Lyme Time with Paula Jackson Jones

Author:  Paula Jackson Jones Orig Published:  09/21/2017 With an increase in Lyme and tick-borne cases, patients are reporting a variance in how they are or are not being treated. Why?  The simple answer is that there are TWO STANDARDS OF CARE, however, the reality is that it’s far more complicated than that. I’ll do my best to explain this is layman’s terms and not get too overly complicated. The History of Lyme Disease In the early 1970’s, a group of children in Lyme, CT were suffering from puzzling and debilitating health issues. Initially diagnosed as Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis but when visits to doctors and hospital stays became more frequent, two mothers from this group became persistent in finding answers and began conducting their own research and contacting scientists. By the mid-70’s, researchers had collected enough data including signs and symptoms and called it Lyme, but they didn’t know what caused it.  In 1982, a scientist by the name of Willy Burgdor

Author: Paula Jackson Jones Orig Published:  09/15/2017 Fall is upon us and the mindset is that with the change in weather, we are safe from the onslaught of ticks. However, that is far from the truth. Ticks thrive in moist, cool conditions. While there may have been a reduction in tick sightings towards the end of the hot dry summer we had, believe me when I tell you that they were there, waiting for the right condition to become more active. For the next couple of weeks, my articles will be part of a series ‘Tick-borne Disease in Maine’ and I will be taking focal areas of information and extracting it down into bite-sizes. I will be covering areas that my readers have asked me to expand upon. Last fall, Maine saw an increase in reported tick-borne diseases that lasted well into the winter months. This was contrary to what we were accustomed to.  This tells us that ticks and the diseases that they are carrying are evolving and we, as a society, need to evolve our think

Author: Paula Jackson Jones Originally Pub:  09/08/2017 It’s not easy being an advocate and talking with sick people every day, hearing similarities between your own journey and their struggle and trying to find the right words to not only comfort but to give them hope that they too, one day, can return to health. That is what life in the gray feels like.  Not everything is black and white.  We’re comfortable with black and white. Things are what they are.  Cut and dry.  It’s the gray that is scary, all the unknowns and questions that go unanswered, sometimes for great lengths of time causing you to question everything around you, even yourself.  The gray is where the Lyme community tries to figure out how to adjust to their “new normal”, a life filled with pain and migratory symptoms that you’re told to live with, that cause you to cancel your plans at the last minute, a life where planning becomes obsolete and isolation becomes your friend.  Why? Because it’s too

Author:  Paula Jackson Jones Orig Published: 09/01/2017 This week’s article, I’m calling my Lyme Rant, is based on the outcome of my week-long stay at the Union Fair, from all my community interactions with people and from my 3+ year odyssey as a Lyme advocate warrior. It’s based on first-hand experience as a patient, as an advocate and as someone who is not willing to settle for status quo. As a society, we’re being fed conflicting information from many sources. One source says Lyme and tick-borne is hard to catch but easy to treat. Another source strongly recommends using repellent and prevention practices as tick-borne disease is on the rise here in Maine, with a heavy concentration in the Midcoast region. Another source (finally) admits that current testing is faulty and that a medical provider must go by clinical symptoms to make a diagnosis and treat, while yet another source states that in order for you to have a positive confirmation, you must meet certain cr