Arrogance and Ignorance: A Catastrophe for Lyme Sufferers

Great article but I think it is missing one thing and that is the fact that these stealth intracellular infections are actually bigger than Lyme and are an affront to the whole system of modern medicine and public health. The reality is we are still in the dark about most of these microbes and are finding out just how wrong we have been.
Medicine and public health with all of its sanitary procedures such as chlorinating, pasteurizing, wearing gloves, sterilizing, gowning up etc have missed a whole slew of potential pathogen causing bacteria that muddle everything they do from performing an operating, to making vaccines and even their research. If the truth were to suddenly come out I truly believe it would break the system. All the while the complicit pharmaceutical companies make a fortune off of the palliative treatments. It is in the orthopedist interest to remain ignorant to Lyme and other bacteria.
There is so much research out there showing conditions such as rheumatoid, lupus, crohn's, chronic fatigue and other chronic conditions all respond well to antibiotics and it isn't just lyme. Look up the connection between mycobacteria and crohn's and how pasteurization doesn't kill the bacteria. So everyday we are eating potentially infective milk products but nothing happens to the dairy industry.
The other day I read an article about how there is a new prion that can cause Alzheimer's and it survives the autoclave. So now something as simple as going to the dentist can have severe ramifications down the road.
And it doesn't stop there our whole understanding of bacteria has been wrong. Some scientists believe, due to bacteria's ability to continually swap DNA, that there are only a few species of bacteria and everything else is just a phenotypic variant. Of course there are no tests for these variants. Anyway I will jump off of the soap box now, but I really do believe that this problem undermines our very way of life and will never willingly be brought to light.

Hi mpost!-

Thank you for sharing this article!

I do sympathize with the people who contract the Zika virus. I feel absolutely saddened to see the pictures of the babies being born with deformities.

But once again, the government does not care about Lyme and co-infections being passed from mother to child. Then when the child is born and maybe has some health issues, gets misdiagnosed. They don't care about all the people being misdiagnosed to the point of chronic Lyme infection.

Then the part of the article when she visits her doctor. It made my blood boil! The ignorance and stupidity of some of these doctors is unbelievable!!!

Thanks again for sharing!

Thanks for the head's up on that book project, I just ordered it!

And I completely agree with your last paragraph. Makes me think of the Max Planck quote:

"A scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."

Sebreg posting the quote hits the nail on the head, doesn't it?

I was going to jump in and talk about, in addition to the barriers of Big Pharma, Insurance/Money/Profits and doctors being a problem, the other big problem I see is the mindset of the people. I don't know about you, but it is ugly out there. You just mention an alternative to chemo or that magnesium is a natural calcium channel blocker (why take an rx) or an herbal remedy that works better than a pill and the response can be vicious and brutal....from the public. My husband and I travel around a lot with our rv and we see clearly we are in the minority.

With zero criticism of religion intended (this is being used as an example, not a critique)...doctors are the priest or father or whatnot, but the "flock" has an amazing voice and power that can't be ignored. People don't like changing their beliefs or realities...they defend them to the death. The flock keeps watching those big pharma ads and "ask your doctor about" this new product. They do wholeheartedly believe that "suppressing the symptoms" or yanking out a body part is somehow a cure (if I don't feel it, the doc fixed it) and show no interest in knowing why they were sick in the first place. They don't open their eyes to how sick, physically and mentally, our society is becoming....no age group, even little ones, is immune from serious illness. It isn't shocking to hear a story of a suffering, ill child or adolescent....or scores of people in their young adult lives developing cancers and autoimmune diseases.

It is like brainwashing. No one is willing to snap out of the fog. Just look at the ridicule - actual anger - at the gluten free movement. There are now jokes about being gluten free - ones my celiac daughter and myself don't find too funny. People are stuck in their beliefs and remain uninformed...the earth is still flat in their realities.

As for doctors, like the religion analogy, you aren't going to change their belief in something they have worked toward their whole life. Some may know something is off but their income and security win the battle over morals and ethics. Only a select few "wake up" and walk away (my holistic MD did....he worked in conventional medicine but left it due to all of the reasons we discuss here).

These forums show times are changing (thank goodness) and I am raising my daughter to have her eyes wide open to this tragic condition of conventional medicine. But my hope is that, in her lifetime, her generation (like the quote above) she will see this insanity change. I'm not optimistic I will be here to witness it....the problem is too deep, the brainwashing too strong.

If that article just changed the mindset of one person who was in the fog, it is a huge step in the right direction. But again, like the quote, it likely isn't showing people the light...it feels good to us to see it in print, but this current system is so dirty and broken, I remain guarded about its impact.

Sebreg - you bring up such great points. I appreciate your optimism, because I admit to have a PTSD of sorts from conventional medicine. From my own awful experiences, surgeries and disappointing care, my husband knows he would have to knock me out and drag me into any medical office anymore - and only if my life depended on it!

I am much more cynical after 47 years - I want to trust, but just cannot anymore...I always come back to the catastrophic profit that would be lost if there were actually "simple cures" or just a handful of root causes discovered to be plaguing our society. Even compounding pharmacies (where I get bioidentical estrogen/progesterone after total hysterectomy at young age) get threatened. I can't imagine a world where I was forced to take synthetic hormones! I mentioned magnesium as a natural calcium channel blocker vs Big Pharma....look up Jonathan Wright (my hero) on that topic. Or all the OTC acid reducers when more often than not our GI symptoms need more acid....on and on it goes. I just have no trust left anymore...I have seen too much.

I did see Traveler's link - but thanks for pointing that out! So happy she shared that......

You take care sebreg - we need your optimism and spunk - I'm just too jaded anymore, but so glad you are out there!

This was a great conversation - sorry I missed it! Bumping so others can also read.

I recently linked to a couple of Dana Parish's blog posts - I do appreciate her voice!

-p

Great thread - resonates with my sense of things.

Arrogance and Ignorance runs rampant in the medical community here in Canada, as well.

I was lucky. A few months prior to lyme symptoms, I changed clinics. The former one was opened by a husband and wife (both Dr.'s)...and they - plus three other Dr.'s worked there. Both the husband and his wife were 'stingy' with the health care money. It was like pulling teeth to get testing done.

So, I soon after I switched, my Lyme symptoms started...and my new Dr. tested me - boy did she test me in the months that followed my symptoms. And...sent me for imaging, as well.
She also referred me to specialists - two endocrinologists, a neurologist, an ENT Dr., and a sleep study clinic.
Then she announced one day that she was moving her practice over to the clinic I had left.
i asked her if she was going to be cutting back on her tests...as I had previous experience and the two Dr.'s there are very stingy with testing. She said "No. I will not be changing my practices. They aren't my bosses...they are not able to instruct me to change what I'm doing"

Then I told her I appreciated the testing she was doing. She then said "There's something wrong with you...and I don't know what it is...so I am testing you...until we figure out what it is".

Unfortunately...Lyme Disease wasn't on her radar...and it took almost a year before we investigated that possibility.

So, even though she didn't consider lyme disease...I still feel like she tried to sleuth out what was wrong. I consider her a good MD. When I am better...I will have a discussion with her about having Lyme on her radar sooner...not later.
And...she has not said one negative thing about my long term antibiotic use...not yet anyway. She supports me by monitoring my liver and kidney function. (If the ND was to monitor it, I would be paying for each blood test.... $$$$$)

Sorry - I'm rambling now...

The first infectious disease specialist I visited in May 2006 , diagnosed me (after listening my list of symptoms) with "NOBLE" mental ilness .The second one, (september 2015), said that I was treated too long (4 years), that I needed only 2 weeks of doxycycline to be cured. So I could'nt have Lyme anymore.
There are the Doctors who stop learning after their last day in the school.

Post Edited (NM) : 5/3/2016 3:32:40 PM (GMT-6)