first do not harm - Life Love and Chronic Stage 3 Lyme Disease

Lyme disease found in Wake - Again

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:03:00 +0000

Lyme disease found in Wake

AP FILE PHOTO

The black-legged tick, or 'deer tick,' carries Lyme disease bacteria. Tick season starts in April.

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BY MARTHA QUILLIN AND ANNE BLYTHE - STAFF WRITERS

RALEIGH -- As the weather warms and walks through tick-laden woods beckon, state officials have confirmed that Wake County is among the North Carolina counties where Lyme disease is a known threat.

The state Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday that in 2009 two cases of the tick-borne disease were found in patients who had not left the county during the 30 days before they contracted the infection.

Four similar cases were confirmed in the state last year, health officials said: one each in Wilkes, Wilson, Pitt and Carteret counties.

martha.quillin@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8989For years, Lyme disease was thought to be primarily a scourge of Northeastern and north central states, where more than 90 percent of reported cases occur. Doctors in North Carolina were reluctant even to test patients for the disease.

Now, public health officials want doctors - and patients - to be aware of the early signs of the illness and appropriate treatments. Early intervention can prevent the development of serious complications, including cardiac and nervous-system abnormalities and a condition called Lyme arthritis.

Jenny Carrington, who lives on a small horse farm near Rolesville, was not surprised by the finding. After suffering the headaches, fever, fatigue, muscle aches and other ill effects of Lyme disease starting in July 2007, she went through three North Carolina doctors before finally getting a South Carolina physician to prescribe high doses of antibiotics.

"This is bad news, but good news," Carrington said Wednesday. "It's bad news it's here, but good news they're acknowledging it. As long as the medical world will recognize it, maybe they'll take it a little more seriously and react a little quicker. Maybe they'll do more, too, to educate people about the disease."

'A big, big deal'

The declaration that Lyme disease exists in Wake County is a "big, big deal," said Marcia Herman-Giddens, an adjunct professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Public Health and president of the Tick-borne Infections Council of North Carolina. Not only will doctors be required to report cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they are also likely to prescribe medications sooner.

"People who don't get treated as quickly generally don't do well," Herman-Giddens said.

Carried by 'deer tick'

Reluctance to acknowledge the presence of the infection in North Carolina stemmed from early observations of the black-legged tick, or "deer tick," which carries the Lyme bacteria. In Southern states, the tick appeared to feed on reptiles rather than mammals. As a result, it had a reputation for biting fewer people in the South and was considered unlikely to transmit the bacteria to humans here.

Carl Williams, state public health veterinarian, said that part of the educational process is helping people understand where they are at risk for the disease.

"They don't necessarily have to go to Umstead Park," Williams said. "If they're pruning azalea bushes in their backyard, that could be a place where they could pick up a tick."

In North Carolina, April is considered the start of tick season.

No treatment for nut jobs. Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:25:00 +0000

After the birth of my first child I had miserable pain that showed no signs of abating. My OB kept giving me one antidepressant after another insisting I had post partum depression. For a depressed person I felt unusually happy and well connected. I was just in terrible pain. Finally he referred me to a psychiatrist who was disgusted and said, “You have a physical problem”. He sent me to a specialist in Chapel Hill, Dr Steege. He diagnosed me with plain only levator syndrome. I got well with his help. I swore I would never again be tricked into taking psych meds for a physical problem.

But just recently I started taking Lyrica for fibromyalgia. My fibromyalgia is a gift from my Lyme Disease. Lyrica was originally an antidepressant that didn’t work well. But in test trials at very low doses showed some smart physician that it stopped the pain of people with fibromyalgia. So once again I am taking psych meds for pain.

I was speaking to a friend of mine who has a thriving practice in clinical psychology just yesterday. I explained to her that I had started taking Lyrica for my fibromyalgia symptoms. She exclaimed, “thank God for Lyrica. I was surprise by the out burst but asked her why she felt that way.

Her face became visibly angry as she explained, “Well for 10 years every doctor in Raleigh has been sending us their fibromyalgia patients because they believed that the pain their patients suffered from was “all in their head”. As clinical psychologists we have been sending them back to their doctor after discovering that their pain was all in their body. The patients feel like a ping pong ball. Of course they are offended when their GP makes them feel like they are crazy. The whole thing has been terrible”.

Just to make the line a little more blurry...

Since I am going back through my second round of Lyme treatment I more than understood what she was saying. I remembered the Raleigh Infectious Disease Specialist who refused to even talk to me about Lyme. He said angrily that he wasn’t treating Lyme because people who claim to have Lyme where all suffering from hysteria and depression. My two positive tick borne disease titers lead me to believe that the only one with hysteria was the infectious disease specialist.

To finally receive treatment I had to prove I wasn’t nuts. A battery of neuropsychological exams would show I had neither anxiety, depression, hysteria nor insanity. But what if my neuropsychological test had shown that I was a real nut job? Is that a valid reason for denying treatment? A physician at a local emergency room would never deny antibiotics to a schizophrenic with an infection. It would be malpractice.

As Lyme disease patients we need to dismiss the argument that we are nuts as valid. When we believe this is what is being said we need to tell physician that our mental solvency is not a reason to deny treatment.

Flying away from the relapse: Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:38:00 +0000

When I have a Lyme relapse it happens like this. I feel like I am coming down with the flu. Not over the course of the day. No the entire full-on flu sets in within the course of 15 minutes. I go from having a really good day to 'oh my God it is happening again'. I go from coherent and alert to I may not be able to drive home on my own. The lymph nodes in my neck will literally, visibly swell to painful golf balls over the course of just an hour. I stand up and leave from my desk taking only the time to email my boss. (makes for a terrible boss/employee relationship). My hand shake and I can barely put the keys in the door. I do nothing but fall into bed. My husband will help me undress when he gets home. I just have to wait for help to come to me. For someone to discover that I am sick. Like and old women who has fallen and broken her hip. Then I lay in bed with a fever in pain for days on end.

It sets in like a bird or prey. Swift and unexpected. But my Lyme disease relapses also leave the same way. If you have been following this blog in the last few weeks you know I have had 4 relapses of the course of 6 weeks. It is most likely one big relapse that I had to hammer back 4 different time. Tuesday was particularly bad as my lungs where swelling and the rescue inhaler was only helping a little. But yesterday around 6 pm it all stopped. The pain left. Just as suddenly - I was well. The lymph nodes began to shirk rapidly. After a good night of sleep I woke up this morning and my lymph nodes where no longer huge hard golf balls in my neck. Suddenly I am up again and eating and exercising. Just like that I am fly away from a relapse just as fast as it set in.

Now I may still relapse again. But usually this is the sign that I will be well for a while.

Pray for me - pray that I stay well.

Magic: Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:51:00 +0000

I am getting well now and there is a feeling of magic pouring into my life. Yes by 2:00 in the afternoon I am still exhausted and quite frankly done for the day but each day is little better than the one before. There are miraculous things a foot.

Obama in trouble? Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:07:00 +0000

So I was reading and article in the Economist that says that Americans are up in arms over the growing influence of the US government under president Obama.

Umm - no - I think not. President Bush was a disaster for our family. We are just regular middle class Americans. Avoiding all the arguments about Bush stealing the vote or being a warlord. No I remember not being able to get the my unemployment check because Bush would sign a bill to fund the unemployment security commission. It was bad enough that his blank stare financial policies shut down the company that I worked for but taking the unemployment too. That is low. Then there was the lip service only policy he promoted for illegal immigrants from Mexico. Meanwhile methamphetamine walked across the border in unprecedented quantities and into my hometown claiming the lives of good kids. But we couldn't get any of the good hard working people from Mexico - that we wanted to come here and work because of the crappy immigration policies. Then there where those taxes that I owed. I am still feeling the impact from that. Then there was the do nothing attitude toward bio patents by universities and pharma. My own father couldn't do research with Canadian Universities because he couldn't get anything over the border in a timely way. This seriously effected his income. But the bio patent stuff personally impacted my Lyme treatment and has left me disabled for lack of treatment and adequate testing. Then it was like every kid in town had asthma or something. It was ridiculous to go to a soccer match. Otherwise healthy kids are suddenly standing on the sidelines with their inhalers. So much for the "Blue Sky" laws. My own children have autism and "no child left behind" did exactly the opposite - it left my kids in the dust. Then his administration cut all mental health funding to the states and any benefits they did have where gone.

Then enter Obama. My taxes will be significantly less this year. Should I need to activate my unemployment then wow - I can expect to receive that. I can actually afford my COBRA payment only because of the stimulus act. My new health insurance company that takes effect in February has taken a radical new approach and they are NOT counting my "pre-existing" conditions. WOW that's new! The schools have money now to help the kids with autism and mental health programs like CAP are being revived. Finally the EPA is talking about air quality. The EPA is finally talking about Lyme and this administration is putting significant pressure on the CDC to get accurate numbers about the outbreak. Additionally they are putting more money into Lyme research. Finally an administration that doesn't blame the poor for being poor or the sick for being sick.

I think I will keep Obama. You send me your tea bags and I will send you the tea cup that I can finally afford AND the water you won't have to be afraid to drink.

Relapse number 4: Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:17:00 +0000

So I am on relapse number 4. I just skipped the upadate for relapse number 3 because it so closely blended into number 4. It is important to know I have only been on antibiotics for 3 weeks. The severity and duration of the relapses has diminished. Most difficult to manage -opportunistic ear infections. So far the time out of the bed feeling well is just under the time spent in bed feeling sick. This is a marked improvement.

I think I will go camping more often

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:13:00 +0000

I was just watching the national geographic channel. I said to myself, " as soon as I get better I think I will go hiking and camping more often. The way I used to when I was in my 20s."

Some people never learn. If I do - I will wear my bug spray this time.

The Jemsek Clinic and the Top 10 Lyme Cures by Bryan Rosner

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:26:00 +0000

Bryan Rosners book, "The Top 10 Lyme Disease Treatments" is a well written book about a personal journey with Lyme as well as a look at what people are experimenting with to treat their Lyme. He is the lay person's pioneer in the feild of Lyme. He has probably come closer to documenting possible treatments than any other book writer. But like many Lyme pioneers he has a blind spot: he is a proponent of the Rife Machine. I can't get behind this as a way to kill bacteria. In the localized area where electricity is applied their is not doubt that the bacteria are killed. However there is no way to eradicate it from the body entirely using electricity frequencies. In psychiatric hospitals in the 1950 electric shock therapy was used to treat a range of maladies including schizophrenia. The patients frequently arrived at mental hospitals with self inflicted - and infected injuries. The shock therapy never resolved any of these infections. The Rife Machine will however resolve the pain of Lyme very effectively. So will a TENS Unit on a CFS frequency. A TENS Unit is covered by most insurance companies.

Antibiotic are the only "clinically proven" cure for Lyme. I personally use a regime of oral clindamycin and quinine which cover my babesia as well as the Lyme. It works for me. I am going back to part time work after 6 months of disability.

The words - "it works for me" must be emphasized. I have friend who works for DENR and was bitten by over 12 ticks that all generated the bulls eye rash while doing a tick collection study in the field. I expected the worst. Infectious Disease promptly put him on 90 days of IV Rocephrin and bed rest. The state paid for 6 months of disability . He is as good as new and back to work. This very similar to the treatment used at the Jemsek clinic.

Other people get one tick bite and are shortly there after - dead.

Clearly the success of treatment depends on the individual epigenetics and health at the onset of infection.

Dr Jemsek in SC treats with IV Rocephrin. However the only real success stories I have seen coming out of his clinic are people who where infected within 30 days of beginning treatment. That is true in general of any Lyme treatment. The sooner you seek help the better the outcome. There are some occasional chronically infected people who are also doing very well. But it is 50 - 50. He is clearly a pioneer in the treatment of Lyme. Doing his research on real human beings may be controversial but some research is better than the research lock down at the NIH.

But remember I said it was 50 - 50. What about that other 50%. I have a good friend who was treated by Jemsek and ended up at UNC on the edge of death with a septic catheter. Making matters worse Jemsek had also prescribed her sedatives and antiaxiety drug which where being injected straight into the port. Slowing her heart rate and allowing the septic infection to spread faster. She nearly lost her life. After being brought back from near death by the amazing team of doctors at UNC. She was permanently damaged and will always be disabled. Her Lyme ended up being managed successfully by oral retreatment when she has a recurrence of symptoms. Most failed Jemesk stories are not this dramatic. Most failure stories just end with - "The catheter treatment was disappointing or unsuccessful and now I am 10 to 100K in medical debt.

Personally, I am hospice worker and I have yet to see any support for his claim that 100% of all his Alzheimer's patients have Lyme AND have had the Alzheimer's reversed by his Lyme treatment. They all seem to end up under the care of Hospice drifting away into senility. I think no one ever bothers to call him back and tell him so he believes it has worked. Clearly he also has a blind spot just like Bryan Rosner. But no one has ever ended up in the hospital septic from a Rife Machine.

As a hospice worker I can tell you that PIC lines are usually reserved for "end of life" scenarios. Most Lyme case are not end of life scenarios even if you feel like you are dying. If you can show up at the Jemesek Clinic you are are not at the end of life. People in this stage usually need to be air lifted or transported by ambulance from hospital to hospital. They have tubes coming out of every orifice. Yes you are very very sick and you feel like dying but you are probably not at the end of life.

But obviously the IDSA has a huge blind spot too. Steeped in the slug of the patent debate bubbling up in the Supreme Court. Lyme is the cousin to Syphilis. Even a person with no medical training knows that Syphilis cannot be treated with 21 days of doxycycline.

So if you are trying to treat your Lyme. The best advice I can give you is stick to the middle of the road. Do your own research. Talk to lots of Lyme patients who have tried different treatments. Get some one else who is not sick or desperate to be well to help you decide the best course of action. Don't be in a hurry. Remember to treat your symptoms as well as the disease itself. Offing yourself or someone else seems to be a theme with Lyme patients. Being sick will make anyone depressed enough to kill. Add to that the disabling neurological nature of Lyme and you have a recipe for disaster. Make sure some is watching you for psychological symptoms suggesting that you may hurt yourself or someone else.

Set your expectations correctly. Currently no "treatment" is a "cure". There is little research into Lyme except for the Baxter vaccine.

On a deeply personal note - This is terrible disease. It has crushed me in ways the are not measurable by dollars. I am very sorry that you are sick and I would never wish this on anyone - not even the doctors who stand in the way of Lyme research. But for everything that Lyme has taken away God has returned to me in the most unique and unexpected ways. I am praying that he will take a personal interest in your suffering and do the same for you.

Lyme hits the Virginia State Legislature: Bill Russel for President

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:39:00 +0000

Good News for all of us who drive to Virgina for treatment. The Virgina house is taking up the issue of Lyme disease thanks to Bill Russel.

Bill here:

Allergies and Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:56:00 +0000

Lyme is not an allergy and allergy medicine do not cure Lyme. However seasonal allergy attacks can kick in action a chain of event that can lead to relapse. It can prompt a refractory Lyme response resembling fibromyalgia or CFS. I am learning that managing my simple allergy to dust mites is part of staying well. I tend to get opportunistic ear infections with my Lyme relapses caused by allergies. No I can not stop a relapse but I can make it less miserable.

The second type of opportunistic infection I get is upper bronchial. That can be irritated by LPRD - Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Disease. Sometime called "Silent Reflux". So I tend to relapse in the fall and winter. Just a 1/2 an over the counter Xantac in the morning can make a relapse less horrible.

The third type of infection I get is facial soft tissue herpes infections. This is also accompanied by pain that is compounded by the additional pain brought on by a Lyme relapse. Now what can I do to mitigate this. Take a low dose of Famvir. Unexplainably this also helps me resolve Fibromyalgia and CFS flare ups more readily.

It sucks to have chronic Lyme but there are steps we can take to make it suck less bad.

2nd relapse: Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:56:00 +0000

I am in the middle of my second relapse since I concluded my initial Lyme treatment of 150 days of Doxycycline. (first relapse here) The fact that I am here writing about it means that this relapse is not as bad as others. Last relapse I was in bed for 8 days - I mean - in bed. Sitting up and watching TV was out of the question. Before; I was in sever pain. I have gone through child labor - so I know what pain is and my relapses are usually excruciating. Before I needed assistance to get myself to and from the bathroom because I couldn't think it through. Ask your partner to help you get to the bathroom for a week. It will stress your marriage. Especially if it keeps happening over and over. But this time. I could think. I could watch a movie. It looks like it will still be 8 days. But not 8 days of darkness, no sound - only pain -starring at the ceiling in bed. I needed this win. However I have decided to go back on my Lyme treatment. In my logical mind I could not understand how anyone could have a bacteria (beneficial or otherwise) left in their body after 150 day of doxycycline. But evidently all my logic doesn't cure Lyme. Antibiotics do. I am a little sad about going back to long term antibiotics. But I am looking forward to less relapses.

"Everybody dies" Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:24:00 +0000

I have now been told by 5 doctors that "everybody dies". Ok - that is just plain lazy. Are you in medicine to treat the "well" or the "sick"? If you went into medicine to help the "well" you are just a joke of a doctor. Equally as disgusting but more sinister are doctors who have a eugenics undertone. The unspoken message is that they are "letting" the sick - (ie genetically inferior)people die off - leaving the healthy and genetically superior people alive to pass on their genes and build a healthier more superior race. (throw up here).

News flash: 92% of all people are disabled at some point in their lives. Oh snap! That is just about everyone - including doctors, scientist - you name it.

Eugenics is just a scientific theory created to let doctors sit on their a** and let people die. If you are not in medicine to help the sick - go into marketing or something and leave us alone.

Under the Eightball: Movie - Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:04:00 +0000

Under the Eightball - a movie about dying from Lyme. I like it that the Lyme community is getting the word out in such force. I like it that artists and movie makers are calling attention this disease. I am very gratefully that family members who have lost someone to Lyme share their struggle with me. This movie is about loosing some one you love to Lyme. It handily dispels the myth that "no one dies of Lyme". It is a personal account peppered with science, medicine and conspiracy theories. In the movie "Under our Skin". I did not liked all the special effects and scary music. I did not care for the extra helping of drama layered onto that movie. As a Lyme patient who is prone to paranoia and other neurological symptoms I distance myself from anything designed to scare some one. I hold at arms length anything about Lyme the refers to a government conspiracy because it saps my energy and does nothing to contribute to my cure. For me Under Our Skin was well - just too Hollywood. But all the production seems to bother me less when it is a personal account of loss as in "Under the Eightball". However, I would like to see a movie made that is just a calm intelligent production that carefully reviews treatment options and outcomes. A Lyme documentary PSA combination. Something that does not polarize but instead engenders peace between the scientific community and patients. In EVERY epidemic in history the scientific and medical community divides and goes to war against each other. And while they define their peaking order and massage their egos - people die. It also allows snake oil salesmen to come in a prey on patients while doctors a distracted with their mudslinging. Usually it is law makers that put a stop to the bickering and send doctors and scientist back to their jobs. Sometimes it is patients. I hope these movies will call for and end to hostilities and focus all of the energy spent on arguing - onto a cure.

Doing well at being sick: Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:06:00 +0000

I am learning to - do well at being sick. I just relapse after discontinuing my Lyme treatment. My lymph nodes in my neck turned to into huge painful golf balls. So I just complete 10 days of ceftriaxone. That is enough to get me standing up again but that is about it. This was an improvement in relapses. During a relapse I am on my back - in bed - no TV, no sound, no light, needing assistance to use the bathroom and eat - for 12 to 17 days. With an additional 15 to 20 days to get back to standing and walking around the house. This time it was 8 days on my back and I am working on the projected 10 days to get back to walking around the house. It is hard to count this as an improvement as 8 days of darkness and pain is still a very long sad time. If my next relapse is also shortened I think it will seem like a real improvement. I usually have one a season. I am working on my "mindfulness". Trying to get good at - doing sick well. Yes that is weird sentence but if you have Lyme you know what I mean. I have considered joining and HIV and autoimmune disorder support group so that I can get feed back from that community since frequent and severe illness is on their play list all the time. They surely have learned how to suffer well and do everything in their power to stand up and get back to living their shortened and ephemeral life as soon as possible.

Environmental Protection Agency mentions Lyme Disease threat

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:35:00 +0000

Questions and answers about EPA action on warming
Article and AP Photo
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson makes announcement on climate during a news conference in Washington, Monday, Dec. 7, 2009. The EPA took a major step Monday toward regulating greenhouses gases, concluding that climate changing pollution threatens the public health and the environment.
A big meeting in Copenhagen. A cap-and-trade bill in Congress. And now, a determination by the Environmental Protection Agency that global warming pollution is a threat to public health - a move that clears the way for the first-ever federal regulations targeting climate-changing emissions.
Confused about the EPA's action on greenhouse gases?
Here are some questions and answers about what was announced by the EPA on Monday, and what it means for international climate negotiations, action in Congress and global warming in general:
Q: What did the EPA do exactly?
A: The EPA classified six greenhouse gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride - as pollutants that threaten the health and welfare of the American people. This will compel the federal government - unless it is blocked by Congress - to regulate emissions of greenhouse gases for the first time under the 1970 Clean Air Act. The government already controls releases of sulfur dioxide, ground-level ozone, nitrogen oxides and carbon monoxide under the law.
Q: How do these six newly classified gases threaten us?
A: Unlike other pollutants, greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare indirectly, by warming the planet rather than directly by having people breathe them in. In terms of health, the EPA expects global warming to expand the range of certain diseases such as Lyme disease, boost many allergens and worsen smog, which is known to trigger asthma attacks and cause lung damage. On the welfare front, a rise in sea level brought about by climate change could worsen flooding.
Q: Why did the EPA decide to do this?
A: A 2007 Supreme Court ruling declared that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are air pollutants as defined by the Clean Air Act and that the EPA had the authority to regulate them if they are found to endanger public health and welfare. It directed the EPA to make that determination. The Bush administration never acted on the court order. By contrast, the Obama administration found the science overwhelming and announced it would set the first-ever greenhouse gas standards for automobiles and would move to control heat-trapping emissions from large industrial sources such as factories and power plants. The endangerment finding announced Monday was needed to make those proposed rules a reality.
Q: How does the EPA finding related to the climate negotiations now under way in Copenhagen, Denmark?
A: It will allow the Obama administration to present another piece of evidence that the White House is tackling global warming in the absence of new legislation and convince other nations that the U.S. is taking climate change seriously. However, the emission reduction target of 17 percent by 2020 that Obama will propose in Denmark falls short of what European leaders wanted and scientists say is needed to avoid the worst consequences of global warming. The EPA's endangerment finding in itself produces no pollution reductions without actual regulations - and those have yet to be written.
Q: How would the EPA regulate greenhouse gases?
A: The agency has plans to do something similar to what it does for other pollutants, by requiring new and expanding factories and power plants to install best-available technology to reduce heat-trapping pollution. For automobiles, it has drafted the first-ever greenhouse gas emissions standards that would require automobiles to be more fuel-efficient than they are today. But industry worries that the EPA could go further - regulating greenhouse gases from small sources such as buildings, farms and small businesses. The Obama administration has said it does not intend to do that.
Q: What would these new regulations cost?
A: It's not yet clear. The cost for power producers, which would probably be passed onto electricity customers, would depend on what technology the EPA requires. Pollution reductions could come from installing carbon capture technology, reducing energy use through efficiencies or shifting away from fossil fuels. The EPA estimates it will cost automakers about $60 billion to meet planned fuel economy requirements. The cost to power plants and factories are likely to be more.
Q: Isn't Congress also trying to pass legislation to control greenhouse gas emissions?
A: Yes. In June, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 and about 80 percent by 2050. But the Senate, which has been tied up with legislation to reform health care, is not expected to vote on the bill until next spring. Both versions of the bill limit how the EPA can use the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions, but to differing degrees. The legislation would reduce greenhouse gases by setting a limit on heat-trapping pollution and by allowing companies to buy and sell pollution permits as long as they don't exceed the overall limit. This system, known as cap-and-trade, would be more flexible and would probably be cheaper than straight EPA regulation.
Q: Which would come quicker: EPA regulations or Congressional action?
A: It's hard to say. The decision by the EPA will set in motion a complex set of rules that could take years to draft and could be delayed by lawsuits from the business community and others. Congress faces its own challenges in getting a bill passed. Many Republicans and moderate Democrats are worried cap-and-trade would increase energy prices and could result in job losses for those who work in energy-intensive industries. These concerns will only become magnified as midterm elections in November get closer.
Q: How will the EPA decision affect Congress?
A: Prominent politicians on both sides of the aisle have said the Clean Air Act was not designed to control greenhouse gases. Supporters of cap-and-trade will try to use the EPA's decision to jump-start action in Congress. But it could backfire. Earlier this year there were attempts to block the EPA from taking action and to buy more time for Congress to draft a bill. Look for efforts to try and block the EPA again.
Q: How can a gas we all exhale be considered a dangerous pollutant and be regulated?
A: Don't worry - the EPA has no plans to control breathing. But scientists say the widespread burning of fossil fuels and activities that reduce the natural absorption of carbon dioxide on earth have disrupted the natural carbon cycle. Growing concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are creating a heat-trapping blanket in the atmosphere, thereby warming the earth. The EPA's focus is to reduce the flow of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, many related to burning fossil fuels.

North Carolina NC embraces Lyme Disease threat

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:30:00 +0000

Source:News and Observer

After years of cautioning that people were unlikely to get Lyme disease in North Carolina, state health leaders are now advising that the tick-borne illness can, in fact, be acquired here.
In at least four cases this year, Lyme was confirmed among patients who never left their home counties, ruling out the prospect that they picked up the bacterial infection while traveling.
Based on the new evidence, Dr. Megan Davies, state epidemiologist, said the state is now working to get the word to doctors, who for years were reluctant to even test patients for Lyme because it wasn't considered much of a possibility.
"What we're trying to communicate to physicians is that it's possible to acquire Lyme in North Carolina, so don't hold to an old belief," Davies said, noting that she and others are meeting with infectious disease doctors at the state's medical schools to get the word out.
And there's an entrenched view to overcome. Many patients report difficulties getting Lyme tests and diagnoses when they've been bitten by a tick, or when they come down with a rash, fever, headache, fatigue and other symptoms of Lyme.
This past summer, Angela Stott of Asheville said her son, Max, went several weeks without a diagnosis before he became so sick he could barely walk and had such excruciating headaches his eyes crossed.
More than one doctor told her Lyme disease was not a factor in North Carolina. Even when a Lyme test came back positive, Stott said, doctors still questioned the diagnosis.
"It was nightmarish," she said.
Lyme disease patients and advocates said they are pleased the state is now working to change the thinking. They said delays in treatment can have serious consequences, because the infection is harder to treat the longer it lingers.
Dr. Carl Williams, state public health veterinarian, said that's a key component of the new message.
"What we're interested in is primary prevention of acute disease," Williams said, noting that an early intervention with antibiotics is generally a cure.
Reluctance to acknowledge the presence of the infection in North Carolina stemmed from early observations of the black-legged tick, which carries the Lyme bacteria. In Southern states, the tick appeared to feed on reptiles rather than mammals. As a result, it was considered unlikely to transmit the Lyme bacteria to humans in North Carolina.
But evidence has been mounting that the ticks are spreading the disease here. Patients offered anecdotal stories, and military doctors at Camp Lejeune offered findings that Marines were coming down with Lyme after being stationed at the Onslow County base.
State health officials are working to collect their own data and will soon test 19,000 ticks for pathogens.
"It's taken a lot of investigation to uncover these cases," Davies said of the confirmed Lyme disease incidents. "We are working to try to protect [people] against this illness in North Carolina."

the new face of hunger in America?

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:14:00 +0000

Yeah - so I saw a news report last night "The new face of hunger in America". That's the beauty of recovering from Lyme. Lots of late night insomnia. But all the "hungry" people they interviewed who for the first time in their lives where faced hunger due to a serious drop in income where...well...fat. The primary person they interviewed had to be a size sixteen or more. Very sweet mom but still she didn't look like she had missed any meals, snacks or deserts. She looked like her greatest hardship was giving up the cheesecake. All the people interviewed had been struggling for almost a year now to make ends meet. They ate at soup kitchens once a week for the first time in their lives. Now I have struggle with my weight my whole life in one way or another and I don't mean to be cruel but I thought at first the News report was a prank by the news company to make us more sensitive to the hungry this Thanksgiving. Then I realized this was a serious news report.

Ummm - there is no such thing as - "fat and starving". I can take you to Somalia or Ethiopia and there are no fat starving people. If you have no money you can't buy food. I volunteer in homeless shelters. These people are usually gaunt and thin from starvation and living on the street. It was just so ridiculously American to interview sobbing fat people as the "New face of Hunger in America."

We are tight on money too. Especially since I got Lyme. Medical bills are killing us. My husband is a big boy as they say. He is overweight. Despite our lack or money he will spend us into debt to graze constantly and eat excessive proportions. He just can't stop himself. We had and IEP meeting for my son and it was going to last 3 hours. He was sick to his stomach during the entire IEP meeting because he had crammed down 2 Whoppers just before the meeting because he was so afraid of getting hungry during the meeting. You couldn't make me eat a whopper for $100. Now for most of us the idea of going 3 hours with out food is nothing to be afraid of. In fact people with in their weight range usually go 3 or more hours with out food and with out panic. But not overweight people. The idea of having to be hungry for even a minute strikes terror in the their heart. I see the fear sweep across my husbands face when he is trapped at some function where no snacks are served. Its the same look a man gets when he reaches in his back pocket for his wallet and - its gone! Crap. Panic floods room. If doesn't get some food and soon - he goes crazy.

I have a big heart for his struggle but his problem is not starvation but rather - it is the fear of it. I get a hunger pain and know this is my body's normal message to me to eat. So I make sure that I have a sensible meal in next couple of hours. No need to freak out. Gulp down fast food or anything drastic. The other thing that is so sad is what he is willing to eat just to avoid one hunger pain. Or just the thought of having a hunger pain. If we are driving on the interstate on a 3 hour trip he must stop once to eat. He will eat stuff you can't even call food just to avoid feeling hungry. I mean really gross stuff. Sometimes I think he would eat shoe leather to avoid hunger. It so sad.

Sometimes I fast and pray during daylight hours. My husband watches me with great concern as if I will keel over and die because I went a day with out food. I will tell you that no one approaches God in arrogance when they haven't eaten in 12 hours. Its good for me to fast. I would much rather be humbled then go through what my husband goes through every day just to avoid the thought of being hungry.

So yeah I guess hungry fat people are the "new face of hunger in America". But let's not confuse them with the people who are really experiencing starvation.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain: Upside Down Picasso

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:24:00 +0000

Needs and Wants: Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:29:00 +0000

When I check my bank statement each month and do the "where did the money go". It is still the same story about 85% of my paycheck went to doctors and treatments. So I break it down what do I "need" and what do I just "want". "Wants" can easily disguise themselves as "needs".
So I have to make sure that every thing gets in its right bucket. Christ teaches us to embrace our wants and needs. Humans not animals are the only thing on the earth that posses "wants" other than God himself. Animals just have needs. God manifest his first want that we know of when he made us purely for his pleasure and "wanted" a relationship with us but he did not require a relationship with us to be God. It was purely a "want". So we where made in his image. As image bearers of God we to have "wants". We practice our faith when we question our "wants" and see if they measure up to being a good image of God. Each month I ask myself about all my "wants" to be "well" and how do those "wants" show the world God.

I have finished my Lyme and Babesia treatment for now. The actual name for the type of Lyme I have is tertiary Lyme not Chronic Lyme. Chronic Lyme is caught early and is treated but continues to persist in either clinical presentation or through testing.

Tertiary Lyme is Lyme that went undiagnosed for more than 5 to 20 years and has already caused heart and neurological damage which is easily track by a cardiologist and neurologist. It is treatable but incurable in the sense that I can not roll back the damage. What damage is done - is done. It is mostly through occupational and physical therapy that I get well. I create new neuro pathways in my brain in occupational therapy and manage relentless pain through physical therapy.

So very little of my disability check goes to "meds". No doubt in the future I will go down the medication path once again but praise the Lord that part is done for now.

I am still treating Herpes with CFS with high amounts of Famvir. While my herpes is in check the CFS is only slightly improved if any. I got herpes at birth. I have it on my face, eyes and nose mostly. Sometime I think the people with genital herpes are lucky because at least they aren't wearing it around on their nose.

But I have 2 young children. Christmas is approaching. Already they are showing me catalogs with "my little pet shop" play houses circled in them. Little beaming faces saying, "Please mommmy I want this for Christmas."

Wants and needs. This is what Paul meant when he said our love for each other would tear at our hearts.

What I want people to know about how I want to be treated: Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:53:00 +0000

My mother is a very kind woman. But in the last three month my neurological problem escalated and went down hill fast. I am living much like a person with early Alzheimer's or a small stroke. The left hemisphere of my brain that I use to make a living in not currently accessible in a way that is really helpful. Now I experience people differently. My mother is well - let me describe it. Have you ever seen any one forge a knife. Placing metal into a hot furnace pulling it out red hot and then hammering it into shape on an anvil. There is a specific ear stabbing ring that happens when the hammer hits metal against the anvil. The is a natural human desire to get away from the noise as fast as possible. When my mother is around me her question seem invasive - its as though she is constantly striking at me like a snake with unreasonable demands that my brain cannot possibly process fast enough. Not just her voice but her energy is just like the sound of a hammer striking metal against metal. Its horrible.

She loves me so I don't think she intends to be this way.

I am going to fill this post out over the next several days and write a guide as to how I would like people to treat me now that I have this new brain that hurts and needs good energy and lots of love.

1. I have neurological problem from having untreated Lyme for 16 years. Don't ask me the same questions over and over. It is cruel - It's called badgering a person. Its a really mean thing to do to someone who has mental limitations.

2. If you are skeptical about my Lyme diagnosis please keep it to yourself. I am just completing my 4th medical opinion. All 4 doctors using entirely different methods have come to the conclusion that I have tertiary Lyme Disease. So even if you have MD after you name - keep it to yourself unless I ask.

3. This next part is really overly blunt. Likewise don't insert yourself into my medical care unless invited. You don't need to know the details of every drug I take unless I tell you. Keep all your ideas about medications and eastern medicine and just plain paranoia about your fear of mixing your birth control pill with Ibuprofen to yourself. Trust me I've been over the "drug" interactions thing with more than a few pharmacists. Some people are just weird about drugs - like scared to take a daily vitamin because it becomes addictive. That is just paranoia and mental illness kicking in on their part so tell your invisible friend about it not me. If you are all into herbal cure. Just shut up! Don't your think I've tried EVERYTHING over that last 16 years BEFORE I went to the doctor???

2. Don't try to make me sick with every thing you have. Its called "projection" and it isn't healthy. When people hear the symptoms of my Lyme Disease they cheery pick a few of the symptoms out of the list and try to convince me I have what ever they have - you name it I have heard it all - psoriatic arthritis , gout, peptic ulcers, allergies to wheat, sleep disturbance and alien experimentation. Look I am sorry you are sick and it saddens me to see you suffer but I don't have what ever random aliment you are suffering from.

XMRV, Lyme and White Footed Mice

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:48:00 +0000

An, intermediate host between the white footed mouse carrying XMRV and humans may be necessary. Please consider a zoonotic vector such has a tick.

A tick commonly carries 11 viruses, 26 bacteria and 1 malaria like parasite. All transmitted to the tick by the white footed mouse during the ticks first blood meal in the. nymph stage. The tick’s cell structure then makes the necessary changes to the virus so that it can be passed to humans during the tick’s second blood meal.

How do we track this? During high rainfall years there are more acorns and thus a population explosion of the white footed mouse. In turn an explosion of the reported case of the tick borne disease Lyme.

The Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies has the most information on this connection.
It may take several years for the symptoms of XMRV to show up in humans but there would be a correlation between white footed mouse population studies and reported cases of CSF or ME even if the years of offset.

This is a reflection on this paper:

Published Online October 8, 2009Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1179052 Science Express Index
ReportsSubmitted on July 14, 2009Accepted on August 31, 2009

Detection of an Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Vincent C. Lombardi 1, Francis W. Ruscetti 2, Jaydip Das Gupta 3, Max A. Pfost 1, Kathryn S. Hagen 1, Daniel L. Peterson 1, Sandra K. Ruscetti 4, Rachel K. Bagni 5, Cari Petrow-Sadowski 6, Bert Gold 2, Michael Dean 2, Robert H. Silverman 3, Judy A. Mikovits 1* 1 Whittemore Peterson Institute, Reno, NV 89557, USA.2 Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Frederick, MD 21701, USA.3 Department of Cancer Biology, The Lerner Research Institute, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA.4 Laboratory of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Frederick, MD 21701, USA.5 Advanced Technology Program, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Frederick, MD 21701, USA.6 Basic Research Program, Scientific Applications International Corporation, National Cancer Institute-Frederick, Frederick, MD 21701, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed.Judy A. Mikovits , E-mail: judym@wpinstitute.org
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating disease of unknown etiology that is estimated to affect 17 million people worldwide. Studying peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from CFS patients, we identified DNA from a human gammaretrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), in 68 of 101 patients (67%) compared to 8 of 218 (3.7%) healthy controls. Cell culture experiments revealed that patient-derived XMRV is infectious and that both cell-associated and cell-free transmission of the virus are possible. Secondary viral infections were established in uninfected primary lymphocytes and indicator cell lines following exposure to activated PBMCs, B cells, T cells, or plasma derived from CFS patients. These findings raise the possibility that XMRV may be a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of CFS.

Science 9 October 2009:Vol. 326. no. 5950, p. 215DOI: 10.1126/science.326_215a Prev Table of Contents Next
News of the WeekVirology: Chronic Fatigue and Prostate Cancer: A Retroviral Connection?Sam Kean As if chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) hasn't caused enough brawls, a new study published online by Science (www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1179052) links the disease to a possibly contagious rodent retrovirus, XMRV, which has also been implicated in an aggressive form of prostate cancer. Related work by the authors also suggests that CFS might best be treated with AIDS drugs. Even the lead author, Judy Mikovits of the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease in Reno, Nevada, says she understands why linking CFS to a retrovirus and to prostate cancer has already drawn skepticism.
In 2006, an unrelated paper found an association between XMRV, which originated in mice, and a deadly prostate cancer exacerbated by a deficient enzyme. Mikovits and colleagues had seen the same deficiency in CFS cases. When they investigated further, the team discovered XMRV in the white blood cells of two-thirds of CFS patients but only 4% of control subjects. Intriguingly, Mikovits says XMRV does major damage in natural killer (NK) blood cells, which attack tumor cells and cells infected by viruses, and other studies suggest people with CFS suffer from high rates of cancer. Unpublished work, Mikovits adds, has found blood serum antibodies for XMRV in 95% of CFS patients.
Controversial link. A study of chronic fatigue syndrome points to a retrovirus found in cancerous prostate cells (magnified in inset).CREDIT: ROBERT SCHLABERG AND HARSH THAKER
[Larger version of this image]
All previous attempts to nail down a cause for CFS—including many links to viral infections—have foundered or been retracted, and many doctors remain doubtful that it's a coherent disease. Mikovits says her work "proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that CFS is a real disease." But some of her peers find the report of a viral link premature.
Joseph DeRisi, a molecular biologist at the University of California, San Francisco, who co-discovered XMRV, was not satisfied with details in the paper: He wanted to know more about the viral load in CFS patients and how the demographics of the control group matched that of CFS patients. And the Mikovits team didn't do enough to rule out contamination, he says. "One has to be very careful about making claims about such a sensitive and emotionally charged issue as CFS, where many claims have been made in the past." At the least, a double-blind study where a third-party lab searches for XMRV in CFS patients and in controls is vital, he says.
Other CFS specialists, including Jonathan Kerr at St. George's University of London, are convinced that the Mikovits team discovered something important. "The fact that the virus was actually grown from the blood cells of CFS patients strongly suggests some sort of role in the pathogenesis of the disease." But exactly what they discovered remains unclear, given that the group is not claiming to have identified a cause.
John Coffin, a molecular biologist at Tufts University in Boston, analyzed the Mikovits paper in a separate "Perspective" also published online by Science (www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1181349). Coffin was highly skeptical of the paper at first, but the team found enough independent lines of evidence for XMRV to convert him. "They will be celebrating in the clinics where these people [with CFS] are being treated," he now says.
Even if the finding of a link to XMRV holds up, treatment suggestions are bound to attract controversy. No one knows how easily XMRV spreads, although Mikovits says transmission can occur via bodily fluids, including saliva. Mikovits also says unpublished preclinical data hints that scientists can treat XMRV with AIDS drugs such as AZT, although AZT itself might prove too toxic. Kerr remained cautious about this: "With present public knowledge—what is described in this paper—further work would be necessary before antiretroviral drugs could be recommended."

Sorry I've been away: Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:22:00 +0000

Sorry I have been away my "fibromyalgia" (aka Lyme) knock me on my a**. I am on short term disability. I am totally wiped out. Beyond tired. Good news is that which the world has taken - God is returning 10 fold. I look forward to sharing this part with you. But right now I am too tired to type.

I just got the results from my neuro-psychological test. The results have not settle with me quite yet and I am not ready to share them yet. But I will talk more about them soon. I just need a little time to sit with the new image of myself. Basically if you think of processing speed - like I am a computer - I'm an old IBM 486 with a DOS operating system. Happily I have a very high IQ - just no way to access it right now. It will require a "work around". Occupational therapy - around 8 years or so. My mind has not betrayed me. It is doing what it needs to do right now and no doubt the endless untapped resources of my mind has many wonderful surprises in store for me.

I just stepped into the world of long term disability and I find the landscape totally foreign.

Thats all for now.

Schlenz-bath : The Battle is on

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:14:00 +0000

I missed my third day of work (unpaid because I am out of PTO due to Lyme). It began on the Sunday before Memorial Day and progressed into the flu - but as you know it is only flu like symptoms of Lyme- not the flu. My spine became swollen and black and blue and my lymph node became swollen. Since I have Lyme - no one will help me. I was offered treatment for fibromyalgia. One of the first things Lyme did to me was turn off my ability of create a fever in the face of infection. Over the last 16 years this has confounded doctors and landed me in the emergency room several time. I learned to force the issue with something called a Schlenz-bath. Bath water of 103 degrees for an hour. All sorts of native cultures around the world have a variation of this. This is inducing a fake fever. In my martial arts back ground I consider this practice like a rare poomse that is only done on certain occasions to move the chi in certian ways. When I stand on the mat inside the fight squares and look at the prospect of a Schlenz-bath it is not as if I am summing up an opponent. No this is an old master - a guide that will take me through and energy changing "fighting dance" to make me stronger. This is my first Schlenz-bath since March. Required is a floating thermometer and a water proof polaris heart monitor. Drink alot - a ton - lots and lots. DO NOT eat. The heat of the bath can make you hurl and you might aspirate your own vomit and then you are in a tone of trouble. You may want someone to keep an eye on you. It is recommended as high heat can produce a heart attack. The pulse should not go over 130 or 140. Thus the water proof polaris heart monitor. Yes people have died doing a Schlenz-bath. Work up to the 103 degree temperature - take the bath over several days working up to the 1 hour mark. Today I only tolerated 20 minutes before my pulse became uneven and around 125. Oddly the first 20 minutes at 103 degrees is pure hell and after that every thing gets weird. This is where you need someone watching you. After 1 hour I pull the drain with my toe and get out of the tub with help and quickly wrap my self in polar fleece never allowing myself to cool off too fast. You will feel really really really weak.

This was one of the preferred treatments for syphilis.

For the next 24 hour rehydrate. Expect the herx - they will be bad. But in about a week you will be ok. This does not cure Lyme. Only antibiotics do that. This only treats the serious CFS or fibromyalgia flare up symptoms that drugs like Cymbalta or Darvocet can never touch.

You are always supposed to do this with the help of a medical nurse.

Happy bathing

Unexplained bruising of the spine: Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:14:00 +0000

What is this?
What is going on with me? Not due t oinjury - but my spine is swollen and bruised
Been this way many months. I'm not able to type well either - fingers no working
weakness - extraordinary weakness in arms and legs - falling and catching myself
as if my legs give out under me. Almost wrecked car because i can't press the break
fatigue unimaginable fatigue. i could sleep for ever.
Migraines -terrible and I cant take care of the children
vertigo.

Heres the close up of one burise

CDC introduced confirmed vs probable: Chronic Lyme

noreply@blogger.com (to) — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:36:00 +0000

State	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
										Confirmed	Probable^†	Incidence^*
Alabama	20	6	10	11	8	6	3	11	13	6	3	0.1
Alaska	0	2	2	3	3	3	4	3	10	6	0	0.9
Arizona	3	2	3	4	4	13	10	10	2	2	6	0.0
Arkansas	7	7	4	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0.0
California	139	96	95	97	86	48	95	85	75	74	0	0.2
Colorado	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0.0
Connecticut	3215	3773	3597	4631	1403	1348	1810	1788	3058	2738	1158	78.2
Delaware	167	167	152	194	212	339	646	482	715	772	0	88.4
DC	6	11	17	25	14	16	10	62	116	71	3	12.0
Florida	59	54	43	79	43	46	47	34	30	72	16	0.4
Georgia	0	0	0	2	10	12	6	8	11	35	0	0.4
Hawaii	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0
Idaho	3	4	5	4	3	6	2	7	9	5	4	0.3
Illinois	17	35	32	47	71	87	127	110	149	108	0	0.8
Indiana	21	23	26	21	25	32	33	26	55	42	0	0.7
Iowa	24	34	36	42	58	49	89	97	123	85	24	2.8
Kansas	16	17	2	7	4	3	3	4	8	16	0	0.6
Kentucky	19	13	23	25	17	15	5	7	6	5	0	0.1
Louisiana	9	8	8	5	7	2	3	1	2	3	0	0.1
Maine	41	71	108	219	175	225	247	338	529	780	128	59.2
Maryland	899	688	608	738	691	891	1235	1248	2576	1746	472	31.0
Massachusetts	787	1158	1164	1807	1532	1532	2336	1432	2988	3960	622	60.9
Michigan	11	23	21	26	12	27	62	55	51	76	16	0.8
Minnesota	283	465	461	867	474	1023	917	914	1238	1046	236	20.0
Mississippi	4	3	8	12	21	0	0	3	1	1	0	0.0
Missouri	72	47	37	41	70	25	15	5	10	6	0	0.1
Montana	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	6	11	0.6
Nebraska	11	5	4	6	2	2	2	11	7	8	4	0.4
Nevada	2	4	4	2	3	1	3	4	15	9	3	0.3
New Hampshire	27	84	129	261	190	226	265	617	896	1211	390	92.0
New Jersey	1719	2459	2020	2349	2887	2698	3363	2432	3134	3214	271	37.0
New Mexico	1	0	1	1	1	1	3	3	5	4	4	0.2
New York	4402	4329	4083	5535	5399	5100	5565	4460	4165	5741	2053	29.5
North Carolina	74	47	41	137	156	122	49	31	53	16	31	0.2
North Dakota	1	2	0	1	0	0	3	7	12	8	2	1.2
Ohio	47	61	44	82	66	50	58	43	33	40	5	0.3
Oklahoma	8	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	1	1	0.0
Oregon	15	13	15	12	16	11	3	7	6	18	20	0.5
Pennsylvania	2781	2343	2806	3989	5730	3985	4287	3242	3994	3818	0	30.7
Rhode Island	546	675	510	852	736	249	39	308	177	186	24	17.7
South Carolina	6	25	6	26	18	22	15	20	31	14	15	0.3
South Dakota	0	0	0	2	1	1	2	1	0	3	0	0.4
Tennessee	59	28	31	28	20	20	8	15	31	7	24	0.1
Texas	72	77	75	139	85	98	69	29	87	105	48	0.4
Utah	2	3	1	5	2	1	2	5	7	3	2	0.1
Vermont	26	40	18	37	43	50	54	105	138	330	74	53.1
Virginia	122	149	156	259	195	216	274	357	959	886	47	11.4
Washington	14	9	9	11	7	14	13	8	12	22	1	0.3
West Virginia	20	35	16	26	31	38	61	28	84	120	15	6.6
Wisconsin	490	631	597	1090	740	1144	1459	1466	1814	1493	541	26.5
Wyoming	3	3	1	2	2	4	3	1	3	1	2	0.2
U.S. TOTAL	16,273	17,730	17,029	23,763	21,273	19,804	23,305	19,931	27,444	28,921	6,277	9.4
^†2008 revision of the National Surveillance Case Definition allows for reporting of probable cases
* confirmed cases per 100,000 population

Only 10% of Lyme Disease cases meet surveillance criteria
Multiply the number above for any given year by 10 to determine the actual risk in your area.

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the new face of hunger in America?

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Needs and Wants: Chronic Lyme

What I want people to know about how I want to be treated: Chronic Lyme

XMRV, Lyme and White Footed Mice

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Schlenz-bath : The Battle is on

Unexplained bruising of the spine: Chronic Lyme

CDC introduced confirmed vs probable: Chronic Lyme

Reported Lyme disease cases by state, 1999-2008