Author Archive

Diagnosing Lyme Arthritis of the Hip in Children

https://danielcameronmd.com/diagnosing-lyme-arthritis-of-the-hip-in-children/

Diagnosing Lyme arthritis of the hip in children

lyme-arthritis-children

How can doctors distinguish a case of Lyme arthritis of the hip from transient arthritis or septic arthritis (SA) in children? A few findings from a recent review, published in the journal Cureus, may be helpful in making a correct diagnosis.

By

“The clinical presentation of Lyme arthritis (LA) of the hip can be similar to both acute bacterial septic arthritis (SA) and transient synovitis (TS),” explains Cruz and colleagues. ¹ “Differentiating between SA, LA, and TS of the hip can be challenging, even for the most discerning clinician.”

But, accurately diagnosing these conditions is important since treatment of each is distinct, states Cruz. So in an effort to identify any unique features, Cruz and his team performed a systematic review of all published studies involving pediatric patients with LA.

They identified 88 patients diagnosed with Lyme arthritis of the hip. The average age was 7.5 years. The authors compared these cases with those involving children with transient arthritis and septic arthritis. Transient arthritis causes hip pain and limping and occurs after a viral infection.

According to Cruz and colleagues, children with Lyme arthritis of the hip were more likely to bear weight. Still, one-third (33%) refused to bear weight but this is compared with more than 60% of the SA and TS patients who refused to do so.

Children with Lyme arthritis of the hip were less likely (23%) to have fever. Whereas more than half (53.8%) of the septic arthritis patients were febrile.

A review of laboratory data found neither the white blood count (WBC) nor the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was a good marker for distinguishing Lyme arthritis of the hip from septic arthritis.

But, an ESR of at least 40 should prompt clinicians to obtain hip synovial fluid to evaluate for septic arthritis, Cruz says. Conversely, “an ESR less than 40 mm/hr could be worked up further with Lyme serology as LA or TS become more likely.”

A high synovial WBC of at least 65,000 cells/mm3 was proposed as a potential cutoff suggestive of bacterial septic arthritis. The synovial WBC was 47,533 – 64,242 cells/mm3 for Lyme arthritis. The synovial WBC was 105,432 – 260,214 cells/mm3 for septic arthritis.

Clinical judgment is still necessary when distinguishing these entities. And as Cruz suggests, “if significant hip irritability or other clinical signs of [septic arthritis] SA exist, then treatment for SA should be initiated.”

The authors did not discuss whether any of the children with transient arthritis might suffer from seronegative Lyme disease.

Related Articles:
References:
  1. Cruz AI, Jr., Anari JB, Ramirez JM, Sankar WN, Baldwin KD. Distinguishing Pediatric Lyme Arthritis of the Hip from Transient Synovitis and Acute Bacterial Septic Arthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Cureus. 2018;10(1):e2112.

For  more:

I’m not sure this study is helpful at all.  Also, it would be extremely unwise to put symptoms in a simplistic box.  Lyme/MSIDS has a way of creeping outside every body it’s put into.

Category:

Lyme, research

Dear Lyme Warrior Help! Lyme Disease and Mood Swings, Epstein-Barr Virus, and Body Aches

https://www.globallymealliance.org/blog/dear-lyme-warrior-help-

Dear Lyme Warrior…Help! Lyme disease and Mood Swings, Epstein-Barr Virus, and Body Aches.

by Jennifer Crystal on February 15, 2022

Every few months, Jennifer Crystal devotes a column to answering your questions. Below she answers some that she’s recently received. Do you have a question for Jennifer? If so, email her at lymewarriorjennifercrystal@gmail.com.
Were your moods always shifting with Lyme disease?

Lyme disease can cause anxiety and depression as well as other psychiatric issues, so certainly mood swings are not uncommon. In his book Lyme Disease: Medical Myopia and the Hidden Global Pandemic, psychiatrist Bernard Raxlen, M.D. describes patients who were “ordinarily upbeat, optimistic, outgoing, socially engaged and level-headed” experiencing a “personality shift” and becoming “irritable, disagreeable, withdrawn, antisocial and up-tight.” [i] Some Lyme disease patients feel that they become an entirely different person.

I generally kept my demeanor, but I certainly had mood swings much more easily than I did when I was healthy. I remember laughing in a buffet line with my sister, when suddenly I got cranky and snapped at her. “Whoa,” she said. “Why the sudden mood shift?” There could have been several explanations that probably were not mutually exclusive. It’s possible that my blood sugar dropped; one of my other tick-borne illnesses, babesiosis, causes hypoglycemia. I also may have run out of energy; the tank can fall to empty unexpectedly for Lyme patients, and when it does, there’s nothing left to give. The shift may also just have been indicative of the way tick-borne illnesses were affecting my brain.

Now that I am in remission, my moods are more stable, thanks to diminished infection in my body as well as medication for anxiety and depression. I get sad easily when I’m overtired, but that usually improves after a good night’s sleep. I do sometimes still get “Lyme rage”—going  from 0 to 60 very quickly when something small goes wrong—but again, this happens almost exclusively when my tank is on empty. Getting appropriate rest, pacing myself, keeping my infections at bay, and utilizing talk therapy and medication all have helped me stabilize my moods.

You mentioned you also had Epstein-Barr virus in addition to tick-borne illnesses. How did you get it under control?

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the virus that causes mononucleosis. People who have infectious mononucleosis keep Epstein-Barr antibodies forever, but for most, the infection becomes dormant. For those struggling with compromised immune systems or other infections, however, Epstein Barr virus can either remain active after mononucleosis or get reactivated during times of stress. As I explain in my “Reactivated Infections: A Possible Piece of the Chronic Illness Puzzle” post, my own case of mono slipped into chronic active Epstein-Barr virus, leaving me bedridden for two years, because I didn’t realize my body was wrestling underlying tick-borne infections.

Many Lyme disease patients have high Epstein Barr titers for similar reasons—their immune systems are too overtaxed to adequately fight both tick-borne illness and EBV. Researchers are also newly discovering how EBV can actually cause other diseases, such as a recently discovered link between EBV and Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

No matter how Lyme disease and EBV are related, patients just want to relieve suffering from both. For me, this relief was concurrent. Once I adequately treated my tick-borne illnesses, my fatigue—caused by both the tick-borne illnesses and EBV—got much better.

In addition to antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and anti-malarials for my tick-borne illnesses, my doctor also put me on a number of vitamins and supplements to help boost my immune system. These included Transfer Factors. It’s important to remember that what works for one patient might not work for another. There is no set protocol for treating tick-borne illness or EBV. Your LLMD, and perhaps your PCP, need to look at biomarkers to see how your immune system is functioning overall, what nutrients you might be missing, and what you may need to reduce your viral and bacterial loads.

Adjunct therapies like integrative manual therapy and neurofeedback helped with the impacts of all of my illnesses. Most importantly, EBV required rest, rest, and more rest. And as I also note in my “Reactivated Infections: A Possible Piece of the Chronic Illness Puzzle” post, my EBV is in remission, but it can flare up if I’m not careful. Talk to your doctors to see how you can get your own EBV under control.

When you had aches and pains with Lyme disease, did they extend into your quads? How about into your calves? Did the pain move around?

Yes! Something that sets Lyme disease pain apart from the pain of, say Rheumatoid Arthritis, is that it is migratory. You might feel it in your left elbow one day, and your right knee the next. Lyme is an inflammatory disease, and inflammation can happen anywhere in the body. You can feel pain in your joints as well as your muscles and bones. If you are experiencing this type of moving pain and have not yet seen a Lyme Literate Medical Doctor (LLMD) to determine if the pain might be caused by tick-borne illness, I encourage you to do so!

 [i] Raxlen, Bernard, M.D. with Cashel, Allie. Lyme Disease: Medical Myopia and the Hidden Global Pandemic. London: Hammersmith Health Books, 2019 (21).

Opinions expressed by contributors are their own. Jennifer Crystal is a writer and educator in Boston. Her work has appeared in local and national publications including Harvard Health Publishing and The Boston Globe. As a GLA columnist for over six years, her work on GLA.org has received mention in publications such as The New Yorker, weatherchannel.com, CQ Researcher, and ProHealth.com. Jennifer is a patient advocate who has dealt with chronic illness, including Lyme and other tick-borne infections. Her memoir about her medical journey is forthcoming. Contact her via email below.

Email: lymewarriorjennifercrystal@gmail.com

Category:

Lyme, Pain Management, Psychological Aspects

Fauci Braces for House GOP Investigations

https://www.theepochtimes.com/fauci-braces-for-house-gop-investigations-benghazi-hearings-all-over-again

Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Adviser and Director of the NIAID, shows a screen grab of a campaign website for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) while answering questions at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Jan. 11, 2022. (Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)
Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief Medical Adviser and Director of the NIAID, shows a screen grab of a campaign website for Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) while answering questions at a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Jan. 11, 2022. (Greg Nash-Pool/Getty Images)
Congress

Fauci Braces for House GOP Investigations: ‘Benghazi Hearings All Over Again’

By Jack Phillips
March 16, 2022

White House COVID-19 adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said he expects to be investigated by Republicans if they take back control of the House during the 2022 midterm elections.

“It’s Benghazi hearings all over again,” Fauci told The Washington Post on March 15 in reference to numerous GOP lawmakers saying they will look into alleged gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, located near where the first COVID-19 cases were officially reported in late 2019.

Fauci, an unelected federal official who has headed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) since 1984, claimed that potential hearings “will distract me from doing my job, the way it’s doing right now.” Should there be hearings and an investigation, Fauci said, “there will be nothing there.”  (See link for article)

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**Comment**

Ironic he mentions Benghazi. 

A 48-page supplementary report on it says:

“What we did find was a tragic failure of leadership – in the run-up to the attack and the night of – and an administration that, so blinded by politics and its desire to win an election, disregarded a basic duty of government: tell the people the truth. And for those reasons Benghazi is, and always will be, an American tragedy.”

Jordan, from Ohio, and Pompeo, from Kansas, were equally blunt in their condemnation of Clinton in particular.

“Secretary Clinton and the administration told one story privately – that Benghazi was a terrorist attack – and told another story publicly – blaming a video-inspired protest,” they wrote.

And never forget that the investigations indirectly led to the private email scandal.

Fauci, seems to be closer to truth than even he realizes.

Similarly to Benghazi, COVID has been labeled a tragic failure of leadership driven by politics.  And Fauci has said one thing only to state just the opposite so many times it’s become the norm.  Political motives have been proven due to the glaring fact that effective, cheap treatments for COVID have been completely squashed, ignored, and banned with ‘authorities’ myopically pushing COVID injections that:

Even CDC’s Walensky has belatedly come forth admitting the myopic focus on COVID shots as a ‘cure all’ was short-sighted, but her suspiciously timed statement occurs right before mid-term elections. Unfortunately, her admission is too little too late for those dead or maimed, as well as the fact the “vaccine” only narrative has caused a new form of segregation and division that are still alive & well.

Comparing Fauci’s potential investigation to Benghazi has some merit after all.

For more:

Category:

Activism, vaccines, Viruses

Comparisons Between the Lyme Disease & COVID Epidemics

https://www.bitchute.com/video/5QrCiJulL1Cm/  Video Here  (Approx. 1 hour 20 min)

Comparisons Between the Lyme disease and COVID Epidemics

3/2/22

Homepage: https://anomicage.com/

Jerry Leonard discusses Lyme Disease, bioweapons, and the connections to eugenics. He also delves into the manifestations of these tactics in our current global psychological and biological warfare operation.

A root of the problem is lucrative “vaccine” development by our public health ‘authorities’ who own patents on the organisms, tests, vaccines, and treatments, and pull in millions from licensing deals and technologies.

Most frightening of all is the creation of a new NIH which will merge national security with health security modeled after DARPA.  (Hopefully you can see where this is going, if not, read this).

  • Universities are involved in an unholy alliance with Big Pharma, the government, and mainstream media as they receive royalties (disingenuously classified as “federal compensation” rather than “outside income”) when they market patented technologies, yet taxpayers continue paying universities for research.
  • Many NIH scientists routinely fail to disclose royalty payments – one of whom is Fauci, the highest paid federal employee.
  • Researchers in academia obtain money from the government.  Dr. Fauci, holds the keys to the coffer.  Hopefully by now it is evident to all that he is one of the most corrupt individuals on the planet and he will do whatever it takes to get what he wants – lie, cover up, deny, and hide.  He is not only behind the COVID debacle, but the Lyme debacle as well. 

Until we demand transparency and for public health to be devoid of ties to Big Pharma, Big Tech, the media, and research institutions we will never get the truth.

COVID has brought much of this dirt into the light; however, it’s been going on for decades.  Lyme/MSIDS patients and the doctors who dare treat them have had to walk this pot-holed riddle path and deal with the censorship, denial, and bullying.

Patients have suffered unbelievable abuse by the medical profession and our government. Efforts have been made to no effect and the truth remains elusive, leaving us only to conclude our government has much to hide.

I also wrote an article back in 2020 on the playbook of public health ‘authorities.’  I followed this up with another article explaining how these ‘authorities’ blackball treatments that compete with their own lucrative treatments.

Unfortunately, many Lyme patients and advocacy groups continue to work with the very same corrupt individuals and organizations. That’s essentially asking the pot to call the kettle black.  It just isn’t gonna happen.  I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating: the only forward progress made in Lymeland is by independent researchers who do not vie for government grants.

If you are new to the Lyme war, please see:

Lyme/MSIDS is a politically incorrect disease and patients have everything stacked against them.

For more:

Category:

Activism, Lyme, vaccines, Viruses

Lone Star Tick Carrying Heartland Virus Found in Georgia: Researchers

https://www.theepochtimes.com/lone-star-tick-carrying-heartland-virus-found-in-georgia-researchers

The Heartland virus is spread by the lone star tick. (AOL/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
The Heartland virus is spread by the lone star tick. (AOL/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
US News

Lone Star Tick Carrying Heartland Virus Found in Georgia: Researchers

By Katabella Roberts
March 17, 2022 U

Lone star ticks carrying a virus that could potentially prove fatal to humans have been discovered in Georgia, a new study reported Wednesday.

The Heartland virus is an emerging infectious disease that can cause symptoms such as fever, diarrhea, fatigue, muscle or joint pain, headache, nausea, and a loss of appetite, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Many individuals who have been diagnosed with the Heartland virus have had to be hospitalized due to their symptoms and some who had underlying health conditions have died.

There are currently no vaccines or medications that work to prevent or treat infection of the virus and antibiotics do not work. (See link for article)

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SUMMARY:

  • 1 out of every 2,000 specimens contained Heartland virus and confirm active transmission
  • Study found here Emerging Infectious Diseases
  • Heartland virus was first discovered in two men in northwest Missouri in 2009. They were both hospitalized with high fevers, diarrhea, muscle pains, low counts of white blood cells and platelets, as well as other symptoms related to tick-borne diseases.
  • More than 50 cases have been reported in Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Tennessee as of Jan. 2021, however, everything reported by the CDC regarding tick-borne illness is notoriously low.
  • Retroactive analysis discovered that a 2015 death that was labeled as an unidentified illness was in fact Heartland Virus.

While the article states there aren’t any treatments for Heartland virus, that is soundly FALSE. Mainstream medicine unfortunately has bought and propagated this horrific lie. There are many anti-viral medications and supportive treatments as well as anti-microbials like blood ozone, high doses of oral or IV vitamin C, herbs, and others which work effectively for viruses.  All we have to do is look at the COVID debacle to quickly learn that those who deny viral treatments are either ignorant or have an agenda.  Go here for an excellent video on industry corruption and suppression of drugs that work. In fact, after my experience with the miraculous way ivermectin stopped COVID in its tracks (at every stage of the illness), I’m hoping research will be done on this drug as well as HCQ for tick-borne and mosquito-borne viruses like Heartland, Bourbon Virus, and even West Nile Virus.

Advice: the best and most effective way to deal tick-borne illness is to avoid it in the first place.  This means that you will need to preemptively plan your outdoor adventures by being prepared.  This addresses three prongs: your yard, your pets, and you.

All of this does not guarantee you will not be bitten by a tick but it will certainly help.  If you are bitten by a tick, immediately act on it.  The “Wait and See” approach has doomed thousands upon thousands to chronic/persistent symptoms that can affect your life in major ways.

Rather than give medical advice about recommended treatment, please see the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS – how to handle a tick bite):

“ILADS recommends that prophylaxis (preventive treatment) be discussed with all who have had a blacklegged tick bite. An appropriate course of antibiotics has been shown to prevent the onset of infection.

When the decision is made to use antibiotic prophylaxis, ILADS recommends 20 days of doxycycline (provided there are no contraindications).The decision to treat a blacklegged tick bite with antibiotics often depends on where in the country the bite occurred, whether there was evidence that the tick had begun feeding, and the age of the person who was bitten.  Based on the available evidence, and provided that it is safe to do so, ILADS recommends a 20-day course of doxycycline.

Keep in mind this advice ONLY covers Lyme disease, and ticks can spread 19 and counting other diseases – each necessitating different medications. So just because you take doxy prophylactically also doesn’t guarantee you won’t get symptoms caused by a different pathogen(s).  This is why it’s important for you to educate yourself on symptomology caused by other tick-borne infections, as well as work with a trained Lyme literate doctor who is also knowledgeable about this.

Seems nothing is a sure thing in Lyme-land, but being prepared is always the best choice and makes you a tougher target.

For more on the Lone Star tick:

For more on Heartland Virus:

Category:

research, Ticks, Transmission, Viruses