I continue to be faced with people who do not understand Lyme and simply don't care to. If a diagnosis is not given by a "traditional" practitioner then it is completely dismissed and not looked further into.
Recently a friend sent me an interesting interview from TruthOut with Sini Anderson. Anderson was diagnosed with Lyme while filming the documentary The Punk Singer, on artist Kathleen Hanna who also happens to have Lyme. There was a quote by Anderson from the interview that resonated with me,
" ...if you're a woman and you admit anxiety or depression, you just, you know, it's really easy for doctors to just put you off in another category as somebody who could use a little bit of therapy. And you know what? Quite honestly couldn't we all use a little bit of therapy?
But, we're not . . . we have to think about what doctors we're talking to, what symptoms we're presenting to them, because we can't be brushed off into a corner just saying, "Okay, this is somebody who is just sad." It's like, "no, I'm not sad. I'm telling you that I'm having problems with my speech. I'm having a great amount of pain. I can't think clearly anymore," and that "yes, there's depression that comes along with that and there's specific Lyme anxiety, that isn't your run-of-the-mill general anxiety." It's complex."
-Sini Anderson from interview with TruthOut
Anderson is a feminist as well as a director. Although I would not categorize myself as a feminist, her experience of being put off by doctors as someone who just needs therapy is something that I believe may indeed be a more prevalent response to women with Lyme . It is maddening. The interview is really interesting and worth reading. If anything, what Anderson has to say about responses from the "traditional" medical profession is spot on. The controversy on diagnosing Lyme needs to be looked further into, and in the meantime patients need not be written off as having solely a psychological problem.
Whether your symptoms are because of Lyme or not is irrelevant. If you are experiencing slurred speech, pain, and confusion....these are very serious psychiatric symptoms and I encourage you to seek out a board certified psychiatrist, immediately. Once you have reached this stage in Lyme, typical treatments such as antibiotics will not be effective. Psychiatric symptoms must be treated by a psychiatrist, regardless of the initial diagnosis.
ReplyDeleteAntibiotics are used not only for killing Lyme but the co-infections that often accompany a tick bourn illness. Long term antibiotics can be dangerous and cause additional issues within the body. I agree, as mentioned in my earlier post, that it is important for a Lyme patient to seek psychological/psychiatric help. However, Lyme is not cut and dry and I do not believe that psychiatric treatment is the end all answer for a patient experiencing these typical Lyme symptoms.
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