen,” The National Pulse can reveal.

The study was first published in February 2022, just months before the latest international outbreak of monkeypox cases which appear to have now reached the United States. The publication’s Editor-in-Chief is Wuhan’s infamous “bat lady,” Shi Zhengli, who is the lab’s premier bat coronavirus researcher and a recipient of funds from Anthony Fauci through Peter Daszak’s EcoHealth Alliance.

The paper, which was authored by nine Wuhan Institute of Virology researchers and published in the lab’s quarterly scientific journal Virologica Sinica, also follows the wide-scale use of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests to identify COVID-19-positive individuals.  (See link for article)

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SUMMARY:

  • The paper is titled: “Efficient Assembly of a Large Fragment of Monkeypox Virus Genome as a qPCR Template Using Dual-Selection Based Transformation-Associated Recombination.”
  • Monkey pox viruses – referred to as “MPXVs” in the paper – have strains that are “more pathogenic and [have] been reported to infect humans in various parts of the world.”
  • The paper acknowledged that TAR “applied in virological research could also raise potential security concerns, especially when the assembled product contains a full set of genetic material that can be recovered into a contagious pathogen.”
  • While the study conducted experiments on mice and chicken, it noted that H7N9 variants are “also highly transmissible in ferrets, posing the threats of pandemic potential in humans.”
  • The Wuhan lab conducted similar research into strains of bat coronaviruses that could infect humans and has admitted the lab lacks proper safety protocols.
For a brief bit of history:

In 1958, lab monkeys were shipped from Singapore to Denmark of which 30% developed a “pox-like skin eruption” 7-9 weeks after arrival, according to a March 1973 paper  published in what is now the peer-reviewed journal Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews.

    • A year later 200 lab monkeys in a Philadelphia Merck facility were infected.
    • There were outbreaks at the Walter Reed Army Institute in Washington D.C.
    • There were outbreaks at the Zoological Garden in the Netherlands in 1962 & 1964.
    • The WHO reported FOUR more pox-like outbreaks in U.S. lab monkeys from 1965-67.

Monkeypox did not affect humans until 1970 in Africa and researchers made sure to highlight the six infected were not vaccinated against smallpox.

History shows monkeypox came from Singapore and was enhanced via gain of function in the U.S., but the narrative is that it originated in Africa in 1958 but nobody explains where or how.  Source

Deja Vu

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https://popularrationalism.substack.com/p/12-monkeypox-facts-what-you-need

12 Monkeypox Facts: What You Need to Know

After a deluge of requests from people, here’s the essential information you need to know.
James Lyons-Weiler

I have to start this article by saying I loathe articles with titles. My immediate reaction to seeing these in MSM is “all you WANT me to know”.

So, here’s a list of unannotated (mostly) facts.

  1. They ran a simulation on a monkeypox outbreak in March 2021. Who? Here.
  2. FDA approved of Tecovirimat, (aka TPOXX), an antiviral that is effective against Monkeypox, in July 2018.
  3. Transmission requires intimate (very close) contact (although it’s not an STD)
  4. CDC says you should not be concerned. Biden says you should.
  5. There are about 1,000 doses of vaccine for Pox viruses (smallpox and monkeypox) that could be used on patients in the US. CDC says for those at “high risk). So that means no one.
  6. Doctors are being told to be on the lookout for Monkeypox cases.
  7. It’s been around since 1958, about the time scientists were injecting African subjects with blood products from monkeys to see which viruses might be transmissible. Zika virus came into our species about the same time.
  8. If you see an overturned truckload of escaped monkeys, keep driving. Don’t stop and “help”, or, according to the official narrative, a monkey might “hiss” in your face.
  9. There are only about 200 recent cases worldwide.
  10. WHO’s Interim Guidance suggests the use of RT-PCR with positive controls. (What???? Where were the positive controls for SARS-CoV-2????)
  11. WHO and CDC have both said it can be “contained”.
  12. Moderna has jumped onto the Monkeypox vaccine bandwagon.More later.

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**Comment**

Clarification: Monkeypox IS spreading through sexual contact, but is not considered a STD.  See this article for more:  https://fortune.com/2022/05/23/monkeypox-spread-sexual-contact-not-sexually-transmitted-infection-who/  This point is being debated.

For more:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2022/05/23/monkeypox-outbreak-follows-germ-game-preparations/

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Viruses

Best Friends Fighting Lyme Together & A Perfect Example of Why We Need Each Other

https://www.globallymealliance.org/videos/two-best-friends-are-fighting-lyme-disease-together

Two Best Friends are Fighting Lyme Disease Together

by Admin at Global Lyme Alliance on March 25, 2022

<span id="hs_cos_wrapper_name" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field hs_cos_wrapper_type_text" style="" data-hs-cos-general-type="meta_field" data-hs-cos-type="text" >Two Best Friends are Fighting Lyme Disease Together</span>
Chase and Natalie, two best friends, are supporting one another on their Lyme journeys.
Watch Here:

Chase and Natalie have both been diagnosed with Lyme disease. They discuss the challenges they face as young adults battling such a debilitating disease. They try to embody a positive attitude as they receive their treatments. Natalie is in a wheelchair because the Lyme has affected the muscles in her legs. She also has been dealing with severe pain in her jaw for the past three years, having received four surgeries. They both talk about how those with Lyme may appear healthy on social media, but you never know what’s really happening behind the scenes. By sharing their experiences, they are spreading awareness and helping others with Lyme to feel less alone.

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**Comment**

What a perfect example of how support makes all the difference.  Having traveled this journey myself I understand the pain, confusion, fear, and gaslighting common with Lyme/MSIDS.  To see two people laughing about what they are going through perfectly demonstrates the importance of friendship and support. One of the worst aspects of this journey is not being believed.

For more:

I really appreciated her comment about being careful about accepting advice from those who are not infected as they truly don’t know what it’s like and what you are going through.  One of the most difficult times for me was when a well-meaning homeschool, Christian mom told me I was in sin for not trusting God by taking antibiotics. Being faithful is important to me but these antibiotics were saving my life.

Be careful what you tell others.
Words have the power of life and death.  Tread carefully.

On the other hand, I vividly remember my son’s marital arts coach tell me, “Alicia, Lyme doesn’t stand a chance against your indomitable spirit.”

That one floored me, because I felt anything but indomitable at the time.  Barely making it through each day, and shuffling through the house trying to just keep the ball rolling, this man put hope into a very weary heart. I will never forget his words.  They still put a clip into my steps.

Let your words inspire and be a catalyst for healing.

Category:

Activism, Lyme, Psychological Aspects

Lyme Disease and Bell’s Palsy: New Considerations For Differential Diagnosis

https://www.globallymealliance.org/blog/lyme-disease-and-bells-palsy-new-considerations-for-differential-diagnosis

Lyme Disease and Bell’s Palsy: New Considerations for Differential Diagnosis

by Timothy Sellati, P.h.D. on March 28, 2022

<span id="hs_cos_wrapper_name" class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_meta_field hs_cos_wrapper_type_text" style="" data-hs-cos-general-type="meta_field" data-hs-cos-type="text" >Lyme Disease and Bell’s Palsy: New Considerations for Differential Diagnosis</span>
Neurological disorder resulting from COVID-19 may confound Lyme disease diagnosis.

Bell’s palsy is a non-progressive neurological disorder of one of the facial nerves (7th cranial nerve). Bell’s palsy is fundamentally a clinical diagnosis with no specific laboratory test to confirm the disorder.1 This disorder is characterized by the sudden onset of facial paralysis that may be preceded by a slight fever, pain behind the ear on the affected side, a stiff neck, and weakness and/or stiffness on one side of the face. Paralysis results from decreased blood supply and/or compression of the 7th cranial nerve. This compression can be caused by inflammation of the tissue around the nerve. Approximately 40,000 individuals are diagnosed with Bell’s palsy in the US each year, affecting males and females in equal numbers.

The exact cause of Bell’s palsy is not known, however, bacterial infections (like Lyme disease),1 and viral infections (like Herpes and Epstein-bar virus),2 immune disorders (like Guillain-Barre syndrome) and neuropathies (like brain tumors), are frequently implicated as a cause.

Neurological Lyme Disease and Bell’s Palsy

Bell’s palsy is the most common manifestation of Lyme neuroborreliosis (or neurological Lyme disease) in the US.1 Clues pointing toward Lyme neuroborreliosis include a history of rash compatible with a bull’s-eye erythema migrans (EM) rash or fever in the weks preceding the palsy. Treatment with antibiotic therapy is highly effective, and most patients will fully recover facial nerve function.1 According to Dr. Nate Jowett, M.D. (Massachusetts General Brigham) ~5% of patients with Lyme disease will develop some degree of sudden facial weakness, where one or both sides of the face droop. This tends to occur seven- to 21-days after tick exposure in infected patients.

COVID-19 and Bell’s Palsy

More recently, though a rare occurrence, Bell’s palsy has also been associated with COVID-193 and adverse drug reactions following mRNA-based vaccination for COVID-19.4-7 A recent systematic review found 20 COVID-19 patients whose only major neurological manifestation was Bell’s palsy. In a separate report, according to Colella et al.,an otherwise healthy 37-year-old white Caucasian male developed Bell’s palsy within days after COVID-19 vaccination. Of note, there was no history of trauma, cold or other identifiable triggers reported and no other signs or symptoms were present. Specifically, no history of a preceding infection, including recent SARS-CoV-2 infection, was reported and there was no evidence of a cutaneous rash suggestive of Herpes zoster infection.6 Lack of a cutaneous rash (e.g., EM) might also rule out Lyme disease, though it should be noted that EM may be missed or not develop in some Lyme disease cases.8

Bell’s palsy associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection was either the first neurological manifestation or appeared two to 28 days after the appearance of other clinical manifestations.3 When associated with COVID-19 vaccination Bell’s palsy developed between three and 30 days post second-dose vaccination.6 The FDA points out that cases of Bell’s palsy in vaccine groups did not represent a frequency above that expected in the general population and concluded that currently available information was insufficient to determine a causal relationship with the vaccine. Nevertheless, they also recommend surveillance for cases of Bell’s palsy with deployment of the vaccine into larger populations.6

Since the time frames for onset of Bell’s palsy associated with Lyme disease and SARS-CoV-2 infection or COVID-19 vaccination overlaps, it is important for front-line physicians to be aware that when faced with differentially diagnosing a patient that presents with Bell’s palsy they should consider:

  1. The prevalence of ticks and Lyme disease in the geographic area in which the patient resides
  2. Case history of the individual that may increase the risk of coming into contact with ticks and contracting Lyme disease (time of year, outdoor activities, pets, ), finding a tick on themselves, and/or travel to a Lyme-endemic area to name a few
  3. Other symptoms consistent with Lyme disease (g., EM, arthritis, carditis, other neurological complications, etc.)
  4. Timing of the onset of Bell’s palsy and when they contracted COVID-19 or underwent vaccination for COVID-19

In conclusion, the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to causing a whole new set of public health challenges associated with SARS-CoV-2 infections, has also further confounded physicians’ efforts to distinguish Lyme neuroborreliosis from other disorders that cause neurological disease. It is recognition of these complexities that leads GLA to invest financial resources and support research that will ensure rapid and accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of Lyme neuroborreliosis.

REFERENCES

1          Marques, A., Okpali, G., Liepshutz, K. & Ortega-Villa, A. M. Characteristics and outcome of facial nerve palsy from Lyme neuroborreliosis in the United States. Ann Clin Transl Neurol 9, 41-49, doi:10.1002/acn3.51488 (2022).

2          Zhang, W. et al. The etiology of Bell’s palsy: a review. J Neurol 267, 1896-1905, doi:10.1007/s00415-019-09282-4 (2020).

3          Gupta, S., Jawanda, M. K., Taneja, N. & Taneja, T. A systematic review of Bell’s Palsy as the only major neurological manifestation in COVID-19 patients. J Clin Neurosci 90, 284-292, doi:10.1016/j.jocn.2021.06.016 (2021).

4          Cirillo, N. & Doan, R. The association between COVID-19 vaccination and Bell’s palsy. Lancet Infect Dis 22, 5-6, doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00467-9 (2022).

5          Cirillo, N. & Doan, R. Bell’s palsy and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines-an unfolding story. Lancet Infect Dis 21, 1210-1211, doi:10.1016/S1473-3099(21)00273-5 (2021).

6          Colella, G., Orlandi, M. & Cirillo, N. Bell’s palsy following COVID-19 vaccination. J Neurol 268, 3589-3591, doi:10.1007/s00415-021-10462-4 (2021).

7          Cirillo, N. Reported orofacial adverse effects of COVID-19 vaccines: The knowns and the unknowns. J Oral Pathol Med 50, 424-427, doi:10.1111/jop.13165 (2021).

8          Schutzer, S. E. et al. Atypical erythema migrans in patients with PCR-positive Lyme disease. Emerg Infect Dis19, 815-817, doi:10.3201/eid1905.120796 (2013).

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Category:

Lyme, research, vaccines, Viruses

Inhaled CO2 Concentration While Wearing Face Masks: A Pilot Study Using Capnography

Eleven month old DIES from mask asphyxiation in Taiwan.

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.05.10.22274813v1

Inhaled CO2 concentration while wearing face masks: a pilot study using capnography

Cecilia Acuti Martellucci, Maria Elena Flacco, Mosè Martellucci, Francesco Saverio Violante, Lamberto Manzoli
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.05.10.22274813
This article is a preprint and has not been peer-reviewed [what does this mean?]. It reports new medical research that has yet to be evaluated and so should not be used to guide clinical practice.

ABSTRACT

None of the available evaluations of the inhaled air carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, while wearing face masks, used professional, real-time capnography with water-removal tubing. We measured the end-tidal CO2 using professional side-stream capnography, with water-removing tubing (Rad-97™ capnograph), at rest, (1) without masks, (2) wearing a surgical mask, and (3) wearing a FFP2 respirator, in 102 healthy volunteers aged 10-90 years, from the general population of Ferrara province, Italy. The inhaled air CO2 concentration was then computed as: ((mask volume × end-tidal CO2) + ((tidal volume – mask volume) × ambient air CO2)) / tidal volume).

The mean CO2 concentration was 4965±1047 ppm with surgical masks, and 9396±2254 ppm with FFP2 respirators. The proportion of the sample showing a CO2 concentration higher than the 5000 ppm acceptable exposure threshold recommended for workers was 40.2% while wearing surgical masks and 99.0% while wearing FFP2 respirators

The mean blood oxygen saturation remained >96%, and the mean end-tidal CO2 <33 mmHg. Adjusting for age, gender, BMI, and smoking, the inhaled air CO2 concentration significantly increased with increasing respiratory rate (with a mean of 10,143±2782 ppm among the participants taking 18 or more breaths per minute, while wearing FFP2 respirators), and was higher among the minors, who showed a mean CO2 concentration of 12,847±2898 ppm, while wearing FFP2 respirators. If these results will be confirmed, the current guidelines on mask-wearing could be updated to integrate recommendations for slow breathing and a more targeted use when contagion risk is low.

https://thehighwire.com/videos/new-science-shows-mask-harms/  Video Here  (Approx. 13 Min)

NEW SCIENCE SHOWS MASK HARMS

The mask insanity may have reached its peak this week when unmasked stage actress, Patti LuPone, unleashed a tirade on an audience member for letting her mask slide below her nose, despite the lack of studies from the CDC proving mask efficacy against the spread of Covid-19. In fact, a new study out of Italy concluded that wearing a mask increases levels of inhaled CO2.

A study called “Correlation Between Mask Compliance & COVID-19 Outcomes in Europe found:

  • masks were unable to reduce COVID transmission 
  • countries with high levels of mask usage did not perform better than those with low usage
  • there was moderate positive correlation between mask usage and DEATHS

For more:

What nobody is touching with a 10-foot-pole is the 80 fold increase in mask-littering due to mask mandates and the impact on animal life as well as the environment.  But none of that matters in the topsy-turvy world of COVID.

Category:

Activism, research, Viruses

Trauma, Loss, and Lyme in Children & Adolescents

https://lymediseaseassociation.org/blogs/lda-guest-blogs/sandy-berenbaum-lcsw-may-awareness-lda-guest-blog-trauma-loss-lyme-in-children-adolescents/

May Awareness LDA Guest Blogger

Sandra Berenbaum, LCSW, Circle

Trauma, Loss, and Lyme Disease in Children and Adolescents

What is “Trauma”:
The Oxford Dictionary defines trauma as:
“A medical condition caused by severe shock, stress or fear, especially if the harmful effects last for a long time.”
The Oxford Reference Dictionary definition is:
“A physical injury or wound or a powerful psychological shock that has damaging effects.”

Lyme disease is, indeed, a very real trauma, physically, psychologically, and for many, spiritually.  I show some of the traumatic events children experience in the examples below:

Trauma #1:

Children with tick-borne disease symptoms have often seen multiple medical practitioners and received a variety of diagnoses.  When parents ask the pediatrician to evaluate their child for Lyme disease, the parents are often berated, and told that it could not be Lyme because:

  1. the child doesn’t have a swollen knee, rash or a positive test. Often their parents are told that their child has an “anxiety disorder,” “depression”, “oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)”, “conduct disorder (CD)”, or a slew of other mental illnesses. They are then referred to a psychiatrist, who fails to look for an underlying medical illness prior to prescribing a variety of psychiatric medications that are not at all helpful or have a paradoxical effect.
  2. there is no Lyme in their state. There are, in fact, Lyme and other tick-borne diseases in all 50 states. And those doctors that deny that fact haven’t even begun to understand these illnesses.
  3. the child is making it up to get attention, so the doc won’t “buy into the behaviors” by testing for tick-borne diseases, not even knowing that Lyme is a clinical diagnosis. Some pediatricians/other primary care doctors even tell parents they are no longer willing to provide medical care for the child they have been seeing since birth!  This form of “medical abandonment” can be particularly traumatic for the whole family.

Trauma #2:

Going to school and succeeding academically becomes an issue.  School “teams” push back against the child getting supports for school (Section 504 plans or IEPs), even after the school receives appropriate documentation from the child’s Lyme doctor. Teachers, school nurses and academic teams doubt that the child is ill – accusing them of malingering and parents of indulging their child.  The team may even be more dismissive to children who need a modified school day or homebound instruction due to sleep disturbance, profound fatigue, and other disabling symptoms caused by their illness.  Teachers, coaches, and even counselors who had been trusted adults in the life of the child turn on the child, no longer believing anything the child or parent/s say about the many facets of the disabling illness the child is suffering from.

Trauma #3:

The child is isolated from peers, family and friends.  If they are excused from gym, have a motor tic, or need to stay out of the noisy cafeteria, kids with tick-borne diseases are often bullied.  All too frequently, the school does nothing to stop the bullying.  Neighbors, extended family members and friends cross boundaries and interfere, further isolating the child as well as the parents.  Grandma and grandpa, who the child loves dearly, think it’s okay to tell the parents that their Lyme specialist is a “quack”, and that they should go to another doctor.   And they do this even when the child is in the room!  Extended family members are shocked that the parents aren’t “making” the child go to bed “on time” (as if kids with a brain infection can be legislated to fall asleep at a particular hour).

Being ill with a chronic infection, actually multiple chronic infections, is of course traumatic.  When I speak with parents, they often recite multiple diagnoses:  Lyme (sometimes more than one strain), babesiosis, bartonellosis (often several strains), PANS/PANDAS, neurotoxic mold (CIRS), and many others.  In itself, these illnesses are overwhelming for the child, as well as the family.  There are  multiple symptoms that vary from day to day – pain, difficulty sleeping, difficulty focusing and concentrating, sensory issues, eating disturbances, anxiety/depression, to name a few.  But that is only the beginning.

Trauma #4

Reports may be made to Child Protective Services. Adults, who the child and family trusted, decide that there is something wrong when parents leave no stone unturned to find answers for their children’s array of disabling symptoms.  Just the fear of being reported to CPS is ever present in the minds of many parents with kids with complex tick-borne diseases.  This trauma becomes a part of the child’s trauma as well, as parents take steps to avoid CPS referrals, or have to defend their parenting against a system that has little or no Lyme knowledge.  Even the home doesn’t feel safe to the parent, child, siblings.

Where are the losses the child experiences?

  • Loss of health and functioning of course comes first. Life becomes far less predictable day to day, as symptoms wax and wane.  There is also no known predictable end to the nightmare of chronic tick-borne diseases.  The doctors can’t tell the child and parents how long it will take for these children to return to healthy functioning.
  • Loss of control over their own schedule. Trips to doctors, as well as other Lyme literate practitioners: psychotherapist, neuropsychologist, physical therapist, other medical specialists.  Each day focuses on medications need to be taken, and probiotics, as well as other supplements.
  • Loss of connections with school staff that made school a safe place to be. When teachers, administrators and counselors do not believe that the child is really ill, these kids do not feel safe reporting incidents of bullying, sexual harassment, or even physical abuse that happens to them in school or on the bus.
  • Loss of sports, music, clubs, and other activities the child loved. Without those activities, the child loses friends – the kids on the soccer team, in school orchestra, or their friends in other school clubs.
Children grieve these losses.  They also grieve those things that are more difficult to identify – the loss of the self-confidence they once had, loss of resilience.

What do these kids need from the adults in their lives?

  • It’s important for the adults to take a step back and look at the life the child has. They could then ask themselves the question “what does this child need from me?”
    • Compassion – whether the adults are parents, aunts and uncles, medical practitioners, teachers, coaches, the child’s friends’ parents, there is a role for all of them to play in helping the child with chronic Lyme, PANS/PANDAS, neuro-toxic mold, simply get through these tough times. For teachers, it is certainly challenging to have kids with Lyme in their classrooms, but if a teacher realizes how much more difficult it is to be  the child they are teaching, how can the teacher help but be compassionate?  If grandma puts herself in the child’s shoes, she will realize how tough it is for a child to be living with this illness.  What relief they can give to their grandchild and parents if they can spend time alone with their grandchild, a playdate for the kid, and a break for their parents!
    • Understanding – Adults need to educate themselves about these illnesses. Understanding, in fact, leads to compassion!

When I first started my work with Lyme patients, in 1991, one year after I was diagnosed with Lyme, there were very few resources available for patients, and none that I knew of for parents.  Now there are many places to learn about Lyme – books, websites, newsletters, webinars, and even blogs!  Learn from the child’s parents what the manifestations of the illness are, not just in general, but with that particular child.

  • Support – Adults need to look at their particular role in the child’s life to determine the nature of the support they can give. At school, all members of the IEP or 504 team needs to examine what academic help the child needs, in order to provide them with an education.  Be creative.  One school principal allowed a student with Lyme to use her private bathroom since the child’s OCD symptoms included an aversion to the kids’ bathroom, not up to the level of cleanliness that the child could tolerate. This was not a preference, but a manifestation of OCD. Some school nurses have provided brief stays in their office, for children with debilitating headaches, or sensory issues, to get a break from the noise of the classroom or cafeteria.

Extended family members can spend private time with the child. The adult and child can play fun games kept at the home of the grandma or others. By doing that, it gives parents and even siblings a much-needed break, while the child feels more connected with other adults that love them!

In my 30 years’ experience working with children with tick-borne diseases and their families, I have heard the stories of what they are going through, not only with the illness, but with the lack of understanding of the very people these parents and children counted on, prior to the child becoming ill.  The child’s symptoms, particularly neuropsychiatric symptoms, affect their functioning, leading to their becoming pariahs within the extended families and communities.  By giving these kids our compassion, understanding and support, we can make the dark and bumpy road a bit smoother and a lot brighter!

[Note:  My thanks to Maggie Schaefer, RN, BSN, for your contributions to this blog!]

Sandy Berenbaum, LCSW
Middletown, CT
www.lymefamilies.com

Co-author:  When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide

Sandy is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, in private practice in Middletown, CT.  She has worked with adolescents and families since 1987, gradually realizing that many of the young people she saw had Lyme disease underlying their mental illness diagnoses.

As she referred clients for evaluation by medical practitioners who were Lyme knowledgeable, she became increasingly perplexed that mental health practitioners were not learning about tick-borne diseases.  Finding few who understood the type of psychotherapy Lyme patients needed, she decided that she would focus solely on kids and families with tick-borne and associated diseases in her practice. Sandy found that by understanding their complex illnesses, she could more effectively help them problem-solve, empowering them to move forward.

Sandy is a member of ILADS and an LDAnet Supporter of the Lyme Disease Association (LDA) and author of a section of  LDA’s LymerPrimer written for parents and educators.  She has been co-organizer of several Lyme disease conferences, is a member of Lymedisease.org, and was the Children’s and Mental Health Editor of the Lyme Times for many years.  Sandy has written many articles, given many community talks and conference presentations on Lyme, including six annual trainings for mental health practitioners with Lymeconnection.org. Lymedisease.org Vice President Dorothy Leland and Sandy co-authored the book:  When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide.   

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For more:

Category:

Lyme, Psychological Aspects