There have been many events that seem to have been precipitated by disturbed people who caused unwarranted harm or even death to total strangers and then finalized their own lives. I am not talking about Islamic terrorists but people who appear to be functioning individuals who go “off the rails”. Afterwards, conversations speculate about mental illness and ways that society could have helped these individuals. What if the problem is not psychological but physical? What if years of psychotherapy is not the answer? What if a microscopic organism is invading the brain and causing a disruption in their normal cognitive functioning? Not likely? Don’t be so sure.

Many chronic illnesses begin with an onset of depression. As adults we know our physiology and its reactions to external forces. But sometimes we experience reactions that cannot be readily explained: constant headaches, insomnia, lethargy, inability to focus, twitching, tearfulness, restlessness, anxiety, depression, hallucinations, short term memory loss, and more. The sudden changes in your mental acuity cannot be diagnosed by your doctor with available tests and so you are prescribed the appropriate drugs for your new symptoms. Yet, somehow, it doesn’t help. You have joint pain that stabs you in the middle of the night or at times when it seems unprovoked. Further testing brings negative results. It must be arthritis so more drugs are prescribed. Your anxiety level increases because you are being told to “get used to it”, but you know this is not your norm. Professionals look at you as if you are a hypochondriac. Believe it or not, this experience occurs more frequently than you can imagine. In fact, it is a silent epidemic!
The tiny bacterium that causes these changes does not live in the blood. It prefers soft tissue where it can surround itself with a biofilm which prevents your body’s immune system from detecting it. It can invade many organ systems including the heart, brain, joints and more. It causes a slight swelling when it invades the brain, which disrupts cognitive and autonomic nervous functions. There is no accurate test for this disease, not for the individual or for the blood bank. The CDC has reported that for every one who has tested positive for this disease, there are ten others who are infected and have not yet been diagnosed. This disease is more prevalent than HIV and West Nile Virus. And, yet, most doctors are unaware of its insidious nature. Because this organism was identified less than 40 years ago, its effects are still being discovered. The doctors of ILADS investigate and treat this disease with some measure of success, but they agree that there is still much more to learn. Doctors who belong to the IDSA refuse to acknowledge facts that have more recently been revealed. Unfortunately, they (IDSA) are the ones who set the guidelines which result in a non-diagnosis, or in the case of children, a mis-diagnosis of ADD or ADHD. The inaccuracy of the test allows insurance companies to deny claims for treatment of this disease. Rather than trying to explain why the IDSA has taken this approach, watch the documentary “Under Our Skin” by Andy Abrahams Wilson and pay attention to the part about the Dearborn Conference. There are excerpts from the movie on You Tube. Do you still have doubts? Some celebrities have spoken out about their experience with this disease: Daryl Hall of “Hall and Oates”, Amy Tan, author of “The Joy Luck Club”, and more recently Yolanda Foster of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”, have all spoken about the effects of their experiences with this disease and are attempting to bring attention to its severity.
The doctors of ILADS, who have devoted their services to further research of this disease and to treating the devastatingly ill patients, are the real heroes. Because this organism can bring other micro-organisms with it when you become infected, there is a proposal for a name change that would encompass all of the possibilities. I believe the term being suggested is “Borrelia Complex”. You may know it better as Lyme Disease.
For more information on Lyme Disease go to: WWW.LYMEPA.ORG  or  WWW.LYMEDISEASE.ORG