Regarding "Playing Doctor Again In Richmond"

Playing doctor again in Richmond - Roanoke.com:

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Want a laugh? Read this crazy article above.

   The author apparently had a chat with some IDSA doctor or one of their friends. No source of information, even the writer didn't sign it. The Author asks what next? 

   Apparently the writer didn't study up before writing this. Laws and regulations have been passed in regards to Breast Cancer, HIV/AIDS and countless other diseases to mandate certain treatments be allowed and public awareness be conducted.

   If, as they claim, Lyme disease and the other vector borne diseases are easy to diagnose and easy to treat, then why the fight to keep more information from getting out there. 

   If the information was being given to the patients and their doctors in the first place these laws wouldn't be required. This is also going out to all those doctors that have misinformation that they are telling their patients.

  A negative test two years ago does NOT mean the patient is negative for life. A negative test right after a bite does NOT mean the patient isn't infected. A negative test and a rash does NOT mean the patient is not infected. It goes on and on. The numbers of patients NOT getting that diagnosis until major damage is done is staggering.

   It is more than apparent lately that the IDSA and those that condone such disrespect towards patients have not actually spoken to any of them to know their suffering. The tag line in their campaign this year is that we, the patients and our doctors and the advocates that stand up for those who can't speak for themselves, are Anti-Science. 

   What have we done?  Well, for starters we had been bitten by a tick or flea or mosquito that carried a bacteria that is destroying out bodies and our lives. We asked some hard questions, like "Why am I still sick?".  We want to try different treatment ideas to see if we can get some relief, for that we need 'Informed consent' between us and our doctors. We need the insurance companies to cover prescribed treatment. Sounds like some pretty anti-science stuff eh?

   We give them such a difficult and time consuming pain in the rear for asking for better tests and better treatment choices. This is the worst disease to try to play "cookie cutter" or "one size fits all" medicine.

A few of the "Political" laws in medicine:

"Fact Sheet for Vaccination Information Statements"
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pubs/vis/vis-facts.htm

AIDS Legislation:
http://aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/just-diagnosed-with-hiv-aids/your-legal-rights/civil-rights/

Womens Health and Cancer Rights Act:
http://www.cancer.org/treatment/findingandpayingfortreatment/managinginsuranceissues/womens-health-and-cancer-rights-act

True Shortage of Critical Drugs or A Price Hike Coming?

Read article here:
Medication shortage woes persist - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

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"What is happening -- and not just with doxycylcine -- is a continuing problem of shortages among formerly common medications. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration website, www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugShortages/ucm050792.htm, currently lists more than 100 medications in short supply".

This is one of those chin scratching moments.  When something like this happens most people would be asking why.  Why is there a shortage and when will the medications be available again?

We should expect to see such a shortage due to a pandemic or epidemic but we've had neither.  We do know that the US military has stock piles of medications and that Tetracycline and Doxy are stored in mass quantities.  We are left to assume then that maybe it's time for those supplies to be replenished.  But since that is common knowledge why are we not being told of the cause of the shortage?

A huge percentage of our medications are manufactured in Brazil, India and other areas around the world.  So, is this shortage due to a dispute with those companies?  Or better yet is this a price hike?  A tactic that if pulled in this country could be illegal. Perhaps it's not illegal elsewhere, then this shortage could be a manufactured shortage to raise the price of prescription drugs.  

The United States has one of the highest costs for medication in the world. We (the patients) can't afford any more increases in the cost of our medications.

We need to seriously make a bigger effort to bring manufacturing back to our shores again. Not just medication but all the other items that are now made over seas that we rely on. Clothing, toothpaste, dog and cat food, medications, weapons for our military and many many other items.

Something about this shortage smells really putrid, lets bring it back home again where we do have some control over the amounts and quality of the pharmaceutical industry. 

Cat Scratch Fever and Mental Illness

The Bartonella Epidemic: Your Cat Can Give You Mental Illness:

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   Cats are not the only carriers of Bartonella, it's also transmitted via body and head lice and seen in most part in the homeless population. More information on Louse Borne diseases Here


   The above article states that just over 26% of our population has some sort of mental illness.  Could it be that this Bartonella Epidemic be caused in part by all the abuse our immune systems have suffered?

   I honestly believe those numbers are inflated due to all the antidepressants handed out for pain management and increased diagnosis of mental illness causing unknown illness.  All those "syndromes" that are being treated as a somatic disorder.  Even with bacterial causes there has to be something going on in the gathering of statistics that say that 26 out of 100 people suffer mental illness. That in itself is mind boggling.

   Vaccines, Plastics, Food additives, polluted soil air and water. Are all things that were not part of our everyday exposure a few generations ago.  In our goal to save every life and cure all illnesses and our goal of making lots and lots of money we have actually done the opposite.  Our immune systems are, well were, fine tuned machines. We'd be exposed to something and if we lived that immunity would be passed on to the next generation.

   Polio was tragic for sure but there were survivors. I can't help but wonder that if left alone our bodies would have been able to defend against it in a few generations.  The common cold was deadly for the islanders in Hawaii. Their bodies hadn't fought it off yet.
Even during the black plague there were some that didn't die and just recently there's been a genetic link showing that those survivors passed on the immunity and today those that carry that particular gene are also immune to HIV/AIDS. More Here

I feel we have over done the artificial stimulating of our immune systems and now we have a record high amount of autoimmune disorders, mental illness and Autism to name a few.

Would you have this guy as your doctor?

Infectious Diseases ch 07 12 Lyme Disease - YouTube:

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Update Number 3!!! 3-7-2013:  And he's gone again!  This would be really funny if this wasn't such a serious topic. Doctor Conrad, if you're reading this, It's WAY too late to keep hiding.  Countless numbers of people already have seen your video. You might as well stay public.

Update number 2:  He's back? Apparently he's proud of his work and the college he works for see's nothing wrong with his teaching style.  If you haven't watched this video you really should.


Update:  Video was removed due to whomever put it out there didn't have permission from Dr. Conrad. This post however will remain as a reminder that what goes on in private eventually ends up VERY public.

Ok, this is supposed to be what, an audition? Can this be real? If so this "Doctor" needs to go back to school.  

Lyme disease patients have complained about this sort of behavior from their primary care doctors and even some ID doctors.  

Is having a long term chronic bacterial infection that funny?  I have to wonder about his state of mind maybe?  I've sat in many classes and never saw this from anyone who took their job seriously.  

All I can say is maybe it's time for a new way of teaching that doesn't include poking fun at a very serious disease.

The Fight Against Legislation by the IDSA

Three Bills Seek More Guidelines, Study Of Lyme Disease Testing - Courant.com:

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Glad to see the press getting more of these stories out there. 

The following is the typical whine when something isn't left as is in their "good ol boys" club.

"Eugene Shapiro, a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine, is skeptical that a government-created task force would significantly advance Lyme disease research.

"My opinion is that creating political task forces through the legislature to determine medical practices is not a good idea for anything," said Shapiro, a member of the panel that wrote treatment guidelines for the Infectious Diseases Society of America in 2006. "Why would you single out Lyme disease?"

Shapiro said such task forces are likely to be heavily influenced by politics.

"Questions are best answered by scientific studies, not politically created task forces," he said."

My Thoughts:

Task forces have been involved in the medical field since medicine was organized into groups. Breast Cancer required lots of government action to get testing and treatments and information out to the public.

Same for AIDS, advocates had to go to capitol hill to get funding for studies and treatments for the patients. Rabies control is very much working hand in hand with the state and federal agencies.

Why is it that these few doctors working within the IDSA are so protective of their "Turf"?  Why too do I see these type of "poor us" statements in these articles, trying to claim that everyone looking for real answers are "anti-science"?

ID doctors are NOT the target or the focus.  It's not about who studied what, what crimes were committed decades ago, not about egos and most certainly not about grant and research money they might lose.  Lyme disease patients that are no longer leading productive lives and are now crippled because of lack of diagnosis and lack of proper treatment ARE and should remain the focus.

I so wish Shapiro, Wormser et al would get off their high horse and start acting like Doctors not whiny defensive children.

What would Einstein say to the IDSA?

The IDSA, Looking for answers in all the wrong places

Scientific arguments in the past:

The world is flat.
Man cannot withstand speeds over 35mph.
Travel in space is impossible.
Only gays need to worry about AIDS.
Blood letting was the cure.

I think the IDSA needs a reminder of what their jobs are. Throughout human history Science and Medicine have evolved from just a passing thought to questions to probable answers. Those answers that were fact from the first moment have now become replaced with new facts.

Even Einstein was ridiculed by the scientific community when he proposed a different view on a subject.

The Infectious Diseases Society of America has taken up the same arguments as those before them when change of thought is on the horizon. Patients are crazy, the doctors that treat them are lying about their qualifications and the advocates are plotting against the scientific community.

This would be funny if so many patients weren't being thrown unto the roadside and handed anti-depressants for their pain and suffering.

Here's a story that gets repeated over and over again.

"Over the years, as the various false diagnoses piled up and Lopresto’s symptoms worsened, doctors struggled to find an actual cause, highlighted by the January 2011 episode that could have killed her."
Read Story Here:
Hillsdale resident battles Lyme disease for more than a decade  - Hillsdale, MI - Hillsdale.net - Hillsdale, MI:

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   Campaign like articles are written by the ID doctors stating that after treating for Lyme disease, doctors should be looking at other possibilities for the continued symptoms.

   Quite the opposite is more often the story of many lyme disease patients. So many doctors across the country miss the symptoms that would say the patient is suffering from a vector borne illness and that patient won't even be tested.

   I first became infected in Southern  California. No doctor tested for anything except mono and strep, I was treated symptomatically. Doctors there are under the belief that Lyme is only an east coast problem.
   Arizona up in the mountains living among the deer, deer mice and elk are ticks a plenty, I was told after removing several ticks to just watch for a rash and clean the area well. He stated that since we aren't in Colorado or back east I had nothing to worry about. I got even sicker as time went.
   Kansas is also an area where Tick borne disease doesn't exist  I became very ill while working at a hog farm in a Cattle feed lot.  Many of those cattle came from all over the country and surely the hitch hiking ticks came along. Still, never tested while living there either. Ended up not able to work due to what my doctor at the time said was wear and tear arthritis and an anxiety disorder.  LOL! who wouldn't have anxiety living in pain and exhaustion 24/7 for years on end with no diagnosis.
   Now, I'm in NJ, went to an internal medicine doctor who said my symptoms fit me having a severe case of some sort of vector borne disease. Lyme disease is common in this area so he ran tests for that. Oh My! my tests came back positive for lyme disease and a couple of other infections. I was treated for awhile but I still have pretty much the same symptoms and it's been almost 3 years since I had the IDSA's "Excellent Antibiotic treatment".

   I have read their claims that if caught early there is a good chance you will be cured with their recommended protocol.  Not a single mention of what to do if, like thousands of other people out there, what you have is missed for months to decades, as in my case.  Doctors only know what they read up on and apparently there's an ID doctor at the Bethesda Medical center who strongly believes that you can only get lyme during certain times of the year. Some of these doctors are stating things as fact when there is no such thing in the guidelines.

   I feel, instead of an anti-patient and advocate campaign, the IDSA should just answer our questions and send the word out to more doctors that it's wise to test for vector borne illnesses even if the belief is that it doesn't exist in that particular area.  We know that birds fly, deer migrate and mice travel on airplanes therefore so do the ticks that feed on them.

Early treatment is the Key, but diagnosis is lacking.

Not Science Being Attacked! Just the "opinions" over writing Scientific research.

Bullying Borrelia: When the Culture of Science is Under Attack:

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This mentality STILL blows me away!! The proverbial "Pot calling the Kettle Black". 

In what era was the medical field allowed to act with such vile contempt towards a group of patients when their only crime is asking for answers? The more we ask the louder and more insulting they become. 

What's being argued about? The term 'Chronic' that's it the whole issue in their mind, oh and long term treatment with antibiotics, which by the way is used to treat TB, Whipple's Disease, syphilis and don't forget acne.

For some unexplained reason it has become a personal attack on them in their view that Lyme disease and other vector borne diseases only require a short amount of antibiotics. They preach the dangers of long term antibiotics but fall short on real answers so, like Auwaerter, become angry and behave like school yard bullies. Accusing the patients and advocates of some sort of conspiracy and calling them "Anti-Science".

Personally, science has been my favorite subject since I was a child. This group of ID doctors that put these defensive attacks out there in such journals as the American Journal of Medicine and the Lancet, is NOT science.

Science has some fundamental rules but as time goes by it is also fluid and ever changing. Many scientific "facts" have become myth later when answers become clearer and the reverse is also true, myth becomes fact.

Our Crimes: 
Asking why we continue to be sick after their recommended dosage and duration of antibiotics.

Asking for us, the patients, to make an informed decision about our course of treatments, whether or not it's more antibiotics or holistic treatments.

Asking for better and more precise testing, doctors ARE relying on the test and NOT diagnosing clinically which is leading to months and in many cases years of being infected with tick borne bacteria doing it's damage.

I am beyond shock when I see these articles written by so-called "experts" saying that myself and others are anti-science and that we are for some unexplained reason trying  damage the medical community.  

Find a Sign in this Picture that is "Anti-Science"