“Chronic Lyme Disease” a Term Introduced in Published Research by Panel Member
Tina J. Garcia, Founder of LEAP Arizona, a Lyme Disease Patient for nearly 12 Years, in regards to the Lyme and Other Tick-Borne Diseases: The State of the Science Workshop scheduled for October 11-12, 2010, and to Dr. Liegner’s letter. This is a follow-up on Sooner or Later You’ll Be Touched. Are You Confident You’ll Get the Necessary Treatment? written on September 15, 2010, by myself. I truly hope for the sakes of the future of all that the insufficient medical treatment guidelines are updated so that Lyme disease sufferers get the necessary treatment they deserve. Ms. Garcia addresses the Dr. Liegner’s letters:
“So, Dr. Wormser, his accomplices, the IDSA and the CDC are actively engaged in educating physicians that the subjective misery that Lyme disease patients “believe” they are experiencing are not attributable to this “easy to diagnose and easy to cure” disease at all. Physicians are being taught to ignore Lyme patients, to deny treatment to Lyme patients and to remain ignorant about an epidemic that is sweeping the nation, because Dr. Wormser and his accomplices have “determined” that what patients are really experiencing are the fabrications of his imagination that he is attempting to pawn off as “science” – “Medically Unexplained Symptoms” and “Post Lyme Syndrome.”…
“Chronic Lyme disease” is NOT a term introduced by Lyme-treating physicians and patients. It is a term that has been used in published research by Wormser and his accomplices for many years. Along with stating that chronic Lyme disease does not exist, this is a prime example of the FALSE STATEMENTS being made in published research and to the news media by Drs. Wormser and Shapiro…..
So once again, we see that according to Dr. Wormser’s esteemed medical and scientific standards, his use of the term “chronic Lyme disease” is justified, but when Lyme-treating physicians and patients use the term, it is merely a term that we “invented.”….
To read the full letter and her comments click on Read September 16, 2010 Letter to IOM.
To read more on my thoughts and others within the Lyme community check out Sooner or Later You’ll Be Touched. Are You Confident You’ll Get the Necessary Treatment? Here on Lyme-Aware, September 15, 2010.
Rebuttals: