Blumenthal To Announce Review Of Lyme Disease Treatment Guidelines

I had Lyme Disease many years ago and I can tell you the symptoms spontaneously reoccur and the fix is to take antibiotics. I have experienced this a number of times but when you ask for antibiotics many doctors act like you are an antibiotic junky. Of course there is no history of antibiotic addiction problems but if you let the Lyme go untreated then you run the risk of serious health issues. The point being isn't it safer to err on the side of caution with this disease and let the poor people suffering receive antibiotics and ease their pain and suffering.

I have known a number of people who have contracted Lyme disease and this is no joking matter. It has left them in such a bad state that they can't even do the day to day things that we take for granted. If there is medicine or treatments for this disease it should be made avaiable without question. It's no different than any other disease that requires medicine or treatments. It's a disease, a medical condition that should be taken care as soon as diagnosed. The insurance companies are playing with people's lives when sit there and determine who and who should not be treated. It's time to put the determination back in the doctor's hands, not the insurance companies. Yeah sure they have doctors and nurses on staff, but if you ask me these are doctors and nurses that couldn't make it in the real world so they hide in an insurance office.

The problem with lyme desease is not how easy it is to treat, but how hard it is to itentify when one has it. The tests they have literally suck and you can go months with lyme before you get treated for it which by that time has caused numerous problems. From experience I can testify that the longer you have it without being treated fot it, the harder it is to get rid of and the damage that it can cause can be irreverable!

Experts?Respected?(IDSA). The Courant must have the same "professional business arrangements" as The IDSA. Your paper has no credibility, if you only present one side. Ask any Lyme patient,if they got well on IDSA guidelines. These guidelines only make the IDSA well,by filling their egos and pockets.By associating your paper so closely with IDSA, you have lost all credibility with your readers/customers. What a disservice you to to the people of Hartford. I pray you and your families never get Lyme.

I believe I was cured of Lyme. I only became aware of the infection one day in July when suddenly every bone and muscle in my body ached. I had tested positive a few months before but had no symptoms and the doctor wanted to wait. A few courses of antibiotics - the symptoms always reappeared. Finally, I was given doxycycline on and off for about 9 months and that seems to have wiped it out! that was a few years ago. My fingers are crossed.

Just when I thought the Courant was finally publishing just the news and not trying to heavily slant this debate - the first part of this article is finally just the news - you have to go an finish with another biased slam.

If you were going to mention that the AAN published copycat findings of the IDSA, why didn't you also mention that several authors of the IDSA Guidelines also participated in formulating those copycat Lyme guidelines for the American Academy of Neurology, and that because of it, the AAN was also subpoenaed in the investigation?

Those guidelines were offered as "independent corroboration" of the IDSA Lyme guidelines, even though the same individuals were involved with both guidelines and employed the same exclusionary tactics that prompted the Connecticut Attorney General's investigation.

Look, if you can't hire people to write balanced articles, could you just maybe have them take a basic journalism class at a local university? Because your "newspaper" has been behaving like some kind of PR machine for Wormser, Shapiro, et al.

The integrity of the news suffers, Lyme disease patients suffer (disproportionately children), even the reputation of the IDSA (made up largely of doctors who weren't involved and weren't biased before Wormser's little cadre published their tainted guidelines) are all suffering.

If you can't be convinced to seek and print the truth, at least please finally present both sides?

I have been on antibiotics for almost a year now. If not for the continuous stream of meds, I would feel horrible.
I thought that I was better so my doc agreed that it was time to see how well I would do without the antibiotics. Within 6 days I was back to feeling horrible, so now I'm on the meds again.
I'm afraid to stop taking them, but eventually I will have to stop.

Bless you AG Blumenthal for all your hard work bringing
this into the light.

.......i guess Camp A didn't want any prison time eh? They are on the run now, and we can PROVE the FRAUD with
INTENT to DO HARM!

http://lymecryme.com

.wOw....pinch me.....lol..... for once i am speechless...lol

I live in Oregon and had positive tests at a specialty lab for lyme, babesia and an erhlichiosis TEN YEARS AGO.

I was unable to get any treatment because my doctor said "we don't have lyme here." I had gone to the lab privately since my doctor would not do the right tests.

Even with positive labs, and severe symptoms of all three diseases, to this date I am still unable to get medical treatment. Many travel out of state and mortgage their homes for treatment with specialists. I never had that option. I am too sick to go out at all and getting worse.

I hope this case saves lives. I hope it can save mine, even yet. Still, many years - many lives - have been lost because of the IDSA and their ignorance about tick-borne infections.

Glad to see some level headed people finally discussing this in a productive way.

Many people do not take lime prevention seriously. Wear pants tucked into pants while in hi risk areas and spray your clothes with repellant. I am constantly warning people I see walking in the grass or woodlands unproteced...they think I am nuts. Watch your kids in the yard as well, a friend and his daughter got lyme in their backyard.

I don't get why the medical community is so resistant to treating this disease. I had it 7 years ago, and it took 3 months to get a doctor's appointment. He then blew me off, and gave me 14 days of meds, which almost immediately made me feel better.

Then it came back with a vengeance.

I was sent to an infectious disease specialist, who told me that "Lyme doesn't exist", and she then decided that I had syphilis based on the assumption that since I ws a single male in my late 30's, that had to be it. I tested negative for everything.

I finally bullied my GP into giving me 90 days worth of doxycycline. That worked. At the end of the treatment, I felt like myself again. About a year later, I developed a neurologically-based cardiac arrythmia. My cardiologist says that Lyme is the prime suspect in his mind, and he now tests all of his patients for it when they have a neurological problem with their heart. He's had me tested twice since I've been under his care, because I have a very high exposure to ticks.

But from what I read, I'm one of the lucky ones, it seems -- I feel fine, and my arrythmia has not interfered with living how I want to, as it is very easily controlled with a beta blocker.

If your doctor won't deal with it, find one that will. I did, and I'm happy with the results.

With all due respect to those persons who believe they are suffering from long-term Lyme disease, I for one find the Attorney General's involvement in this medical dispute most disturbing. It seems that the advocates of long-term antibiotic therapy should be able to marshall sufficent scientific evidence to prove their case and not rely on the bully power of the Attorney General. If they feel they are unjustly denied insurance benefits, they can take their case to court. I suppose I am alone in this matter, but I think this sets a very dangerous precedent.

I agree with the concerns posited by Magoo. The Attorney General has neither the knowledge or wisdom to make pronouncements as to the efficacy of a particular medical treatment. He lacks the courage to run for governor but is apparently perfectly willing to use the power of his office to influence how doctors are to treat Lyme Disease.

I look forward to reading the details of the settlement- specifically who will do this independent review and what if any new research may be considered.

Also they need to review the test as it uses technology that is at least 15 years old and is flawed at best. If the current test will still be the sole basis for diagnosis no one will be better off.

If I remember one of the panel members who wrote the guidelines had a financial interest in the test or technology used for the tests.

I do applaud the State's Attorney General for seeking the truth again.

Hey magoo, come on over to my house, spend an hour in my yard and take some Lyme Disease back to your house.

Maybe after getting Lyme your opinion will change.

Also that State Atty General ONLY got involved because there was compelling evidence that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the IDSA was unfair and underhanded in developing the treatment protocols for Lyme.

This would make any good AG rise to do his job, & investigate potential wrong doing that may cause harm to the citizens of the State of CT.

Also if you read the press release Blumenthal said today "he had delved into the personal investment holdings as well as professional business arrangements of scientists who wrote the guidelines and found that there may have been conflicts, though he did not name specific researchers.

"What happened in this process, what made it so flawed, is it excluded information,'' Blumenthal said. "The cause of that excluding of evidence was financial concern.''

As a prior VP of claims for one of the if not the largest insurer in the state I can tell you that it is the published treatment guidelines that insurers subscribe to that enable them to accept, or deny claims.

In this case there is clearly two schools of thought, research and treatment guidelines.

Lyme disease is a complex, political and very common illness in CT.

Over time the hopeful the facts will come out and more funding can be made available for Lyme as it is the #1 insect borne illness in the US, yet gets less that 1/100th the funding of West Nile.

In the end the truth and knowledge will trump all.

Isnt that why we have a Surgeon General for? And a Center for Disese Control?

I am very disappointed in the presentation of the Attorney Generals announcement in this article. By reading this one gets the impression the IDSA is supported by 2 other medical societies in its treatment guidelines. The author fails to mention that the American Academy of Neurology guidelines were in fact authored by some of the same people that authored the IDSA guidelines and that they violated their own conflicts of interest guidelines!

Thank you Mr. Blumenthal --- for restoring my faith in the ability of our public servants to act as a check on a corrupt and out of control scientific technocracy.

Multiple studies have shown that the Lyme disease spirochete can persist in mammals for decades in both spirochete and cystic forms. Numerous darkfield microscope videos of live blood available for viewing on youtube.com show the spirochete invading white blood cells and macrophages. Some of these videos are from individuals who have previously received the standard 10 day course of antibiotics....

The IDSA has actively worked against the welfare of hundreds of thousands of chronic Lyme disease patients who trusted science to shed light on the truth about chronic spirochete infection.

The IDSA has shown itself to be an organization consisting of pseudo scientists who put their own financial interests above scientific truth and public health. Again... three cheers to Mr. Blumenthal and his hardworking staff for providing oversight on behalf of patients..

Thank you for the bottom of my heart.

Magoo and Buckaroo should read the AG's complaint more carefully. The investigation was about the IDSA's guidelines process. This was not about the treatment of Lyme disease or the use of antibiotics, this was about the IDSA's exclusionary practices and undisclosed financial interests.