TOUCHED BY LYME: The spectrum of Lyme disease

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One aspect of Lyme disease that is especially frustrating is how difficult it can be to get a proper diagnosis. One person’s first symptom might be migratory joint pain, while somebody else’s is gastrointestinal distress, and a third might have psychiatric problems. Patients can spend years traipsing from one specialist to the next, getting no closer to nailing down what is ailing them.

 

Christine Green, MD, will discuss those issues in her presentation, “The Many Faces of Lyme Disease,” at CALDA’s upcoming patients’ conference.

 

“There’s a spectrum of symptoms that make up Lyme disease,” according to Dr. Green. “The more patients understand the elements of that spectrum, the better equipped they will be to seek the help they need.” Her talk will give a picture of Lyme disease in its many different forms, and discuss connections with other conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, autism, and various neurological impairments.

 

Dr. Green practices complementary, integrative and orthomolecular medicine in Los Altos and San Francisco. She is a member of ILADS, and has treated Lyme disease for 21 years.

CALDA’s second annual patient conference, “Getting Healthy Again in 2010,” will be held April 24, 1-4:30 p.m., at the DoughertyStationCommunity Center, 17011 Bollinger Canyon Road, San Ramon, CA.

Other speakers include Dr. Dave Martz, Dr.Deborah Metzger, and Dr. Ray Stricker. There is also a separate workshop for teens with Lyme disease, led by family therapist Kathleen Steele, LCSW. For registration information, click here.

You can contact blogger Dorothy Kupcha Leland at dleland@lymedisease.org.