Archive for the ‘Activism’ Category

More People Speaking Out About Chronic Lyme Disease

https://kmbz.radio.com/articles/more-people-speaking-out-about-chronic-lyme-disease

More people speaking out about chronic Lyme Disease

REBECCA CROCKETT

JANUARY 31, 2020
a tick sitting on a leaf
Dzurag/Getty

Kansas City, MO – Avril Levigne, Alec Baldwin, and most recently Justin Bieber have all opened up about their diagnosis with Lyme Disease. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 300,000 people are infected through tick bites each year.

Dr Dana Hawkinson, Infectious Disease Physician with the University of Kansas Health System says, “If an infection occurs, you could start to see an expanding bulls-eye rash that can take up to 14 days to appear. That’s accompanied by possible fatigue, muscle and joint aches, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and lack of appetite.”

If left untreated, he says the disease can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system causing swelling, severe joint pain, and neurological issues.

An antibiotic can cure most Lyme Disease cases, according to Dr Hawkinson, but many report chronic Lyme Disease, with symptoms lasting six months or longer. 

“They have different manifestations such as fatigue, such as joint aches as well. That is a continued topic of research,” says Dr Hawkinson. He says Lyme Disease hasn’t historically been a big issue in the Kansas City area, but there are more common diseases or bacterial infections that can come from a tick bite, such as Ehrlichiosis Infection or Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

Both can cause flue like symptoms, including fever and vomiting. According to the CDC, RMSF is considered the most serious tick-borne illness in the United States and could be deadly. You can reduce the risk by wearing protective clothing and promptly removing a tick.

Category:

Activism, Lyme

The Latest on the Tick-Borne Illness Center of Excellence – Wisconsin

https://www.howardyoungfoundation.org/tick-borne-illness/

Excerpt:

Imagine diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and research for tick-borne illnesses all in one place. A place where every clinical interaction is a research one, helping all those yet to come. With your leadership and support, we can deliver this journey to giving hope, restoring health, and research for patients with tick-borne illnesses. Thank you for your consideration and continued support.

https://www.howardyoungfoundation.org/howard-young-foundation-tick-borne-illness-center-of-excellence.pdf  Informational pdf here

To listen to Dr. Kogelnik on NPR:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/02/wisconsin-public-radio-on-tick-borne-illness-center-of-excellence/

For more about the center:

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/01/11/wisconsin-tick-borne-illness-center-of-excellence/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2018/12/16/tick-borne-illness-center-of-excellence-set-to-see-patients-in-early-2019/

https://www.howardyoungfoundation.org/Howard-Young-Foundation-In-the-News/tick-center.html

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/11/03/wisconsin-tick-borne-illness-center-of-excellence-open-but-needs-practitioners/

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research, Treatment

New Tick Threats & Control Tactics – 90 Min. Webinar: Feb. 4, 2020

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/1996543094261897475  Register Here

NEW TICK THREATS AND CONTROL TACTICS – PANEL DISCUSSION (90-minute webinar)

Tue, Feb 4, 2020 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM CST

This webinar will feature a panel discussion dedicated to the growing threat
posed by ticks and new control tactics to address this expanding pest. Webinar participants will be able to pose questions, in real time, to a panel of entomologists
and other related experts who understand the health concerns posed by ticks to
individuals and their pets. Seize on this opportunity to ask experts about the newest tick
prevention and control measures. EPA is committed to protecting the privacy
and security of the information it holds. By clicking the “Register” button, you agree
to receive emails from EPA regarding this webinar. In addition, you consent to allow
EPA to use your information, in aggregate, to report on webinar attendance and participant demographics. EPA will not share your
information with any outside entities.
____________________

 

Category:

Activism, Ticks

Crucial Deadline for WI Complementary & Alternative Health Care Access Bill

Crucial Deadline Approaching for Wisconsin’s Complementary and Alternative Health Care Access bill, SB 492/AB 546!  Take Action Now!

We desperately need your help to get AB 546 on the agenda for the next voting meeting of the Assembly Health Committee on Feb. 13!  Why? That will be the committee’s last voting meeting of this legislative session!  If it’s on the Agenda, then there’s still hope it can become law!  If you already wrote to your legislators, do it again please.  If you haven’t, we’re begging you for a minute of your time to Take Action here.

If AB 546 is left off the agenda, then the bill is essentially dead for the session in both chambers and we’ll have to start all over next year (i.e., find sponsors, get a draft bill number, circulate a co-sponsorship memo, wait for bill introduction and committee assignments, lobby for a public hearing in each committee in each chamber, lobby for each bill to be included on the agenda of a voting meeting, pass it out of committee, etc., and all the remaining milestones we still hope to accomplish this session)!

Thank you to everyone who joined NHFA in Madison for the public hearings on the bills in the Assembly and Senate Health Committees on Jan 7 and Jan 23, respectively.  We made a strong case at each about why this proactive, solution-oriented legislation is needed to protect consumer access to unlicensed practitioners who provide complementary health care services in Wisconsin, including herbalists, traditional naturopaths, homeopaths, nutrition consultants, and many others.

But, the bills are stuck in committee!!!  Help us move it out by Taking Action here and spreading the word to your friends and family in Wisconsin.  If the Assembly Health Committee votes on it on Feb. 13, then the Senate Health Committee is more likely to schedule a vote to do so too.  Please do everything you can to get the bill past this important milestone.

Together we can protect complementary and alternative health care practitioners who are vulnerable to being charged criminally for practicing medicine – or another licensed health care profession – without a license.  And, in turn. your right to access and utilize their wonderful healing services. Take Action now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Category:

Activism, Treatment

Why the Medical Community’s Perspective on Lyme Disease is Different From a Pathologist’s Perspective

Just a year ago I posted a short letter by microbiologist Tom Grier to governors and congressmen in Lyme endemic regions.  You can read it here:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/08/25/open-letter-to-governors-congressmen-in-lyme-endemic-areas/  Today I post his lengthier letter explaining the state of affairs in simple lay-man’s terms that can be understood by all.  This is a wonderful resource for you to save and refer to when explaining the science behind this horribly mishandled 21st century plague.

LTR to Congress (Letter here)

Executive summary:

  1. Lyme disease is a collection of many species of bacteria, not just borrelia burgdorferi (Bb).
  2. Current testing uses only this one strain (B-31) therefore missing many cases. B-31 is not found in nature and is a created lab strain designed for cost, convenience, & consistency.
  3. Researchers are discovering approximately one new species a year to the existing 17 pathogenic borrelia species.
  4. There are numerous reasons patients are not testing positive on antibody testing such as: low infection load, different borrelia species, immune system ineffectiveness, borrelia quickly moves out of the blood stream and into  human cells.
  5. It can take less than a day for Lyme to get into the brain.
  6. Mouse models show spirochetes entering tissues within minutes.
  7. Some species of Borrelia settle in the brain where it is safe behind the blood brain barrier which prevents drugs from entering.
  8. Borrelia forms protective biofilms also impeding antimicrobials from working.
  9. Brain-autopsies on dementia patients almost always show Borrelia in amyloid plagues.  
  10. Borrelia infections can survive in a dormant state for decades.
  11. Regarding testing, each lab has a different cut off point for dilution.
  12. Independent researchers have found there are more false negatives than false positives.
  13. There are rife conflicts of interests within the CDC regarding Lyme testing as they own the patents.
  14. Borrelia Miyamotoi (Bm) can be transmitted in 20 minutes and autopies show it loves the human brain, and is associated with Alzheimer’s Dementia.
  15. Although Bm is similar to Bb, testing won’t pick it up.
  16. The CDC ignores the shortcomings of testing, the newer species of Borrelia, as well as Lyme-like diseases typically found in the South, and continues to use a one-size-fits-all approach.

I will add to this list the fact that the CDC besides only looking at one strain of borrelia, refuses to acknowledge coinfection involvement of other pathogens which research has shown to complicate cases making them more severe and of longer duration:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/09/05/babesia-subverts-adaptive-immunity-and-enhances-lyme-disease-severity/

Nearly every patient I work with is coinfected with numerous pathogens yet the CDC/NIH/IDSA refuse to acknowledge this.  Researchers also are finding that ticks are also coinfected:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/05/18/powassan-and-bb-infection-in-wisconsin-and-u-s-tick-populations/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/07/28/coinfection-of-many-types-of-borrelia-rickettsia-babesia-bartonella-anaplasma-in-french-castor-bean-ticks/

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2019/04/26/three-strains-of-borrelia-other-pathogens-found-in-salivary-glands-of-ixodes-ticks-suggesting-quicker-transmission-time/ Another false notion is that ticks have a “grace period” in which they don’t seemingly transmit infections to humans.  This is asinine.  Ticks often feed partially and then drop off.  The pathogens are right in the salivary glands ready to be transmitted to the next unlucky host.

We’ve been sold a bill of lies and the mythology continues unabated.

Category:

Activism, Alzheimer's, Lyme, research, Testing