In the early 90’s, no one knew anything about Lyme, Babesia, or Bartonella. The latter infects about 10-20% of humanity. My pending book will be definitive for many years and might sell only 1500 copies. Doctors learn these three for only 75 seconds in their careers.
Who will read “Lyme” books? Only slightly healthy patients or family will pick them up. Recently, someone was annoyed that my #1 book on Artemisia derivatives was not free. Medical books should have easy access. It was free, and functional medicine doctors, naturopaths, and patients still did not read it. A book that took tens of thousands to write. Over a year.
And these biting insect infections took a quarter-century out of my life. 45,000 hours of research study. 3.8 million self-funded research. But we survived. Because we sought the best available. Or really, just the best we know about in the Eastern USA. We knew that 10 minutes of insurance-covered office visits with “magic” treatments for these infections was not happening. Obviously, after a couple of months. We were so sick that my children could not get out of bed.
But most do not have any drama, and with a healthy life, your experience with ticks from up to 200 different mammal carriers might be almost nothing, even for 20, 30, or even 40 years.
But if an emotional or physical trauma happens, will you think back to a camp tick bite at 15 years old?
NO.
Why?
THE FIRST THING TO GO IS YOUR INSIGHT.
Lyme And Politics–National And Inside Lyme Groups
The national political part is easily summarized.
The government has virtually no one in science or political power who is an expert on these infections. Even when President Bush had it, my sense from the media was that it was trivial, like an exaggerated cold. He was said to have merely “Lyme,” and his Bell’s palsy, a type of one sided mouth contortion, quickly resolved. “Lyme?” I have never seen only Lyme in my career, in which 45,000 self funded research hours and 3.8 million in self-funded research have led me to an emerging 13th book on the infections carried by ticks, fleas and 10 others. And the realization is that large commercial labs have no expert on Lyme, Babesia and Bartonella. And my work is correcting the failures of 25-50 doctors who preceded me.
Politicians in every area know none of this. Why should they? You learn none of this in law school (or business school). So they look to the CDC, NIH, and well-known university medical centers. I like them all. It’s just that they are infinitely useless with Lyme, Babesia, and Bartonella. My family almost died learning this reality.
Politics inside Lyme organizations, you have a wide bell curve.
Generally, newer organizations are more open, accepting and inclusive.
In one old organizational example, the top leader can publicly lie, others can exhibit easy and excessive anger, show profound in-group bias, display startling contempt, rush to naive judgments, marginalize others, stonewall, and allow non-doctors an annoyance call that ends a respected, unrestricted licensed infection doctor’s involvement. Sad. But simplistic minds and closed worlds can exist in all of us at times, and you forgive and accept that these types of organizations will only attract a certain type of personality. They believe they are the ethics gatekeepers despite lacking any educational expertise in organizational or personal ethics.
And the common sins of those infected in the head or heart were allowed in themselves, their family, and friends in the past, but not by others. Maybe not you, your doctor, NP, or PA.
But in so many others, who represent the cream of humanity in this older group, I have many precious, wise, loving, and faithful friends. Who all laugh at the political games, and we do.