One of the biggest pet peeve’s of many Lyme sufferers is hearing someone refer to Lyme disease as LymeS.
Most who have Lyme will consider the person saying LymeS to be someone who doesn’t know a thing about the disease which has robbed them of their health and vitality. It is most concerning when a doctor uses this term.
The Lyme sufferer may feel that the person they’re talking to doesn’t care enough to educate themselves. I don’t think this is true but I would recommend that if you know someone with Lyme Disease you take just a few minutes to learn about it in order to be more compassionate. You could also ask your loved one or friend.
Lyme Disease was actually named after Lyme, Connecticut where a cluster of people first began presenting with arthritis and inflammatory symptoms. In 1975 Ms. Polly Murray noticed that the people in her community were exhibiting the same symptoms as her sons and herself and believed that there was a connection. You can read her story in her book “The Widening Circle“, it is quite fascinating.
Upon further investigation, it was found that this community had a “newly” discovered spirochete in their blood. This spirochete was called Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) named after the man who identified it. They began calling it Lyme, obviously because this is where it was first found.
Borrelia is not a new infection, however. There are documents referring to it as far back as the early 1800s. It was called Sheep Disease in some areas of Europe because sheep farmers were mostly affected by this debilitating joint disease when they were bitten by sheep ticks.
Lyme is spread by deer ticks, it is also believed to be spread via other vectors such as the mosquito, biting fly, fleas, and other biting insects. The initial host for Borrelia is the white-footed mouse. Deer don’t actually carry the Borrelia bacteria but are wonderful hosts for the female tick to lay her eggs. Birds and migratory animals carry infected ticks across boundaries and borders allowing this disease to spread far and wide.
Lyme Disease affects every system and organ of the body and causes symptoms of every type and severity.
Lyme disease and the many co-infections can cause severe illness, it can mimic illnesses such as MS, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, Lupus, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and even cancer.
Lyme Disease infections outnumber the cases of breast cancer in America and yet it is ignored both medically and in society.
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While I sometimes cringe when someone calls Lyme LymeS, I don’t want to waste my energy getting upset over what Lyme is called. Technically those who are sick with Lyme also have many co-infections. Some ILADS doctors call it “tick-borne” disease, others might call it “vector-borne” because the illness is much more than just “Lyme” and these infections are transmitted by many other insects and bug, not just ticks.
Doctor Horowitz prefers to use the term MSIDs, Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome because it describes a “symptom complex” which consists of the many bacterial and parasitic infections but also includes mold toxicity, fungal infections, environmental toxins, allergies, compromised immune function and many other complex issues that can affect a person’s immune system.
I believe there are far more important things for us to put our energy towards, like healing, getting legislation changed so that doctors will be better educated to recognize early infections, finding better treatment for early and late stage Lyme and for insurance companies to accept Late Stage Lyme and Co-infections as real diseases in order to cover the exorbitant costs it requires to regain one’s health.
Many of us with late stage Lyme have lives that have been devastated by these infections and many are financially devastated because they are not able to work. So if you’re criticized for calling Lyme LymeS, please be patient and understand why.
So, now you know what to call Lyme, you know what it is and you know what the greatest needs are in order to help the Lyme community.
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