Touched by Lyme

Any month can be a good time to raise awareness of Lyme disease, but May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month and offers special opportunities.

“Inflammation is a bonfire produced by the immune system in reaction to allergies, infections, poor diet, chemicals, heavy metals, and intestinal dysbiosis. It is the inflammatory response that produces many of the symptoms of Lyme disease.”

What should you do when you think a loved one might have Lyme disease, but they just don't want to hear about it?

As Dave Martz lay dying, an idea serpentined around his mind and would not loosen its grip: Despite the absolute diagnosis and the insistence of the doctors, including a world expert, that he was dying of ALS, despite his own vow to face things head-on and reject the lure of denial, Martz couldn’t shake the notion that possibly, just maybe, he actually had Lyme disease. (from “Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic” by Pamela Weintraub.)

I attended California’s Lyme Disease Advisory Committee (LDAC) meeting on Thursday. This is a group which advises the state’s health department on matters pertaining to Lyme and other tick-borne infections. The panel receives updates on what the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is doing with regard to Lyme and discusses future projects. There was lots of information to process.

My heart goes out to you, Coach Brown. I know how much you are suffering and I know how much your family is suffering…..But you know what? You don

"Jorgensen’s personal story is (sadly) not uncommon in the Lyme world. But she uses it to demonstrate a larger point. This lady went into her Lyme journey with a Ph.D. in economics, trained to unravel bureaucratic red tape and the ins and outs of labor-related issues like health care benefits."

Author Laurie Edwards explores how to best cope with chronic illness in your Twenties and Thirties.

Thirty-three year old Nani Lauriano Luculescu is a fabric artist with a vision. She wants to create a quilt—perhaps a series of quilts—to give the world a glimpse of what people with Lyme disease go through every day. And she wants YOU to help her do it.

The California Department of Public Health recently solicited input from the Lyme Disease Advisory Committee regarding Twitter messages for Lyme disease awareness. You can contribute too–even if you're not from California.