Lyme Awareness Month Social Media from May 2014

May is Lyme Awareness Month, which leads to public service announcements here and there, a flurry of blog and social media activity, protests, and specific action campaigns throughout the Lyme world.

Last year was my first year diagnosed during Lyme Awareness month.  I took note of it, but not nearly to the same extent as I did this year.

Chronic Lyme Quality of Life ~ Survey results from LymeDisease.Org and Carnegie Mellon University

LYMEPOLICYWONK: Survey Results Published! Chronic Lyme Patients Suffer Poor Quality of Life and High Rates of Disability and Unemployment
"LDo's most recent survey of over 3,000 patients with chronic Lyme disease was published today by PeerJ. Although the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently increased the number of Lyme disease cases in the US from 30,000 to 300,000,

Terrific Video from a Teen Lymie for Lyme Awareness Month

I can't seem to insert the video via youtube, so the link will have to suffice for now.

Her post, under the video:

In 2012 I made this video after having found a piece of paper that brought up some bad memories from my past. I'm posting this for Lyme disease awareness month. Lyme disease has drastically changed my life, and it's important to get the word out there for others who might have been in my situation.

Youtube Video: How do you live with yourself?

(Hypothetical) Open Letter of Apology to Lyme Patients: All doctors should read this

Foreward: This was posted by Twyst of Lyme on facebook (a Lyme page by a Montanan).  The source is unknown--it was sent to someone in the lyme community anonymously.  Hypohtetical or otherwise, the is well written and well-informed piece of writing (or possibly an actual letter from an actual doctor).

This excerpt (it's a long letter but worth reading) is:

The biggest blunder that I apologize for is the fact that we told you that the only tick that could transmit Lyme Disease was the nonexistent Ixodes dammini tick. We told you that only this tick and no other tick could transmit Lyme disease. Never mind that Tick Born Relapsing Fevers were transmitted by dozens of tick species throughout the Northern Hemisphere, and that TBRFs are very closely related to Lyme Disease.

My lyme disease time table

I posted this list on Facebook last week.  These are all approximate timeframes, and this excludes the more detailed and/or contentious details.  But it was interesting to try to recount this sequencially.

Four years ago today, I got a tick bite near Paola Creek. And then I lived happily ever after. Thank goodness Montana doesn't have Lyme disease ; )

Time it took in woods that day to scare a moose: 3 hours

To escape angry moose: 12 seconds (through thick brush)

To pick up tick: probably same 12 seconds