This could get interesting?
If you're awake and in the right time zone, this Friday, July 1 at 12 pm (EST) there will be a live online chat between the IDSA's Dr. Lawrence Zemel and ILADS' Dr. Daniel Cameron.
From the Hartford Courant:
Chronic Lyme disease: Does it exist and should it be treated with long-term antibiotics? Join us for a live chat Friday, July 1 at noon EST (11 am CST, 10 am MST, 9 am PST) about Lyme disease, including the controversial issue of whether patients should be treated with long-term antibiotics for chronic Lyme disease. Morning Call health reporter Milton D. Carrero will chat with representatives from the two main organizations managing the treatment of Lyme disease in the United States. Dr. Lawrence Zemel of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and Dr. Daniel Cameron from the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society will answer your questions. Send questions in advance to milton.carrero@mcall.com.
Dr. Lawrence Zemel is Chief of the Division of Rheumatology at the CT Children's Medical Center and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Zemel is a graduate of New York's Brooklyn College and SUNY Buffalo followed by residency at Buffalo's Children's Hospital and fellowships at Tufts-New England Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospital. Dr. Zemel, works in the field of Pediatric Rheumatology and Pediatrics, and has expertise in multiple areas, including Lyme Disease, Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) and Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis.
Dr. Daniel Cameron graduated from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine and Public Health followed by residencies at Beth Israel Medical Center and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York. Dr. Cameron is widely recognized for conducting epidemiologic research while practicing medicine. He has been viewed as a pioneer in Lyme disease as an author of practice guidelines, analytic reviews, and clinical trials. He currently sees patients in his private practice in Mt. Kisco, New York while continuing his research and writing. He maintains the website LymeProject.com.
Link Source: http://www.courant.com/health/mc-health-chat-lyme-disease,0,4675217.htmlstory
Here's my suggestion to you, if you can participate:
I know many of you reading along are Lyme disease patients and you are likely to want to ask Dr. Cameron questions about treatment. That's understandable and okay, but you can ask him these questions any time because he will be willing to help you. What I recommend you do instead write up very specific scientific questions to ask Dr. Zemel - such as "How much time does Borrelia burgdorferi spend in intracellular space and what research have you conducted beyond the fibroblast research?" and "Why does the Lyme guidelines panel state there is no evidence that Lyme disease can persist after antibiotic treatment when there are a number of human case studies and animal studies which provide evidence to the contrary?" - and email them to milton.carrero@mcall.com ASAP.
This is the time to ask an IDSA member about their position and ask them to substantiate it. Opportunities like this do not happen all the time. Use it wisely.
Perhaps, time permitting, a person could ask when the 'new' ILADS Guidelines will be published.
ReplyDeletecave76,
ReplyDeleteEmail that question to milton.carrero@mcall.com asap, if you want to have a chance of getting it on the air and answered.
I don't know that they are taking questions from the public in real time during the chat. It really looks like they are only taking questions from the public in advance, based on the above announcement.
So ask now and hope for the best - maybe it will be included.
CO,
ReplyDeleteI've included a link to your blog entry on the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation's website and my facebook page, hoping to generate some interest, and possibly a few questions from Canadians.
Although Friday is Canada Day, and those who stay indoors may be tuning in to watch Will and Kate in Ottawa, I'm sure there will be at least a few listeners (myself included).
I'm not having much success in formulating a question at the moment, but I do want to send an e-mail question having to do with the miraculous recoveries of people previously misdiagnosed with MS, PD and even ALS who subsequently recovered after being treated adequately (months or years) for Lyme disease. This is no "placebo effect" as some have claimed stated. If that were true, many of these folks would have likely been cured by the various treatments that were tried prior to being diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease.
I hope you're doing okay.
RitaA
RitaA,
ReplyDeleteThank you for spreading the word. Spread it as far and wide as you want. I view this as an opportunity for people to directly ask someone from the IDSA questions and see if they can answer more specific questions in their defense. Patients rarely get this opportunity to ask, and hopefully Dr. Zemel will say something informative.
I don't know if any questions I write will make it into the queue. I can only hope - and I hope yours gets into the queue, too. You might want to consider framing your question in terms of case studies and not anecdotes, because case studies have more weight.
I'm doing okay. Not my greatest, fatigue has been a big problem lately. But at least the gnawing pain in my side that the doctor could not determine what the cause was calmed down after copious amounts of water and not eating for nearly a week.
I will yield my questions to Dr. Elizabeth Maloney, Camp Other, and others who have shown their ability to interpret a spin of science and opinion. Then I will read about it here...or live online if I can.
ReplyDeleteCO, I hope it does get interesting.
Cave 76, I would be more interested in the revised IDSA Guidelines, since they hold the keys to the vault.
My son has just finished his first unsuccessful round of IDSA guideline treatment for Anaplasmosis, and his doctor is thinking a possible Babesia co-infection.
I personally have been deemed in full remission except for the possible permanent neurological damage. I find that possibility unacceptable...I sure hope this is not as good as it gets.
After all Friday is a new day and something good "could happen".