Touched By Lyme
By Dorothy Kupcha Leland
This blog has several goals. First, to explore the personal side of Lyme disease and how it affects individuals and families. Second, to highlight useful information for people seeking answers about this complicated illness. Third, to help foster a sense of unity and shared purpose among the many diverse members of the Lyme community. Dorothy, who serves as President of LymeDisease.org, has a family member with Lyme disease. She is co-author of a book called When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide.
TOUCHED BY LYME: IDSA’s insincere request for guidelines feedback
Last month, the IDSA released a long-awaited draft of its latest Lyme treatment guidelines. The accompanying announcement stated: “We are looking for feedback from not…
TOUCHED BY LYME: Singing from the IDSA Lyme hymnal
Imagine the following scenario: A woman finds a lump in her breast, gets diagnosed and treated for early breast cancer—and recovers beautifully. She goes on…
TOUCHED BY LYME: Working group’s abrupt shift excludes Lyme patients
Last week, on June 4, my eyes were glued to my computer screen. The occasion? The first meeting of the newly reconstituted federal Tick-Borne Disease…
TOUCHED BY LYME: Working Group weirdness. What gives?
Things are getting weird with the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group, which is scheduled to meet June 4 in Washington DC. As you’ll recall, the first…
TOUCHED BY LYME: Is Lyme disease a bioweapons experiment gone bad?
The mainstream “origin story” of Lyme disease in the United States goes like this: In the 1970s, a mysterious ailment afflicted a group of people…
TOUCHED BY LYME: Equal sequencing for West Coast ticks?
Ixodes scapularis is the kind of tick that carries Lyme disease (and other nasties) throughout much of the United States. However, its cousin, Ixodes pacificus,…
TOUCHED BY LYME: Baseball’s Tom Seaver diagnosed with dementia
According to reports by the Associated Press, the New York Times, and other news outlets, baseball Hall of Famer Tom Seaver has been diagnosed with…
TOUCHED BY LYME: When the “perfect storm” is too much to bear
Jimmy Kimball was a happy, healthy boy growing up in Massachusetts. The oldest of five brothers, he delighted in outdoor activities with family and friends….
TOUCHED BY LYME: Avril’s album brings blizzard of coverage to Lyme disease
Canadian superstar Avril Lavigne’s new album “Head Above Water,” which includes two songs based on her Lyme disease experience, went on sale today. This follows…
TOUCHED BY LYME: Avril’s “Warrior” to be Lyme community’s anthem?
Superstar Avril Lavigne unveiled an audio snippet of her new song “Warrior” on social media today–and I predict it will be adopted by the Lyme…
TOUCHED BY LYME: Strang’s strange anti-Lyme retweet
What’s the meaning of a retweet, anyway? Retweeting a post on Twitter is akin to sharing an article on Facebook. I think most people interpret…
TOUCHED BY LYME: 10 years of Lyme progress, one blog at a time
It’s hard to believe that just a decade ago, the online Lyme world looked very different from today. Facebook and Twitter were in their infancy….