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Big News!
Big News!
On Tuesday, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed a bill into law that requires health care providers to warn patients in writing:
“Your health care provider has ordered a laboratory test for the presence of Lyme disease for you. Current laboratory testing for Lyme disease can be problematic and standard laboratory tests often result in false negative and false positive results and, if done too early, you may not have produced enough antibodies to be considered positive because your immune response requires time to develop antibodies. If you are tested for Lyme disease and the results are negative, this does not necessarily mean you do not have Lyme disease. If you continue to experience unexplained symptoms, you should contact your health care provider and inquire about the appropriateness of retesting or initial or additional treatment.”
What does this mean for patients in the State of Maryland? It means a doctor needs to tell a patient that the testing is not accurate.
Many times a test will come back negative and a doctor will continue to look for other reasons a patient is sick. It is important that a doctor realize they can make a clinical diagnosis based on symptoms and retest again.
Doctors will be responsible to give patients the information and to follow up accordingly. For our part, we need to be our own advocates and tell doctors to follow the guidelines that the National Guideline Clearing House supports. The National Guideline Clearing House states that Guidelines set by ILADS are the guidelines to follow.
Sadly, doctors are not always informed of this and are following antiquated information. Information about this and the new law are important, and lets the medical community know that Lyme should be taken seriously and is not something to dismiss.
My suggestion, (please remember I am not giving medical advice only making an observation from talking with other people), is to get tested 2-3 weeks later and to get the Western Blot test 18 array. The Elisa test is less accurate than the Western Blot and was not developed to test for Lyme.
The Western Blot test can detect Syphilis which is a cousin to Borrelia Burgdorferi. This means it may have a higher percentage of accuracy. Researching these tests and understanding how they work is very important. Also knowing the life cycle of the Lyme bacteria is important.
I tell people to get tested when the moon is full. Sounds odd, but knowing the relationship between us and nature will help you to understand how it relates to body functions during an illness. We are made of 50- 65% water and we can be affected just like the tides of the ocean. Here is some research on that:
http://www.moonconnection.com/tides.phtml and http://news.health.com/2014/08/08/4-strange-ways-the-moon-might-affect-our-bodies/ .
The passing of this bill is a giant stride towards better care for Lyme patients. Until the time when Lyme is covered by insurance and doctors are better educated on this disease, be your own advocate and learn as much as you can to maximize your wellbeing.
Blessings,
Christina
http://us10.campaign-archive2.com/?u=adfd1755494b2dca0192d70d1&id=9636440d60&e=c019271e87
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