Many thanks to Mary Beth Pfeiffer who has been writing about Lyme for the Poughkeepsie Journal!  She had a live discussion on Facebook tonight that I was too late in joining.  I had to get the kids to bed but I saw that there were many great comments and information shared.  Please read Mary Beth’s article about the debate around chronic Lyme treating patients with long-term antibiotics:

Lyme Disease Antibiotics Fuel Debate

Some Highlights from the article:

Enemy No. 1 in the war on Lyme disease is a tiny tick that has put the mid-Hudson Valley at the epicenter of a global health threat.

But the prime target of some is not an army of arachnids, as ticks are known. Instead, in this bull’s-eye is a handful of doctors — doctors who dispense long-term antibiotics for the illness. At least five, including two in Dutchess County, are under investigation by state licensing officials, the Poughkeepsie Journal has exclusively learned.

The debate over chronic Lyme disease — what the CDC calls “post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome,” affecting 10 percent to 20 percent of patients — reflects two polar viewpoints on Lyme: On one hand, it is a disease that is difficult to catch and easy to cure; on the other, it is a long-term threat that withstands medicine’s best pharmaceutical defense.

“Physicians who care for patients with chronic Lyme disease are often ‘red-flagged’ by insurance companies” for incurring big costs, said Dr. Kenneth Liegner, a Pawling Lyme specialist, at a May conference at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs. They “risk being subjected to sanctioning and ‘de-selection’ if they participate with insurance companies.”

For my family and friends who would like to know more about what I and so many others are going through, this article explains it so well.  Please read!