Archive for the ‘research’ Category

Ischemic Stroke With Hemorrhagic Conversion in a Case of Lyme Neuroborreliosis

https://www.cureus.com/articles/97069-ischemic-stroke-with-hemorrhagic-conversion-in-a-case-of-lyme-neuroborreliosis

Ischemic Stroke With Hemorrhagic Conversion in a Case of Lyme Neuroborreliosis

Srinandan Sathi, Daniel Kim, Patrick Duplan, Paul Kim, Carl Shenkamn

Published: August 15, 2022 (see history)

DOI: 10.7759/cureus.28028

Cite this article as: Sathi S, Kim D, Duplan P, et al. (August 15, 2022) Ischemic Stroke With Hemorrhagic Conversion in a Case of Lyme Neuroborreliosis. Cureus 14(8): e28028. doi:10.7759/cureus.28028

Abstract

Lyme disease is an infectious tick-borne illness predominant in northeastern and midwestern United States. The clinical presentation varies significantly and only a few cases develop Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB), which makes diagnosis difficult. A 59-year-old male visiting from Michigan presented to a hospital in Florida with an ischemic stroke with aphasia and acute confusion for two days. He had imaging that noted a subacute infarct in the left parietal lobe along with multiple areas of white matter signal abnormalities and CSF serology positive for Borrelia burgdorferi IgM and IgG antibodies. The patient was placed on ceftriaxone for 30 days and showed significant clinical improvement. We present a case of ischemic stroke with hemorrhagic conversion and an incidental finding of LNB.

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**Comment**

There is no way on earth that only a few cases develop Lyme neuroborrliosis.  This statement shows the researcher’s complete disconnect from reality.

Testing is so abysmal, thousands fall through the diagnostic crack.  Then, if they manage to win the lottery and test positive, they are told it’s a “false positive,” and to “go home and be well.”

This patient in fact did win the lottery and managed to get diagnosed in Florida, which like all Southern states has had to fight tooth and nail to get public health to even recognize it.  And that probably wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for infected researcher, Kerry Clark, who is finding Southern borrelia strains that will never be picked up in a million years using current CDC two-tier testing.  He also showed DNA of Bbsl in Lone Star ticks which might be a bridge vector of transmission to humans, but is still considered by ‘the powers that be’ to not transmit Lyme disease.  Instead, infected Southerners have been told they have STARI, a disease that looks, acts, and smells just like Lyme.

This patient, despite showing significant improvement, requires follow-up which will never happen.  If and when symptoms reappear he will simply be told it’s all “in his head.”

Category:

Lyme, Psychological Aspects, research, Testing, Treatment

‘Near-Universal’ Negative Experiences With Healthcare Providers Reported by Lyme Disease Patients

https://danielcameronmd.com/near-universal-negative-experiences-with-healthcare-providers-reported-by-lyme-disease-patients/

‘NEAR-UNIVERSAL’ NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES WITH HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS REPORTED BY LYME DISEASE PATIENTS

Lyme patient expressing frustration with doctor.

Lyme disease can be a challenging illness for both physicians and their patients. In an article entitled “Knowing the entire story – a focus group study on patient experiences with chronic Lyme-associated symptoms (chronic Lyme disease),” Baarsma et al. share various perspectives of self-identified chronic Lyme disease patients from the Dutch Lyme community.

By Dr. Daniel Cameron

“Healthcare providers frequently struggle to provide effective care to patients with chronic Lyme-associated symptoms…potentially causing these patients to feel misunderstood or neglected by the healthcare system,” the authors wrote.

They listed 6 themes that emerged from the participants experiences: Late diagnosis, abandonment, loss, unpredictability, lack of understanding, and a need for a holistic experience.

The authors unfortunately found, “Negative experiences with healthcare providers were near-universal, also in patients with short-lived CLD-associated symptoms.”

Here are a few of the participants experiences with healthcare providers.

Lack of in-depth questioning

“If the GP had asked something, then I would have remembered. If he had asked: “Have you been in the woods, have you had a tick bite?”, then I would have [said]: “Yeah, I did have a tick bite.” And then maybe, well, then you hope that it [would have] been treated at that time. But that didn’t happen and he didn’t ask.”

Lack of seeing the ‘big picture’

“They only look at that one thing, […] but all that time no-one looked at the entire picture.”

Need to fit into clinician’s viewpoint

“You go to a doctor with the anticipation that they are going to make an effort for you, but along the way you notice that they have their own interests and ideas, and if you don’t fit into their frame of reference then you can go. Yeah, the doctor is only insulting.”

Patients feeling not heard

“What I think is a pity, is… you go through a lot in a short while, all sort of things happen, and, uhm, there’s a doctor in front of you who doesn’t want to hear it. Look, when you try to describe a symptom, you experience that for the first time, you also don’t know what the medical term is. You try to describe something, but you just notice that the other side of the table is completely disinterested.”

Symptoms dismissed as psychiatric

“Well, they can’t find anything, so it must be ‘between the ears.’”

“In summary, we find that CLD patients experience significant symptoms, for which they only rarely find adequate relief from regular medical practitioners.”

The authors concluded, “Verbalizing these themes, patients use various repertoires for their shared experiences, such as a feeling of abandonment or not being heard by the medical system, feelings of loss with respect to their previous health, and the idea that they might have been better off had they been diagnosed sooner.”

Furthermore, “We hypothesize that these findings are not unique to CLD, but may also be applicable to other conditions with an uncertain aetiology, such as Long COVID,” they wrote.

Related Articles:

Symptoms of Lyme disease are not excessive
Dismissing chronic Lyme disease for somatic symptom disorder diagnosis
My child has Lyme disease: parents describe fear and frustration

References:
  1. Baarsma ME, Claassen SA, van der Horst HE, Hovius JW, Sanders JM. Knowing the entire story – a focus group study on patient experiences with chronic Lyme-associated symptoms (chronic Lyme disease). BMC Prim Care. Jun 2 2022;23(1):139. doi:10.1186/s12875-022-01736-5

Category:

Activism, Lyme, research

FAKE NEWS: Latest MMWR Bivalent Booster Analysis

https://vinayprasadmdmph.substack.com/p/latest-mmwr-analysis-of-bivalent?

Latest MMWR analysis of bivalent booster is irredeemably flawed

Dangerous times for science.
Vinay Prasad

There is only one right way to know who benefits from a bivalent booster, and that is a randomized trial. Take people over the age of 65, who have already gotten 3 doses of the parent vaccine, and randomize them in 3 arms to a 4th dose of Wuhan vaccine, a bivalent booster, and placebo vax, and measure severe disease and hospitalization.

Pfizer and Moderna can afford this study. It can be completed rapidly. The US FDA has a societal obligation to demand it, and yet that did not happen. This raises the question if regulators work for the public or instead plan their lucrative future consulting careers for Pfizer and wish to give them an easy market share. Remember that Scott Gottlieb former FDA commish, is now on their board of directors.

Over the last year White House officials continue to work closely with Pfizer to push bivalent boosters through based on mouse data. This has no precedent in modern regulatory history and constitutes a multi-billion dollar give-away to the company. Now the CDC seeks to perform a study to justify that action. Enter the latest MMWR study.  (See link for article)

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Important excerpt:

“…the CDC is no longer a scientific agency, they are a arm of political propaganda and this study fits the bill.”

This corrupt agency must not receive one more dime from the taxpayers and it must have no more power to lead public health.

Category:

Activism, research, vaccines, Viruses

Spotting the Target: Clinical Clues in the Diagnosis of Disseminated Lyme Disease in Pregnancy

https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(22)00203-4/fulltext

Spotting the target: clinical clues in the diagnosis of disseminated Lyme disease in pregnancy

Published:March 18, 2022 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2022.03.03

A 33-year-old G2P1 woman at 33 weeks’ gestation presented with 10 days of bifrontal headache despite treatment with sertraline, butalbital-acetaminophen-caffeine, and prochlorperazine and 2 days of pruritic body rash (Figure 1).

Blood pressure and urine protein: creatinine ratio were within normal limits, but she had mild transaminitis. Her rash was originally thought to be caused by a drug-induced hypersensitivity reaction, however, in addition to a generalized morbilliform eruption, a physical examination revealed a large annular erythematous patch with a dusky center on the left popliteal fossa (Figure 2)  and similar smaller annular lesions on the buttocks and legs (Figures 3 and 4).

The findings of large and multiple erythema migrans lesions and associated headache prompted a high suspicion for disseminated Lyme disease with neurologic involvement. Serum tests for Lyme disease, including whole-cell enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot (for immunoglobulins M and G), were positive. A lumbar puncture revealed elevated red blood cells and nucleated cells in the cerebrospinal fluid consistent with neurologic involvement of Lyme disease. The patient recovered with intravenous ceftriaxone for 2 weeks for disseminated Lyme disease. She delivered a healthy baby boy at 40 weeks’ gestation.

(See link for article)

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**Comment**

Unfortunately many do not remain “recovered” after only 2 weeks of antibiotics.  This woman and her baby need to be watched over time.  If mysterious, migrating symptoms continue – they need retreatment.

This is a perfect example of a glaring problem with Lyme/MSIDS.  Mainstream medicine treats it as they do other infections when this is a relapsing illness that is stealthy, embeds itself in the human body, (making it hard for treatments to reach it) is often polymicrobial (numerous pathogens that require different medications), is pleomorphic (changes forms) so the body can’t recognize it as a “bad guy,” and is often relapsing (reappears) at a later date due to stress when the body is in a weakened state.

Please read a few articles to understand these issues better:

For more on Lyme/MSIDS in pregnancy:

Category:

Lyme, Pregnancy, research, Testing, Treatment

Lyme Arthritis With Rheumatoid Arthritis Leads to Poor Quality of Life

https://danielcameronmd.com/lyme-and-rheumatoid-arthritis-impairs-quality-of-life/

LYME ARTHRITIS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS LEADS TO POOR QUALITY OF LIFE

Man with lyme arthritis rubbing his wrist.

Lyme Arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis can greatly impair a person’s quality of life. A recent study examines survey results from 90 patients to assess the levels of impairment for patients with both these conditions.

By 

In the study “Assessment of quality of life in patients with Lyme arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis,” Yuskevych and colleagues surveyed 90 patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis who were treated at their rheumatology clinic.¹

Nearly 50% of the patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis also tested positive for Lyme disease.

Survey results indicated, “The presence of Borrelia burgdorferi [the causative agent of Lyme disease] in patients with arthritis not only significantly reduced the motor activity of patients, but also complicated the mental adaptation to their own disease.”

The patients had high and moderate disease activity, significantly reduced physical activity, and body pain.

The quality of life of patients with Lyme arthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis was worse due to severe joint pain and a greater degree of functional disorders compared to the patients with only Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The authors considered depression as a cause of the problem with Rheumatoid Arthritis. “Depression imposes a significant burden on the health-related quality of life, disability, and mortality of individuals with arthritis,” wrote the authors.

“Patients with [Lyme arthritis] have significantly lower MCS (mental component score) values, which is explained by the patients’ severe psychological adaptation to their own disease, given the prevalence of [Lyme disease] at the present and its tendency towards chronicity.”

The authors suggested that an active infection might be the cause of the mental health issues in individuals with these conditions. “We can speculate that the conscious that joints disease may be connected with infection not with the autoimmune disease caused a more depressive reaction.”

Editor’s note: I often see patients with both a rheumatologic condition and Lyme disease. I have had patients with Lyme disease whose symptoms were initially thought to be from a flare-up of the rheumatologic condition.

Related Articles:

Lyme disease protein tricks immune system, ignites arthritis
Treatment of Lyme arthritis with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs
Will steroid injections help children with Lyme arthritis of the knee?

References:
  1. Yuskevych VV, Zhulkevych IV, Makhovska OS, Smiyan SI. Assessment of quality of life in patients with Lyme arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Reumatologia. 2022;60(1):35-41. doi:10.5114/reum.2022.114352

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For more:

http://

Practical TENS demonstration for RA in the hand

Category:

Lyme, Pain Management, research, Treatment