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Time ticks slowly in detection of Lyme disease

Thursday, Apr. 28 by Laura Peters | 14 comments | Email this story

Raechel Macpherson had cramped hands, inflammation from head to toe and a body pain that
increased daily. She knew that something wasn’t right.

She even dropped 20 pounds for no apparent reason and started losing her hair. She was
referred to an infectious disease specialist. The original diagnosis was rheumatoid arthritis –
until Macpherson was tested for Lyme disease.

The three doctors she then started seeing said that her Lyme levels were off the chart. She
probably had the disease since 2003; it had gone undetected.
One of the biggest problems facing the 28-year-old is that she’s not informed. One infectious
disease specialist told her not to Google the disease or talk to anyone about it.

“I don’t feel like they’ve informed me anymore than the Internet has,” Macpherson said. “It’s like
they know something that they’re not telling us.”
According to the Loudoun County Health Department, there were 223 cases of Lyme in 2010 in
the county. The county’s health department and Dr. Jeffery Conklin, a Nova Medical Group
Certified Internist and Pediatrician, both said the amount of cases of Lyme in Loudoun last year
made up 18 percent of cases in the entire state of Virginia.

“Lyme Disease is a tick-borne illness caused by a particular bacteria named Borrelia burgdorferi.
The black-legged deer tick is responsible for spreading most cases of Lyme disease,” Conklin
Most Popular in News
said. “They usually bite mice, birds, or other small rodents that are infected with the bacteria and
spread it to humans on subsequent bites. It usually takes about two to three weeks from a tick Tuesday, Apr. 26 | 9028 views
bite to the onset of Lyme disease.” Lansdowne resident charged in
connection with alleged hit-and-run
Conklin said that even though the ticks are called deer ticks, deer actually don’t harbor the Monday, Apr. 25 | 7092 views
disease. However, they only carry around and spread infected ticks. UPDATE: Leesburg man dies; son
charged with DUI/DUID
Matt Spinks, 30, from Paeonian Springs, was first diagnosed with Lyme more than two years Wednesday, Apr. 27 | 2823 views
ago. He believes he got it from a tick in the woods around Waterford. Snakehead found off White’s Ferry
Wednesday, Apr. 27 | 2640 views
“It took a long time to get diagnosed. I felt horrible for months. At first it started out as fatigue. I Deputies searching for missing teen
was really tired. I was in construction, so at the time I was kind of equating it to working hard, and her 2-year-old daughter
but I was only 26 years old, and thought I shouldn’t be feeling like this,” Spinks said. “I’d get off
Thursday, Apr. 28 | 2330 views
of work around 4:30 and sit on the couch and I’d fall asleep and sleep all night and wake up
Time ticks slowly in detection of Lyme
6:30 or 7 a.m., and it felt like I didn’t sleep a wink.” disease
“Then everything started hurting,” he continued. “I started getting really bad pain in my joints
and shoulders and arms and legs and it got to the point where it was hard to walk for about a
week or two.”
Stay
After seeing three different doctors, Spinks was finally tested. The test was administered seven Connected
months after he started to feel weak.

Prescribed a three-month treatment of doxycycline, Spinks returned to test his Lyme levels again
and received a second round of treatment. For now, he goes back on doxycycline if his Lyme
flares up. He gets his levels tested around twice a year.
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Lyme disease can affect different organ systems, including cardiac, neurological and muscular,
according to Conklin. Some people, suffering from Lyme consider this different types of strains
of the disease, depending on which system it attacks.
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“It’s always in your system. What it does is it goes dormant. Some people say there’s a cure, but on Facebook
there isn’t. It will flare up from time to time,” Spinks said. “The main thing you’ll notice, me News | Sports

personally I have the muscle type. I can feel it, like when I feel really fatigued, and I can feel my
joints and muscles getting real sore, I know I have to go get checked.”
Dr. Grace Keenan, medical director of Nova Medical and Urgent Care Center Inc. notes that the
disease is generally curable with antibiotics. But, there is a small percentage of patients who have
persistent Lyme disease based on symptom complex of the disease.
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An early symptom of Lyme is a rash called Erythema Migrans, or the bull’s-eye rash. It looks like via RSS
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a target with redness or salmon color around the outside portion of the rash with normal
looking skin in the center, according to Conklin. Conklin also said that if a tick is found on the
body and removed within 36 hours, it’s very unlikely to contract Lyme.

According to Dr. David Goodfriend of the Loudoun County Health Department, Lyme disease
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“Prevention is critical and can be accomplished by avoiding tick habitats when possible and weekly updates
reducing tick populations around your residence, dressing appropriately, using tick repellants,
performing tick checks and removing ticks promptly, and being aware of the early signs of Lyme
disease,” Goodfriend said.

Another struggle with Lyme

Jill Stillwell, 46, of Potomac Falls, was diagnosed in May 2008 and is unsure of how long she
actually had Lyme. She originally thought it was her thyroid, and she waited six months before a The Loudoun Times-Mirror
doctor’s visit – when she first started feeling “off.”

“I didn’t even know about Lyme. I went in thinking it was something wrong with my thyroid,”
is an interactive, digital replica
Stillwell said. “I’m that kind of person who goes to the doctor once a year. I told them that they of the printed newspaper.
had to take me on my word, something’s off, maybe it’s my thyroid…I’m not depressed.” Open the e-edition now.

She was put on antibiotics, but broke out in a rash that covered her whole body. Returning to
the doctor, she thought it was just a bad reaction to the medication, but she was pulled off the View our other print publications available online.
medication and was sent to an infectious disease specialist.

Stillwell said the doctor believed that he could cure her of Lyme and it was just a small
inconvenience at the moment, but it would go away.

“He said he didn’t want me to read anything or talk to anybody about it. There’s all this Weekly Hello Loudoun Taste
Homes Guide County of Loudoun
controversy out there,” Stillwell said. “He said, ‘You’re going to hear people telling you all sorts of
things, and I want you to know that it’s 100 percent curable.’ He put me on a different oral
antibiotic and within 60 days I was getting worse. So then I got put on IV.”

“Mine has been all along much more neurological than the physical aspect,” she continued. “I
had the fatigue. Once I was on the medication and not getting better, I was sleeping all day.
Once I was on the IV for about a week, I felt like myself again. I was on that for a month.”

Much of what Stillwell’s doctor told her was the same thing Macpherson was told: Don’t Bridal Future Health
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research it and don’t talk to anymore about it. The more Stillwell ignored the problem, the more
apparent the problem became. She was starting to forget the names of people she had known for
years, and she would stop mid-sentence and not remember what she was talking about.

Stillwell finally consulted a specialist in Washington, D.C., and she’s been seeing them for six
months. Now she’s feeling the best she has in three years. Summer Home Historic Downtown
Camps and Garden Leesburg
The treatment comes at a cost, however. Stillwell says she spends $400 on a copay for a
medication that she takes up to 40 pills a day. And that medication only lasts a month.

She’s feeling so much better that she can actually run the Loudoun Lyme 5K on May 15. Two
months ago Stillwell says she could only walk the one-mile portion of the race. Now, she’s also
doing a night of bartending at Jimmy’s Old Town in Herndon to raise awareness of Lyme and Coming Coming Coming
Soon Soon Soon
sell raffle tickets and accept donations.

“The key for me is to raise awareness,” Stillwell said.

Getting Congress involved

Congressman Frank Wolf (R-10th) says he’s been working for a number of years on getting
legislation passed on Lyme. Right now, he’s working with members of Congress to get an
advisory committee for Health and Human Services to connect different states together in what’s
happening with Lyme disease.

“There’s not much coordination between agencies,” Wolf said. “We’re going to be dropping a bill
in to set up an advisory committee in Health and Human Services so everybody knows what’s
going on with treatment and services between states.”

“It’s a major issue in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Northern Virginia,”
Wolf said. “The whole name Lyme came out of Lyme, Connecticut. It’s now beginning to
spread.”

Wolf said “It’s a very serious problem” and legislation needs to be pushed ahead.
Many in Loudoun County are in the dark about Lyme disease and its impact. Loudoun remains
the No. 1 county in Virginia for Lyme disease cases and third in the country.

To learn more about Lyme disease visit lymediseaseassociation.org. To reduce the risk of getting
Lyme disease check for ticks frequently, use a tick repellant, or wear long pants or sleeves to
cover parts of your skin that ticks can attach to.

Comments

Sat, Apr 30 at 03:56 AM by loner:

Are these hypothesis correct ?

A wave of chronically disabling viruses swept through the Loudoun County
schools during early 2000’s. The young ones rebounded - but afflicted parents
(middle age) lacked the rejuvenation characteristic of youth.
EQUATION: what does this equal -

Lyme Disease + CMV virus + Ebstein Bar virus + HHV-6 virus + + stress
hormone + steroid medication = ?

ANSWER: infective mental illness; the equivalent of a bad acid trip.

Consider that unstable or anti-social behavior may be the result of pathogens,

and not bad parents or bad schools, or genetic disorders, or benign personality
disorders. In the draconian era of BUSH, such way of thinking disappeared.
Hospitals were replaced by prisons.
There will always be another plague. There will always be other administrations
in denial; unless of course the pharmaceutical lobby in Washington can find a
profit scheme.

Why was there an explosion in Lyme disease in the region over the past decade
or so? Historical accounts are absent of any local mystery diseases.

Recall the massive aerial Gypsie Moth pesticide spraying campaign that was
conducted in the late 1980s - early 1990s to save the trees of Loudoun &
Maryland, using re-built WWII era bombers ?
What was really being blanket sprayed over the County and others ?
After that - the crickets stopped chirping; the fireflies almost disappeared, the
field mice were not so plentiful, and ant colonies dwindled ..... did that county-
wide insecticide spraying act as the catalyst for the proliferation of deer ticks, as
their natural predators were extinguished by the poisons sprayed from the
planes ?????

Just some thoughts to consider -

Fri, Apr 29 at 02:08 PM by moebeans:

I have been treating lyme for 5 months now. Same symptoms as above. Extreme
fatigue, memory/cognitive problems. I had it 5 years ago and my Dr, a well
known lyme researcher (and who appeared in the documentary Under Our
Skin) said it could have very well been laying dormant for all that time waiting
for an opportunity to re-emerge. With me it is looking like that opportunity may
have been when I got a high mercury load in my body which may have
weakened my immune system. (You think Lyme is difficult to find help for try
mercury poisoning.)

I was originally put on 4 months of tetracycline and was just switched to

Plaquenil and Biaxin. A cocktail he created and has good success with. He is
talking about a year or more to get rid of it. Oh, and I also tested negative for
lyme both times and am being treated based on the symptoms by someone who
knows what he is doing..

Fri, Apr 29 at 01:09 PM by john:

I arrived at Bethesda Naval Hospital hospital in tow behind my calm yet very
concerned mother. Luckily for me she had started working there after our move
from Andrews Air-force Base to Potomac Maryland and my fathers new
employment flying VIP’s around as Learjet Pilot. My mother started back to work
after some lean times, she was a dedicated mother and wished to stay with her
cherished children to look after them, but necessity dictated her return to the
work force. She was a poor farm girl who had worked her way through college
on the work program at Buerea College, with a degree in Immunology she
eventually settled into a lab at Navy Med, of course my mother attracts
friendships like some kind of karmic beacon point, she is an embodiment of a
singularity within any environment she finds her self. The clarion call soon went
out that beloved Doris’s child had some kind of serious problem, and soon the
best and brightest of the men of science and medicine beset upon solving this
problem. I certainly had no idea of what was going on in the landscape around
me at the time, especially since once the tests started they continued, and
continued when they were over, something else would happen and they would
continue again. X-ray, blood tests, spinal taps, barium enemas, more blood, I
was quite sure that I really wanted to not be sick at this point at all costs, as
anyone under the constant invasive medical testing of 30 years ago will tell you. I
was always the center of attention during rounds, “well Dr. Johnson here is an
interesting presentation what do you make out of this? Call the Specialist and
ask him, I heard he saw something like this once. ” I overheard the Doctors
collaborating, forming a brain trust to bring to bear on what single minds could
not. At 12 years old it all seemed magical and esoteric, I felt in good hands by
people who legitimately cared. These were men of a special cabal of learning they
wore white coats they expressed true empathy these were the present day
magical Shaman of the displaced natives only better since the discovery and
rational thinking of science had given them instruments to peer into the true
nature of matter, they could actually see into worlds hitherto invisible only
decades ago. This would soon be over once they trained the technologies and
bio-chemistry of true knowledge toward the problem. Discovering what I was
ailing from they would surely conjure a cure from the esoteric knowledge they
possessed and if one didn’t exist they could even synthesize new molecules
through the understanding of bio-chemistry and create what nature lacked.
Literally and figuratively the aspects of gods fell at their learned disposal. Once
the battery of testing was over we arrived at the crux of the problem through the
process of elimination, it was decided it can’t be anything else but this, you sure
what about? Nope got to be this there is no other explanation..NONE. Thus so
the pronouncement came own, and the naming of my disease uttered for the
first time. I was suffering from Juvenile rheumatoid Synovitis, a form of arthritis
that for some strange reason in some small sections of patients appeared as a
negative rheumatoid factor stating that you did not have it. However since the
consensus of opinion was that the symptoms matched so closely it simply could
be nothing else. Assuming you know everything on heaven and earth, this is a
completely and totally rational decision right? That assumption must be in place
for it to be considered rational. If the first assumption it is not in place then the
decision is altogether subject real problems, since it could be littoral anything in
existence that man does not know about. I am not a doctor but I understand
nature to the degree that I know it’s secrets are subtle and prone to a delicate
teasing in order to reveal them. Hell, trying to tease a Trout from it’s natural
environment using artificial means, using the most carefully thought out full
proof tested fly, tied by the most tedious and careful of artisans was enough to
drive the most intelligent man into a state of apparent madness by his inability to
match wits with a humble trout. Unless, unless he was a true fisherman who had
availed himself of the invisible college replete within all systems of nature.
Fishermen who study nature, excise the skills eeded from observation of holistic
systems, you can not discern and adapt without understanding all dimensions
involved. Understanding is looking, it is nothing less than clever observation of as
many seemingly invisible processes as possible, one has to use their imagination
to enter into the being of nature. Or such was the philosophy that I chose to take
from my love of fishing, and it bestowed some confidence on my ego as well.
Relief, relief finally, hope, a feeling of thank God I do not have to be sick
anymore, I will be OK, the pain will stop, I can go back into the woods and
participate in the world around me. This sunk into my distressed child psyche
and comforted the ever present mother distressed over her child’s pain. At last
we could apply a cure! A cure for what is MUST be! The “cure” in this case was a
progressive application of medicines which to everyone’s chagrin changed
absolutely nothing, nothing at all. Super High-Dose Asprin, Motrin,
Penicillamine, Anti,Depressants, Opiates when the pain was too great, finally a
radical treatment of heavy metal poisoning with gold salts instead of lead was
injected on a weekly basis into my ever-present pincushion of ass cheek. Weekly
blood tests to monitor the heavy metals in my system. Yet still every other week I
would wind up back in the hospital pleading with the doctors to please remove
the fluid on my knee and take away the pain. They would caution me to stop
being so active, you simply can not be doing these things that exacerbate your
condition, no sports, no running around the woods and the most ghastly thing
of all stop running around all day fishing. I tried to comply as best I could but a
child’s world does not know limitations, nor should it, being a child is about
finding out and exploring what and who you are and I was finding out in short
order that I was categorized as disabled, sick, ill and should act and be treated
differently. I recoiled at being treated differently, I recoiled at acting differently, I
pushed the envelope of what was doable and paid the price in exchange for my
participation in life. I was quite positive in the beginning I became the youngest
Certified Arthritis Foundation Certified Self Help Instructor in it’s history. I had
 worked out trick to my condition that helped, I understood the dynamics and
mechanisms of pain and the cycle it set in place. The pain cycle is a very tricky
thing because it works like water, slowly over time, it starts to exploit the tiniest
weaknesses of the body and the cognition of the one in pain. It is like the
millstones of fate that do not grind fast but grind exceedingly fine. Being a
youthful lad, my positive outlook soon turned to a much more grim settling in. I
was young and had yet to build up a store of knowledge or endurance for this
type of subtle battle. It weighed heavily on my Mother, Father and Sister and I
knew, I didn’t have to think, I knew I was the cause of distress to people around
me. They were distressed out of love, burdened with monitoring my health and
constantly concerned as I assumed the role of felt pariah and rebelled in no
organised or specific direction. This is a very dangerous place to be as a child, I
was cursed with life instead of blessedly delivered into the cradle of nature I once
found myself in years earlier. The medicines, the treatment, the social
ramifications of cruel teenagers took there toll and I was separated from the
healthy humans, most of which didn’t give a rats ass about my problems or I
theirs. A disease as firm as their apathy to my plight took place in my apathy
toward the them, the same disease, the exact same disease that was so
thoroughly entrained in modern society and culture took hold in me. The disease
I thought I was fighting was child’s play compared to what was to come with this
new sickness. I mean at least I could name mine, no one, no one has a name for
this other cultural polarizing disease that fosters the prejudices and apathy and
like water seeps into the cracks of the system, it becomes a system with a built in
disease for both sides. No one is at fault here it is simply that the baser natures of
humanities wayward spirits have lost some real abilities to heal or even know
that we have a very subtle disease. This does not effect all but does elude
treatment since it isn’t easy to apprehend even to those suffering from it the
most. The cure is so simple most discount it as being too simplistic for rational
consideration. This is the disease I suffered the most excruciating self
administered pain from and it is the disease we see everyday in every aspect of
the most crucial problems of the world.We have incorporated into our being at
an individual level a prejudice toward our own species so invasive we find it
everywhere. It is institutionalized, it is legislated against, it is misunderstood and
it is wholly and completely treatable since to have this disease you have to
voluntarily take it into the fabric of your being. The cure is also a voluntary
prospect and I have chosen only now to declare my freedom from it and to
convey the message and cure through sharing my story. Ignorance and apathy
are diseases within the so called healthy, one only has to have a crippling disease
to see how “healthy” we all are.

Lyme, has been a 20 year battle that I am still fighting because of the damage,
the financial damage alone cut one off at the end from any worthwhile healing. I
am still fighting this now, financially with the IRS, without medical help, and
without any defined way to climb out of it so late in the game, perhaps it will
haunt the rest of my life, but at least I understand the journey now.

Thu, Apr 28 at 09:39 PM by concerned:

I was diagnosed with Lyme a few years ago and placed on antibiotics for a
couple weeks, retested, and told my subsequest tests always came back negative.
I also lost a dog to Lyme Disease and complications from it. I am still often
fatigued and continue to have various joint pains…pains that my doctor usually
just blames on “getting older”. He usually tells me to take some Aleve, exercise
more, and sends me on my way. I’m in my late forties, but sometimes feel like
I’m much older than that because of joint pain. It’s frustrating…I feel like my
doctor doesn’t take my symptoms seriously and can relate to some of the
comments posted here. Among my joint pains was a persistent pain in one of my
hips. When I finally (after 2 or 3 years) insisted on getting tests done, it turned
out to be torn cartilage. I really don’t know if my other joint pains are due to
Lyme, but I do think that some doctors really don’t take our complaints seriously
enough or trust us when we say “something’s not right” .....or want to take the
time to figure out what’s really going on. I can understand people who feel like
they, then, have to resort to doing their own research online.

Thu, Apr 28 at 08:09 PM by Sflah:

You can help raise money and awareness of the disease by participating in the
Loudoun Lyme 5K on May 15 at the National Conference Center in Leesburg.
The 5K will also have an educational fair. To register go to
http://www.loudounlyme.org.

Thu, Apr 28 at 07:19 PM by fedup:

 Consider yourself lucky if the test for lyme comes back positive. The test is
known to be wrong and there is nothing new on the horizon to take its place…
insurance companies don’t want to pay for another disease. It is amazing that
we live in such a heavy Lyme area and our doctors are so uninformed. It can
take years and very serious symptoms before one is diagnosed. I know firsthand
how devastating lyme can be and it can present in more than one area, ie:
neurological and in the joints. I have real doubts about the number of reported
cases…I think it may be at least 5 times higher than that. I wonder if that is only
the number of positive test results that get reported. This is such a reality for so
many Loudoun residents that there should be required training for our Loudoun
physicians…their lack of knowledge is adding to the devastating consequences.
Thank you Frank Wolfe and the lyme panelists who are bringing this to the
forefront. Everyone should watch Under Our Skin when it airs on PBS in the
next couple of months.

Thu, Apr 28 at 06:35 PM by thank:

@falsepositives—
12 tests absolutely can come back negative. Lyme in the brain is hidden from the
immune system, and won’t generate antibodies.
no antibodies, no + test.

Thu, Apr 28 at 02:35 PM by Diseased:

All three of my kids have tested positive for Lyme disease in the last 4 years. If
you suspect your kids have Lyme disease make sure you request the Lyme test.
We had a terrible time getting one of our kids tested as the doctors swore up and
down it wasn’t Lyme disease which turned out to be incorrect.

All three received antibiotics and the symptoms cleared up.

Pets are also susceptible to Lyme disease and the majority of pets tested in at
least the Great Falls area are testing positive.

Thu, Apr 28 at 01:03 PM by brgust:

This could not have come at a more perfect time. Our son was just diagnosed
with Lyme Disease on Tuesday. We did not find a tick, nor did we ever see the
bull’s eye rash. We took our son in because he’d been experiencing mysterious
joint pain and inflammation for a few months. Our doctor was immediately
concerned, thinking it was rheumatoid arthritis, but thankfully he also tested for
LD, and the results were overwhelmingly positive. We have an appointment with
a pediatric infectious disease specialist next week, but I’m a bit nervous about
that after all that I’ve read. I’m not sure how to go about finding a doctor who is
Lyme literate who also accepts our insurance.

Thu, Apr 28 at 12:01 PM by juneau:

As a Loudoun County resident with Lyme (undiagnosed for at least one year), I
feel especially glad to see this article focus on Lyme disease in a very real way.
Let’s not forget, though, about co-infections as the reason for ongoing
symptoms, and that many, many people NEVER see a tick or bulls-eye rash, or
any rash. I was misdiagnosed by a Loudoun County family doctor, and I tell
everyone who will listen to run far and fast from any MD who will not take your
complaints and questions about Lyme seriously. If the MD does not explain the
controversy and tell you to do the research, then FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR
QUICKLY! If the MD says 10 days of antibiotics are enough, and only if you are
symptomatic, THEN FIND ANOTHER DOCTOR QUICKLY! I also didn’t see
much emphasis on testing and how Lyme bacteria can evade standard testing
after they move from your blood into your tissues, and for other reasons. A
negative Lyme test means NOTHING. A positive Lyme test is a blessing. For more
info, go to ILADS.ORG. Learn about Lyme and what you NEED to do to protect
your family from this disease that steals lives.

Thu, Apr 28 at 11:09 AM by falsePositives:

..as described above, beware of “specialists” hawking dramatic cures and never
ending tests. Not all symptoms for Lyme are actually caused by the disease! Like
many auto-immune related disorders, its no surprise the number of miracle
cures and predatory physicians willing to jump on the Lyme bandwagon. Be a
smart medical consumer…@ticked off, if *12* tests come back negative, maybe
 that’s your answer! Treating symptoms is a smart approach.

Thu, Apr 28 at 10:13 AM by Lyme advocate:

Unfortunately, denial of chronic Lyme is still the norm for doctors in the US. We
have documented dozens of stories from lyme patients and they all had the same
experience. 2 great sites to untangle the lyme controversy are -

http://www.lyme-disease-research-database.com/
http://www.ilads.org

Thu, Apr 28 at 09:37 AM by Lyme-Aware:

What I found was that despite having all the early symptoms, headache, stiff
neck, fatigue, stiff joints and EVEN the bulls eye rash, they refuse to admit it is
Lyme Disease. Not to mention that there are only a few strains that they test for
when there are well over a couple hundred strains out there. In my experience,
you always have to inform yourself and advocate for yourself. Although doctors
go to school and learn a lot, not a single person knows all. We all are not
created equally when it comes to how our bodies fight infections. Our immune
systems differ as much as our personalities so we cannot count on the “one size
fits all” treatment as the CDC guidelines are outlined. We need treatment
offered according to each individual’s needs.

Thu, Apr 28 at 09:13 AM by ticked off:

You forgot to mention the people that have Lyme and for years and the tests
come up NEGATIVE. I have Lyme and probably have had it since I was a teen, I
am 50 now. I have had 12 Lyme tests over the last 6 years and only ONE of these
test came back with IGM 23 Positive, but Lyme neg. I have Lyme, but like
Raechel Macpherson, I had cramped hands, inflammation from head to toe and
a body pain that increased daily. I was referred to an infectious disease
specialists. The original diagnosis was rheumatoid arthritis. Many of my friends
were coming up positive for Lyme. I went to a Lyme specialist who loaded me
up with so many herbal drugs and injections of B12, it almost destroyed my
kidneys and liver. Finally, after finding a wonderful doctor who treated me for
Lyme on THE SYMPTOMS of Lyme, I have been feeling much better. Please post
the name of the Dr. in Washington, because the ones in this area are not
informed or qualified to handle Lyme.

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