Description of Event or Problem · 1
THE TWO TIERED LYME DIAGNOSTIC TESTING PROCEDURE PREVENTED TREATMENT OF A LYME INFECTION IN 2005, WHICH THEN PROGRESSED TO A DEEP-SEATED CASE OF LYME DISEASE IN 2007, REQUIRING HOSPITALIZATION AND A 6 DAY EXAM AT (B)(6) CLINIC. A SIMPLE COURSE OF DOXYCYCLINE DEALS WITH LYME INFECTIONS AND IS READILY AND COMMONLY AVAILABLE, INEXPENSIVE, AND PREVENTS MIS-DIAGNOSIS OF THIS BACTERIAL INFECTION WHICH WAS BEING DIAGNOSED AS "PRE-MS". I HAD KNOWN HISTORY OF TICK BITES, BUT THANKS TO THE INCOMPETENCE OF THE CDC WHICH EMPHASIZES PREVENTION ONLY AND AN EQUALLY INCOMPETENT (B)(6) HEALTH DEPT WHICH NEVER CONNECTED THE DOTS OF THE CASES THEY REPORTED TO THE (B)(6), MANY DOCTORS LOCALLY AT THE TIME HAD NO IDEA LYME DISEASE WAS HERE. ASK A VETERINARIAN BECAUSE THEY TREAT NUMEROUS DOG AND HORSE INFECTIONS ANNUALLY. THE (B)(6) INSISTS ON 2 TIERED DIAGNOSTIC TEST, LITERALLY AS A SOP TO BIO-RAD WHICH NOW SPECIALIZED IN (B)(6) TREATMENT. THE ELISA OR LYME EIA TEST WAS INITIALLY DEVELOPED BY BIO-RAD IN EARLY AIDS DIAGNOSIS WHEN BOTH (B)(6) AND LYME GOT NATIONAL RECOGNITION NEARLY SIMULTANEOUSLY. ONCE (B)(6) TESTING PROGRESSED, THE (B)(6) THEN RE-USED THIS ELISA FOR LYME TESTING AND TO COMPENSATE BIO-RAD FOR THIS QUICKLY ABANDONED NUT EXPENSIVE TO DEVELOP TEST. I TESTED NEGATIVE REPEATEDLY ON THE ELISA AS I WENT STEADILY DOWNHILL AND CONTRACTED NUMEROUS ADD'L TICK BITES FOR TWO YEARS. ONLY AFTER I FELL SERIOUSLY ILL AND INSISTED ON GOING TO THE WESTERN BLOT DIRECTLY DID I TEST POSITIVE FOR THE ANTIBODIES SPECIFIC TO LYME DISEASE, AT TWO DIFFERENT (B)(6) CERTIFIED LABS IN ADDITION TO THE LAB AT (B)(6). IN AGGREGATE, I HAD THE ANTIBODIES REQUIRED TO REPORT TO (B)(6), BUT NOT ON A SINGLE TEST THE (B)(6) SEEMS TO INDICATE, EVEN THOUGH THEY TESTED INDIVIDUALS REPEATEDLY IN EARLY RESEARCH IN THE LATE 1970'S. MY DOCTOR HAD ANOTHER PT, A MAN, A LITTLE AHEAD OF ME IN DISEASE PROGRESSION, WHO WENT THROUGH THE NEUROLOGICAL EXAMS AND WAS ACTUALLY DIAGNOSED WITH MS AND REQUIRED A WHEELCHAIR. THAT MAN ALSO HAD A HISTORY OF TICK BITES AND SOUGHT ANOTHER OPINION. AFTER AN INTENSIVE COURSE OF ANTIBIOTICS, MY DOCTOR TOLD ME THAT THE MAN WALKED INTO HIS OFFICE TO TELL HIM HE DID NOT HAVE MS BUT UNTREATED LYME DISEASE. MY SAME DOCTOR HAD 2 DIFFERENT PTS AROUND 2009 WHO CLEARLY HAD SOMETHING BUT NOTHING THAT SHOWED UP ON ANY OF HIS TESTS AS THE CAUSE, SO OUT OF DESPERATION, EVEN THOUGH NEITHER PT ALLEGED ANY HISTORY OF TICK BITES, HE ORDERED THE WESTERN BLOT. BOTH UNRELATED PTS CAME BACK (B)(6) SURVEILLANCE REPORTING STANDARDS POSITIVE. THE (B)(6) HEALTH DEPT WAS OPENLY UNRECEPTIVE AND SKEPTICAL OF THESE REPORTS, EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE FROM A (B)(6) CERTIFIED LAB. (B)(6) DID STROKE TALLY TO THE HEALTH DEPT IN (B)(6), WHICH REPORTED THE STROKE TALLY TO THE (B)(6), OR NOT, AND THEN SHREDDED THE EXTENSIVE WORK THE DOCTOR WAS REQUIRED TO SUBMIT TO REPORT THE CASES, AS IF LYME WERE SOME STD. POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS SHOULD NOT INFLUENCE SCIENCE AND MEDICINE, BUT AT THE (B)(6) THEY DO. TWO-TIERED TESTING NEEDS TO END, IMMEDIATELY. BIO-RAD HAS MADE ENOUGH MONEY. VETERINARIANS UNHAMPERED BY GOVT INTERFERENCE CONDUCT A SINGLE TEST AND TREAT. HUMANS SHOULD HAVE THE SAME GOOD MEDICAL PRACTICE. I TOOK A DIFFICULT REGIMEN OF COMMON ANTIBIOTICS PRESCRIBED BY THE ONLY PHYSICIAN I COULD GET AN APPOINTMENT WITHOUT A ONE YEAR WAIT, AS THE LOCAL DOCS HAD, AND HAD TO TRAVEL 200 MILES TO BE SEEN. MY EYESIGHT IMPROVED IMMEDIATELY, BUT I STILL HAVE PERIPHERAL NEUROPATHY IN MY FEET AND CONSTANT FASCICULATIONS IN MY LOWER LEG AND WEAK PERISTALSIS AND GASTROPARESIS (TREATED WITH A CONTINUING COURSE OF AZITHROMYCIN SO I NO LONGER THROW UP AFTER EATING VEGETABLES) AND CAN ONLY HOPE THAT I CAN CONTINUE THIS TREATMENT, GIVEN BY THE SAME DOCTOR WHO NOW UNDERSTANDS WE DO HAVE LYME DISEASE AND THAT TWO-TIERED TESTING IS INEFFECTIVE.