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Apr. 25th, 2009 12:19 am" It's Tick Season Again
Are You Prepared?"
Are You Prepared?"
This list is an incomplete calendar of informational events. It will be stuck on the top of my journal until June 1. If you find any information you believe ought to be here, please drop a comment, whether it's an article or event.
If you can't find an event near you? Request one. Find a way to make it happen. If you work hard enough, it will - and even the attempt itself will help bring hope to this suffering from one or more tick diseases.
If nothing else, spread the information. Link this post and any others you might find suitable on your own journal. Keep yourself informed, keep your loved ones informed. Right now, knowledge is the best, if not the only, weapon we have in this war of terror against parasites.
( NASCAR, film screenings, interviews, public events, free blood screenings, etc )
Overwhelmed by the list? You should be. And yet, it's hardly putting a drop into the barrel. Most of these events circle around the same general area. One day, we hope to keep everyone informed. But for now, we must deal with one barrier. For now we come to this:
http://www.newstimes.com/news/
National Panel Concludes Lyme Disease Doesn't Exist
by Robert Miller, Staff Writer
The national medical association that sets guidelines for treatment of infectious diseases Thursday unanimously confirmed the policy it established in 2006 -- that the condition known as chronic Lyme disease doesn't exist.
"The Review Panel finds that the 2006 Lyme Guidelines were based on the highest-quality medical/scientific evidence available at the time and are supported by evidence that has been published in more recent years,'' the Infectious Disease Society of American concluded in a report issued Thursday.
"In addition to the review by this Panel, the recommendations in the 2006 Lyme Guidelines are further corroborated by guidelines and statements by other independent bodies in the United States and Europe," the report stated.
Dr. Steven Phillips of Wilton, who has been a strong proponent of the existence of chronic Lyme disease as a condition that should be treated by a long-term course of antibiotics, pointed out Thursday that the IDSA chose the members on the review panel -- analogous, he said, to the accused in a trial getting to pick all the members of a jury.
"I shouldn't be surprised but I still am,'' he said.
Phillips said that in the hearings that led up to Thursday's report, physicians who are members of a second group -- the International Lyme and Associated Diseases -- presented more that 400 pages of testimony, citing more than 1,000 reports in scientific journals, all pointing to chronic Lyme infection.
Phillips said he's never seen a scientific panel reach a unanimous finding, which, he said, raises the question of whether the panel was interested in science, or "simply the rubber-stamping on an intransigent ideology.''
"I shouldn't be surprised, but I still am." I think many of us feel that way right now. You can believe it exists chronically, you can believe it doesn't. But you cannot deny acute infection, and their actions have led to those with 'typical findings', such as bullseye rashes, not being treated. How's that for a kick in the pants?
However, as I recently said to the Michigan Lyme Support mailing list... "I was surprised by how long it took me to dig out every single event I could find. People are becoming aware. We're getting more on our side.
The battle today may have been lost, but we have far more soldiers than we previously thought. I'm going to strike that as a win."
Don't let them take you down and don't let your hope die. We're getting places, folks. Equality in treatment is going to happen. Our efforts now will help ensure our childrens' safety. I'm never giving up again.
