Thursday, January 31, 2013

Please sign a petition to help lyme sufferers get diagnosed and treated


Follow this link to sign the petition:


Reform the Infectious Disease Society of America Treatment Guidelines for Lyme Disease

"Lyme disease is at epidemic levels, posing a significant threat to public health. Lyme can lead to chronic and debilitating effects if not properly treated. Lyme is leaving masses of people in progressive states of illness and financial ruin. The Infectious Diseases Society of America's treatment guidelines are to blame, they promote the idea that Lyme is a simple, rare illness that is easily cured with 30 days of antibiotics. This is not true. Insurance companies are denying payments for medications even when deemed medically necessary after 30 days. Doctors who treat Lyme patients are being investigated and prosecuted for not conforming to such guidelines. Please sign this petition to reform IDSA guidelines and allow doctors NOT Insurance companies, to decide what is medically necessary."

For further information on the politics of lyme, also watch the movie "Under Our Skin"







Saturday, January 5, 2013

Yoga for Lyme


A facebook post from the author of a Lyme disease support page (Lyme Thriving) mentioned a yoga class in NYC designed specifically for people with lyme and chronic lyme.  It was a light bulb moment.  Not a new thought, exactly, but at least a more complete formation of an existing thought.

So I googled yoga for lyme and it was an even more fruitful query than I expected.  This blog post is just the first I read, buy worth reading (for other chronic illness, too).  The first pose in his list for lyme is one of the best poses for me and has been through out my illness, so I plan to try the others and look up the one he recommends for clarity.

I should probably start posting about my lyme explorations and testing so far.  You'd think after almost three years as a sick person, new tests and medications wouldn't clam me up all of a sudden.  But I guess I've been on a bit of computer hiatus anyway, so it also just fits with that trend that I haven't blogged about it.

Social media certainly draws me in more than I ever intend it to (for example, I've typed this whole post with one contact, even thought I intended to go switch to glasses quite a while ago) and time and energy are to limited to spend in unintended ways.

When I could do the things I intended (pre-illness life, we're talking here now) Yoga was one of them.  The yoga photos below are on the shore of a remote backcountry lake in Glacier National Park during a backpacking trip with friends.