SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) – A single local clinic is launching a new virtual guidance plan to help breastfeeding mothers.
Dr. Elizabeth Rottenberg, chair of obstestrics and gynocolgy at Mercy Healthcare Heart and director of their Loved ones Existence Middle, spoke to Western Mass Information to speak about this new totally free program.
Can you tell us a bit about the hospital’s new method for these who chose to breastfeed?
“Yeah, so here at Mercy, at the Loved ones Everyday living Middle and throughout our offices inside of the Trinity Health and fitness Of New England program, we have a lot of breastfeeding services that can start seriously as early as a female wishes them. So by way of the Breatfeeding Heritage and Pride Plan, we have a breastfeeding peer councilor that circulates during all of our outpatient offices to fulfill with girls all through their pregnancy to get ready them, you know, give resources for sucessful feeding and in the hospital, we have accredited lactation consultants that can present fingers-on assitance and assistance with breastfeeding, helping women find the ideal situation to maintain their little one, assist ladies navigate some of the troubles some men and women have in locating breast pumps. A thing that some women of all ages do not know is that insurances generally go over breast pumps, so no one need to ever have to spend out-of-pocket for a breast pump and our lactation consultants are in this article to aid people navigate that. On June 27, we are launching a super exciting partnership with the Nest Collabrative which is, as you pointed out, the virtual system. It will present and adjunct to the Breatfeeding Heritage and Pleasure Application and the lactation consultants in this article in the clinic to provide free virtual providers to girls all over their pregnancy and postpartum serving to them with some of the issues they might deal with or just answering extremely very simple questions that women may well have as they begin their breastfeeding journey, so we’re fired up to present the Nest Collabrative, in addition to what we’re now carrying out to enable girls because, I consider, it is been demonstrated that regardless of whether a lady breastfeeds for 3 weeks or three several years, there are definitely some benefits there for some men and women.”
What are some of the added benefits of breastfeeding?
“Yeah, so breastfeeding is a own journey. It delivers various gains for distinct folks. For some men and women, it’s super hassle-free to have on-the-go diet thats the perfect temperature. For others, it’s the ablility to sooth your newborn at a times time when you’re someplace and sense like other individuals do not want to listen to your toddler cry and for some people today, it’s the potential for a little more rapidly weight loss right after supply. Some people today truly uncover great gain in the established reality that breast milk in fact can modify and adapt to the nutritional and immune program requirements of their child. Scientific studies have actaully demonstrated that if their newborn is battling health issues, the germs from that health issues on the breast will create an immune reaction in mom to develop antibodies that, in change, ends up in their breast milk and can at times minimize the severity and length of ailment in babies. So all of this said, breastfeeding arrives with a massive time dedication, actual physical and emotional challenges. For ladies out there with sore nipples, bleeding nipples, exhaustion for feeling like your body is not your own, you know, I listen to you, we listen to you, and our products and services in this article are really geared torwards type of serving to men and women navigate individuals problems. You know, the intention of all of us is to have a balanced, fed infant and we’re listed here for that, so I talk from personal expertise, I know quite a few of you do. The ‘I’m hungry’ commentary improvements as a kid will get older, but it unquestionably is a enormous commitment from the get-go.”
Copyright 2022. Western Mass News (WGGB/WSHM). All legal rights reserved.
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The grinding two-in addition yrs of the pandemic have yielded outsize benefits for a single corporation — Pfizer — making it equally hugely influential and vastly profitable as covid-19 continues to infect tens of thousands of people and eliminate hundreds just about every working day.
Its results in creating covid medications has specified the drugmaker unusual fat in identifying U.S. wellness plan. Centered on inner exploration, the company’s executives have commonly announced the future phase in the struggle against the pandemic in advance of federal government officers have had time to review the issue, frustrating several professionals in the professional medical industry and leaving some individuals unsure whom to have confidence in.
Pfizer’s 2021 revenue was $81.3 billion, around double its income in 2020, when its leading sellers were a pneumonia vaccine, the most cancers drug Ibrance, and the fibromyalgia remedy Lyrica, which had long gone off-patent.
Now its mRNA vaccine holds 70{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of the U.S. and European marketplaces. And its antiviral Paxlovid is the tablet of decision to deal with early symptoms of covid. This 12 months, the organization expects to rake in additional than $50 billion in world profits from the two medicines on your own.
Paxlovid’s worth to vaccinated clients isn’t nevertheless very clear, and Pfizer’s covid vaccine does not solely avert bacterial infections, while each and every booster briefly restores some protection. Yet, even though patients may well recoil at the require for recurring injections — two boosters are now advised for people 50 and older — the requirement is gold for buyers.
“Hopefully, we could be providing it annually and it’s possible for some teams that are higher-threat far more normally,” CEO Albert Bourla advised buyers this yr. “Then you have the treatment method [Paxlovid] that will, let’s say, resolve the concerns of those people that are finding the sickness.”
Just last 7 days, the Biden administration agreed to buy another 105 million doses of Pfizer’s covid vaccine for the fall booster campaign, having to pay $3.2 billion. At $30.47 a dose, it is a important quality above the $19.50-a-dose amount the federal government paid for the very first 100 million. The vaccine is becoming modified to concentrate on early omicron variants, but more recent variants are gaining dominance.
Mainly because the virus keeps mutating and will be about for a prolonged time, the industry for Pfizer’s solutions won’t go absent. In wealthier international locations, the public is probably to hold coming back again for much more, like diners at an all-you-can-consume restaurant, sated but never completely satisfied.
The reliance on Pfizer items at every phase of the pandemic has steered the U.S. response, such as essential community wellbeing decisions.
When last year Bourla suggested that a booster shot would shortly be necessary, U.S. general public overall health officers afterwards adopted, supplying the impression that Pfizer was contacting the tune. Some public overall health professionals and scientists fear these choices have been hasty, noting, for case in point, that even though boosters with the mRNA shots created by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech increase antibody defense initially, it usually doesn’t final.
Considering that January, Bourla has been expressing that U.S. adults will almost certainly all want once-a-year booster shots, and senior Food and drug administration officers have indicated due to the fact April that they agree.
At a June 28 conference of Food and drug administration advisers thinking of a potential drop vaccination campaign, Pfizer presented reports involving about 3,500 persons exhibiting that tweaks to its covid vaccine allowed it to elicit far more antibodies in opposition to the omicron variant that began circulating final December. But most of the advisers stated the Food and drug administration ought to call for the upcoming vaccine to target an even more recent omicron variant, acknowledged as BA.5.
That would indicate a lot more do the job and cost for Pfizer, which referred to as on the Fda to empower it to make foreseeable future modifications to the covid vaccine without having human trials — identical to how once-a-year influenza vaccines are accredited. “If these a procedure had been implemented, responses to foreseeable future waves could be substantially accelerated,” said Kena Swanson, Pfizer’s vice president for viral vaccines.
Food and drug administration officials at the conference did not quickly respond to the suggestion.
As societies abandon other efforts to management covid’s distribute, these kinds of as mask mandates and actual physical distancing, Pfizer’s potential customers seem even brighter, specially now that the firm has brought out the to start with oral covid treatment method, Paxlovid.
“People are going to get out there,” Angela Hwang, president of Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Team, explained to investors May 3. “We know with all of that, infections are likely to improve, and that’s the role that Paxlovid can play.”
Throughout a latest investor contact, a Pfizer official could spin the new stories that the virus can hide from Paxlovid into great news, predicting that, as with the vaccine, clients might need to have various courses.
Immunocompromised sufferers “may carry this virus for a pretty, extremely long time,” Dr. Mikael Dolsten claimed in the investor get in touch with. “And we see that place as a real new possibility development space for Paxlovid to do very very well, the place you might require to consider various classes.”
Pfizer has invested handsomely to bolster its influence through the pandemic. Since early 2020, it has shelled out a lot more than $25 million for in-residence lobbying and payments to 19 lobbying firms, pushing for laws to guard its products and promote more sturdy U.S. vaccination plans.
Pfizer’s donations to political candidates in the 2020 cycle were bigger than all those of any other drug enterprise, totaling about $3.5 million, with the best share going to Democrats. Joe Biden bought $351,000 Donald Trump just $103,000.
Contrary to Moderna, Sanofi, Novavax, and Johnson & Johnson, which got billions of pounds in U.S. assist, Pfizer did not seek out govt dollars to build its vaccine, declaring it would operate independently.
Pfizer did advantage from $445 million the German govt provided to BioNTech, Pfizer’s husband or wife in creating the vaccine. And, in the finish, Pfizer relied considerably on U.S. govt logistical support, according to a new book by previous Wellbeing and Human Providers formal Paul Mango.
Pfizer recorded $7.8 billion in U.S. profits for its covid vaccine in 2021. The government has selections to purchase 1.6 billion Pfizer vaccine doses and has so considerably bought 900 million of them, including 500 million purchased at not-for-revenue selling prices to be donated to poor nations.
Pfizer’s terms in the contracts exclude many taxpayer protections. They deny the federal government any intellectual house legal rights and say that federal shelling out played no role in the vaccine’s enhancement — even while National Institutes of Health and fitness researchers invented a key aspect of Pfizer’s vaccine, stated Robin Feldman, a patent law expert at the University of California.
“The agreement could established a precedent,” in which yet another firm could cite Pfizer’s contracts to argue the federal government has surrendered any rights to an invention, she mentioned.
The federal government also has agreed to buy about 20 million 5-working day programs of Paxlovid for $530 just about every.
Costs for the covid drug and vaccine will go up after the pandemic period of time is about, Bourla mentioned at a January party, “to mirror the chopping-edge technology.”
Pfizer spokesperson Sharon Castillo declined to react to certain inquiries about Pfizer’s influence on pandemic coverage. She produced a statement expressing that “since Day 1 of this pandemic, we have been laser-targeted on operating collaboratively with all pertinent stakeholders to carry to the environment two healthcare breakthroughs. In accomplishing so, we have moved at the pace of science, complied with the strict regulatory procedures, and relied on our scientists’ experience and manufacturing prowess.”
There is very little query that the firm ripped a scientific residence run in responding swiftly to meet the health-related requirements designed by the pandemic. It used synthetic intelligence to observe the spread of the virus and discover the best destinations to recruit volunteers for its vaccine trials and deployed quick drug-screening applications to create Paxlovid.
Its achievements with the covid vaccine has raised hopes for a Pfizer vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, a threat to toddlers and more mature grownups. The company is also shifting toward seeking licensure for shots that guard against Lyme disease and hospital bacterial infections.
Pfizer experienced prolonged shunned the vaccine enterprise, with its traditionally modest economical returns. It dropped out of human vaccine creation in the late 1960s soon after the recall of its disastrous measles vaccine, which sickened scores of youngsters after publicity to the virus brought about unexpected reactions with antibodies stimulated by the shot. The enterprise returned to the field in 2009 when it bought Wyeth, which was producing a very productive and uncommonly worthwhile vaccine towards pneumonia and ear infections.
Now, Pfizer is a new type of worldwide powerhouse. In 2021 by yourself, the company hired almost 2,400 people today. “We are a domestic title ideal now to billions of people,” Bourla explained in January. “People are trusting the Pfizer vaccines.”
The company’s ability concerns some vaccinologists, who see its expanding affect in a realm of healthcare decision-building typically led by impartial gurus.
Through a the latest trader call, analyst Evan Seigerman of BMO Cash Markets questioned whether the environment was “kind of strolling blindly into recommending boosters” so usually.
Facts from Israel, which utilizes only Pfizer’s vaccine and has provided most of the scientific studies that have led to vaccination booster recommendations from the Centers for Condition Handle and Avoidance, implies that 3rd and fourth doses of the mRNA vaccines enhance antibody ranges that promptly wane once again. Added boosters saved some life in the about-60 population, but the information is much less crystal clear about the advantage to youthful older people.
When President Biden in September 2021 supplied boosters to People in america — not lengthy right after Bourla had advised them — Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Instruction Centre at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a developer of a vaccine for an intestinal virus, puzzled, “Where’s the evidence you are at hazard of severe condition when confronted with covid if you are vaccinated and underneath 50?”
Insurance policies on booster suggestions for diverse groups are complicated and shifting, Offit stated, but the CDC, rather than Bourla and Pfizer, must be earning them.
“We’re remaining pushed along,” he explained. “The pharmaceutical organizations are performing like public overall health companies.”
KHN (Kaiser Health and fitness Information) is a national newsroom that provides in-depth journalism about overall health problems. Collectively with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is 1 of the 3 key operating applications at KFF (Kaiser Spouse and children Basis). KFF is an endowed nonprofit corporation delivering information on wellbeing challenges to the country.
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UCSF’s Dr. Bob Wachter identified as the BA.5 omicron subvariant “a various beast” compared to other coronavirus mutations, with distinctions that could prompt behavioral adjustments to prevent infection. The notion that “hybrid immunity” from each a coronavirus an infection and vaccination presents a high degree of defense has been thrown into question with the onset of the really infectious infectious omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
Caltech researchers hit on new vaccine to goal virus variants
A new form of vaccine protects in opposition to a wide variety of betacoronaviruses together with the just one that caused the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID’s variants, in mice and monkeys, a Caltech study found. Betacoronaviruses are a subset of coronaviruses that infect individuals and animals. The review, revealed in the journal Science on Tuesday, from scientists in the laboratory of Caltech’s Pamela Bjorkman, professor of biology and bioengineering, discovered that the new vaccine is broadly protective. It functions by presenting the immune process with spike protein pieces from SARS-CoV-2 and seven other SARS-like betacoronaviruses, hooked up to a protein nanoparticle composition, to induce creation of cross-reactive antibodies, Caltech said. Vaccination with this so-known as mosaic nanoparticle also led to defense versus an additional coronavirus, SARS-CoV, that was not just one of the eight on the nanoparticle vaccine.
Overcrowding in old California jail buildings aided drive COVID unfold
Overcrowding, from time to time in antiquated properties, performed a important role in the extraordinary surge of COVID-19 in California prisons, a new report from UCSF and UC Berkeley found. The spread was compounded by the need for complicated coordination, and the report said “extraordinary” attempts by corrections officers was not more than enough to avert tens of countless numbers of COVID bacterial infections among the inmates and prison workers. Personnel sickness led to critical staffing shortages, and jail workers may perhaps have inadvertently carried the virus in and out of the prisons and into their residences and communities, the report said. It reported dangers could have been elevated simply because numerous prison staff refused to get vaccinated.
The researchers documented far more than 50,000 scenarios of COVID amongst inmates in all – which includes 240 fatalities – from the begin of the pandemic to December 2021. Other stories have documented much more than 16,000 COVID infections amid jail personnel, with 26 deaths. Dr. Brie Williams, a UCSF professor of drugs who assisted direct the analysis workforce, stated point out policymakers and jail professionals must carefully examine lessons acquired “to help assure we’re superior organized in the long run. This contains providing interest to massively reducing the prison populace in our point out in the fascination of general public health, as overcrowding is likely the solitary finest health and fitness threat in a respiratory pandemic.”
Receiving COVID can result in functions primary to mind harm, research demonstrates
COVID-19 infection can set off the production of immune molecules that injury cells lining blood vessels in the brain, according to a National Institutes of Health analyze revealed Tuesday. That problems leads to platelets to adhere alongside one another and sort clots. Blood proteins also leak from the blood vessels, leading to irritation and the destruction of neurons and could lead to small- and very long-time period neurological signs or symptoms, in accordance to Nationwide Institute of Neurological Problems and Stroke researchers who examined mind alterations in 9 people today who died all of a sudden right after contracting the virus. “Patients normally establish neurological complications with COVID-19, but the fundamental pathophysiological procedure is not very well comprehended,” stated Avindra Nath, the senior writer of the study. “We experienced earlier shown blood vessel problems and inflammation in patients’ brains at autopsy, but we didn’t have an understanding of the induce of the problems. I consider in this paper we have attained important perception into the cascade of activities.”
Endemic stage of COVID-19 could be 2 yrs absent, examine suggests
It could just take an additional two years just before the virus that results in COVID-19 will become endemic, in accordance to a Yale review released Tuesday in the journal PNAS Nexus. Modeling facts based on reinfection costs amongst rats, which are as vulnerable to coronaviruses as humans, showed that with equally vaccination and pure exposure, the inhabitants gathered wide immunity that pushed the virus towards endemic stability. That is the point when the virus infects many people today but loses its fangs, foremost to results that are not significantly unsafe. Coronaviruses are hugely unpredictable, so a likely mutation could crop up “that tends to make it much more pathogenic,” mentioned Caroline Zeiss, a professor of comparative drugs at Yale University of Medicine and senior author of the analyze. “The extra likely scenario, while, is that we see an maximize in transmissibility and possible reduce in pathogenicity.”
Review: COVID reinfections increase the chance of new health problems
Repeated COVID raise hazards for new and ongoing wellbeing issues, according to a new review of data from extra than 5.6 million persons Veterans Administration individuals. When compared to patients who never ever acquired COVID, individuals contaminated once or far more noticed a proportionally elevated possibility of cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, kidney, and neurological diseases, as properly as mental wellness problems, scientists uncovered. Antibodies from previous bacterial infections did not surface to reduce the threat. Amid the 40,000 people with two or much more verified bacterial infections, the chance of demise was 2 times as superior and hospitalization inside 6 months of their final an infection three periods increased. “Given the probability that SARS-CoV-2 will continue to be a menace for several years if not a long time, we urgently have to have to build public wellness measures that would be embraced by the public and could be sustainably implemented in the lengthy-term to safeguard people today from re-an infection,” the researchers wrote.
German firm sues BioNTech, alleging patent infringement in COVID vaccine development
German biotech enterprise CureVac mentioned Tuesday it is suing BioNTech for operate that it says contributed to the development of the BioNTech-Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. BioNTech explained its get the job done is first and it would “vigorously” contest the declare outlined in the patent infringement fit, the Connected Press studies. CureVac, which past yr claimed disappointing results from late-stage testing of its personal very first-technology COVID-19 shot, earlier this 12 months started a scientific trial of a second-technology vaccine applicant produced with British pharmaceutical enterprise GSK. CureVac mentioned it would not pursue a courtroom injunction and does not “intend to choose authorized motion that impedes the output, sale or distribution” by BioNTech and Pfizer of their profitable Comirnaty vaccine. Both of those CureVac and BioNTech have worked to build the messenger RNA technological innovation utilized in their respective vaccines and potentially for other makes use of.
COVID-19 third top cause of death in the U.S. in the two 2020 and 2021
COVID-19 was the third main cause of loss of life in the United States amongst March 2020 — when the pandemic bought underway — and October 2021, according to death certificate information analyzed by Nationwide Institutes of Health researchers. For the duration of people 20 months, COVID-19 accounted for 1 in 8 fatalities (350,000 fatalities) in the United States. Coronary heart ailment was the top trigger of dying, followed by cancer, and alongside one another they accounted for 1.29 million fatalities, according to the study revealed Monday in JAMA Interior Drugs. Accidents and strokes had been the fourth and fifth major triggers of demise. In each and every age group 15 decades and more mature, COVID-19 was just one of the top rated five triggers of dying.
BA.5 now tends to make up much more than 50 percent the situations in the U.S.
The omicron BA.5 subvariant of the coronavirus accounted for 53.6{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of infections nationally past week, continuing its swift rise to grow to be the dominant strain of the virus in the U.S. The intently relevant BA.4 subvariant designed up an extra 16.5{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} of scenarios, as the more recent variants crowd out BA.2 and BA.2.12.1. About the weekend, Dr. Bob Wachter, UCSF’s chair of drugs, cautioned that BA.5 is “a distinct beast” from past strains of the virus — much more infectious and superior in a position to evade immune responses — and could result in a different surge of scenarios just before we have a chance to recover from the previous wave.
Elite planet functioning event canceled because of to COVID condition in China
The entire world fifty percent-marathon championships have been canceled due to the fact China wasn’t able to host the races because of to the coronavirus pandemic, Planet Athletics said on Tuesday. Alternatively of the celebration becoming held in Yangzhou in November as planned, the town will, alternatively, be given the rebranded globe highway operating championships in 2027, officials stated. The championships are on keep track of to be renamed the earth highway working championships with the addition of 5-kilometer races and mass-participation activities together with the elite competitions. China has place tight limitations on arrivals from overseas international locations all through the pandemic and imposes wide-ranging lockdowns for any COVID-19 positives within the place. China hosted the Winter Olympics in February in a bubble which involved cordoning off whole sections of Beijing.
Virtual actions not so well-known heading ahead
Quite a few Americans don’t count on to count on the digital providers like health care and grocery delivery after COVID-19 subsides, a new poll finds, though many say it’s a good matter if those solutions continue being out there in the long run. Close to fifty percent or more of U.S. grownups say they are not possible to go to virtual pursuits, get virtual overall health treatment, have groceries shipped or use curbside pickup soon after the coronavirus pandemic is around, according to a poll from the Connected Press-NORC Middle for Community Affairs Research. Considerably less than 3 in 10 say they are very probably to use any of individuals options at least some of the time.
Why UCSF’s Bob Wachter says COVID variant BA.5 is “a various beast”
The new BA.5 strain of the COVID-producing virus is “a distinctive beast” from ones we have already witnessed — far more infectious and greater in a position to evade immune responses — and “we require to change our thinking” about how to defend towards it, according to a info-packed Twitter thread posted currently by Dr. Bob Wachter, UCSF’s chair of medicine.
One COVID expert’s reinfection exhibits why ‘hybrid immunity’ might no longer be achievable
Hybrid immunity towards COVID owing to both of those an infection and vaccination was regarded remarkably protective from new variants before in the pandemic. But with tremendous infectious omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, that could not keep genuine any for a longer period. Read through more about hybrid immunity and reinfection right here.
Here’s how to measure the possibility of finding COVID from an individual who’s asymptomatic
How probably is it for folks to capture COVID from an individual who is asymptomatic? It’s not difficult — and might be a lot more common than persons comprehend, overall health gurus say.
Will new COVID variants BA.4 and BA.5 induce the Bay Area’s surge to get even worse?
Two new remarkably infectious and immune-evasive COVID variants are now dominant in the United States, and jointly they likely will drive the Bay Area’s extended spring surge very well into summer time, overall health industry experts say.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on government integrity and quality of life issues. Sign up for our newsletter for more stories straight to your inbox. and donate to support our fact-checked journalism.
Crystal Pauley, a former physician assistant, didn’t believe in so-called chronic Lyme disease — until she became sick.
Many health care providers reject chronic Lyme disease as a diagnosis. One 2010 survey found that just six out of 285 primary care doctors surveyed in Connecticut — an epicenter for the tick-borne infection — believed that symptoms of Lyme disease persist after treatment or in the absence of a positive Lyme test.
When Pauley worked for the La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Gundersen Health System, she remembered hearing about a friend from high school battling chronic Lyme in Australia. But she had her doubts. “I’m working in the medical field,” she said. “We’ve never learned about that.”
Years later, Pauley has changed her mind. Pauley tested positive for Lyme in 2020. She suffers from unrelenting fatigue, joint pain and brain fog. She walks up stairs sideways because of the unbearable knee pain. Pauley said she has become “pseudo-Lyme literate” because of her own personal journey.
Pauley belongs to a cohort of patients with Lyme-like symptoms but negative test results or patients with positive test results who suffer from lingering symptoms long after treatment. They call it chronic Lyme disease, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention labels it as Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS). The CDC says there is no known treatment for the condition.
“Their symptoms are always real. They’re experiencing them,” said Dr. Joyce Sanchez, an infectious-disease associate professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin who treats Lyme patients with persistent symptoms.
“If someone is having physical symptoms and isn’t feeling listened to, then they’ll have mental health repercussions and then that will impact their physical well-being,” she said. “And then it’s a spiral that if you don’t address both components of health, you’re not going to make much progress on either side. And they will continue to feel sick.”
Wisconsin Watch talked with five Wisconsin patients, all women, who have been searching for validation and experimenting with personalized treatments as part of a long and sometimes grueling battle with the illness. The infection comes from tiny ticks primarily found in the northeastern United States, including in Wisconsin — which is a hot spot for Lyme, ranking No. 5 among states for Lyme cases in 2019.
One of the five tested positive for Lyme using a two-step testing recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three others tested positive using a test not recommended by the CDC. The fifth woman was diagnosed as possibly suffering from the disease by a “Lyme-literate” practitioner.
Pauley, 37, who as a student cranked through medical textbooks, began having trouble remembering a simple medication direction. She put up sticky notes around her office to jar her memory.
Alicia Cashman, 57, runs the Madison Area Lyme Support Group. She recalled unbearable pelvic pain beginning in 2010. “This causes pain of a magnitude that makes you want to die,” she said.
The pain metastasized quickly. She felt joint pain, headaches, insomnia and extreme fatigue. “It was so bad that I just wanted to be in a dark room with no smell, no sound, no light. Your body has succumbed to this,” she said.
Shelbie Bertolasi, 47, is a stay-at-home mother in Waukesha with four children ages 5 to 24. Until about seven years ago, she was healthy and stuck to a workout routine.
Shelbie Bertolasi was diagnosed with Lyme disease in July 2020 after suffering for many years with a variety of medical issues, including sweats, joint pain, rashes, intestinal issues and a miscarriage of twins. A naturopath finally recommended a Lyme test after she visited numerous doctors who she says failed to take her symptoms seriously. “I just want people to understand that Lyme is real. It’s not in our head. I want doctors to understand. I told doctors about my brain fog. My regular doctor wouldn’t even believe me.” She is seen at her home in Waukesha, Wis., on Dec. 1, 2021. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)
Bertolasi’s health steadily deteriorated starting in early 2015 when she miscarried twins. Then, she developed a high fever, with stomach and intestinal pain. She lost 30 pounds in a month due to constant diarrhea. Doctors flagged and treated excessive bacteria in her small intestine. She felt better but gradually was beset by continual pain in her joints, back, knees and hip.
Sometimes, she loses feeling in her feet. “It’s a nuisance when you’re in the middle of (driving), and you can’t feel the pedals that well,” she said.
Judy Stevens, 52, a former school counselor and psychotherapist from Wauwatosa, says shortly after the loss of her father, she was hit by joint pain, brain fog, insomnia, hair loss and night sweats. She was an athletic person, a cross-country coach at school and a triathlete.
None of these women recalled seeing a tick, except Jessica Croteau, who lives in Rice Lake. The 34-year-old noticed a tick on her neck in the summer of 2019 at home and started to have flu-like symptoms, but she tested negative for Lyme. Croteau suffered bouts of low-grade fever, a stiff neck and gastrointestinal problems. She ended up visiting the emergency room when her blood pressure spiked.
Going down ‘rabbit holes’
Often, chronic Lyme patients present multiple symptoms that make their diagnosis challenging. They bounce from one specialist to another to tackle each problem, but each diagnosis cannot explain all of the symptoms they are experiencing.
Cashman underwent an MRI because of her severe pelvic pain, and the results found two deflating ovarian cysts which can cause severe pain in the lower abdomen. But that diagnosis did not explain the unbearable pain that gravitated to her knees and to her head. She recalled that the swollen knee “got red hot to touch,” and she developed a fever.Cashman began to look for causes. “Not everything is Lyme, but everything can be (Lyme),” she said. “It’s a weird thing, but you got to go down these rabbit holes.”
Croteau saw specialists, including emergency physicians, a cardiologist, a kidney specialist and an immunologist. All the tests she took were negative for Lyme disease. She was told the problems may be related to psychological issues.
“So basically, it’s been a timeline of two years of not being taken seriously, just pushed away — either told I can’t do anything for you (or) there’s nothing really wrong with you,” Croteau said.
Judy Stevens, 51, was diagnosed with Lyme disease in July 2017, but thinks she may have had it since childhood. Her symptoms included brain fog, depression, insomnia, and she said she was often treated as a psychiatric patient by the more than 30 different doctors she saw. Prior to remission in 2020, she says she was taking more than 40 herbs and supplements a day. She estimated it cost her $25,000 to $50,000 a year to treat her Lyme disease. “It was a huge strain on us. I can’t even imagine not having the resources,” she said. “This is people’s reality. It’s really costly to get better and stay better.” She is pictured at her home in Wauwatosa, Wis., on Dec. 1, 2021. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)
A medical provider suggested that she seek counseling and increase her dose of anti-anxiety medicine. But the pain in her joints and wrists were real, and her knuckles often got swollen. The brain fog made it hard for her to punch in a phone number correctly.
Bertolasi saw a pain specialist, a psychiatrist, a spinal therapist and a neurologist. They diagnosed her with SI joint dysfunction. Back surgery, therapy and exercise relieved some of her pain, but her knees continue to hurt. She was told, “You’re getting older, (so) things don’t work as well as they used to.”
Unsatisfied, in 2019, Bertolasi saw a rheumatologist who ordered several tests, including for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and the results were all negative. And the forgetfulness has persisted; she has left her phone in the refrigerator.
“You’re just surrounded by this dark (mental) fog, and you just don’t know how to navigate your way through,” she said.
After seeing around 30 specialists, Stevens had a bag of medications, including many prescribed psychotropic drugs. She went on those drugs, and her psychiatric symptoms got worse. However, she doesn’t blame doctors, who generally specialize in one area of the body or a family of diseases.
“When you have a whole slew of symptoms, it’s hard for the physicians to dig deeper,” she said.
Sometimes, patients with waning and waxing symptoms are labeled as malingerers who are faking symptoms to get attention. “This is very common with people with Lyme,” Stevens said.
Sanchez, the infectious disease doctor, worries that patients who do not get answers from mainstream medicine may gravitate toward unproven — and expensive — alternatives. But she sees no harm in some strategies that may offer relief, including meditation, tai chi, acupuncture or massage therapy.
No quick fix
Two of the five women interviewed by Wisconsin Watch have been diagnosed through the CDC’s two-step testing regimen: the ELISA test followed by the Western Blot, two different ways of looking for Lyme antibodies in the patient’s blood. Pauley tested positive for Lyme using the CDC’s recommended criteria, and Stevens tested positive on just one of the two tests.
Two others used a laboratory that administers the same tests but uses less-stringent criteria to determine whether a person has Lyme. Cashman and Bertolasi both tested positive through that testing. A 2014 Columbia University study found that some labs using their own criteria reported more false positive results — 57{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} — among people with no history of Lyme than the 25{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} false-positive rate using CDC criteria. Croteau used three different laboratories but tested negative each time.
With a Lyme disease diagnosis, Pauley took the standard treatment, doxycycline, for three weeks.
Judy Stevens is seen in the September 2015 photo when she says she was suffering from undiagnosed chronic Lyme disease. “I had lost 30 pounds and was almost put on a feeding tube. I clearly look very distressed and weak. At this time, I was diagnosed with an eating disorder, even though I was eating,” she said. Ten days later she had symptoms of Bell’s palsy in her face, and her husband took her to the emergency room because he thought she was having a stroke. She was told it was likely stress and was sent home. (Courtesy of Judy Stevens)
But when she completed the antibiotic therapy, she felt even worse. While her memory has improved, she has developed muscle pain, and her knees hurt even more. She felt tired, saying she could sleep 10 to 16 hours a day. But her doctor, following standard protocol, has told her she is done with treatment.
The same thing happened to Stevens. The doctor prescribed her 30 days of doxycycline and suggested that she seek a “Lyme-literate” doctor as she could not prescribe any longer course of antibiotics.
Stevens’ doctor followed CDC guidance, which recommends against prolonged antibiotic treatment, saying the harm outweighs the benefit. Sanchez echoed the argument, saying that doctors must weigh the risks and benefits of antibiotics, just like other prescribed medications.
“If we don’t see any plus side benefit to it, then we’re only exposing people to unnecessary risks,” she said. “Nothing comes with a free lunch. It’s important to be thoughtful about the right antibiotic at the right dose for the right amount of time.”
She also said some antibiotics could bring down inflammation as a side effect, making some patients feel better. This is also the point at which some patients begin experimenting with treatments that mainstream medicine does not recognize.
Sufferers try unconventional treatments
Cashman, living in Cataract, Wisconsin was also diagnosed with Bartonella, or Cat scratch disease, and went through five years of “systemic, holistic” treatments, which included a host of herbs, antibiotics, a high dose of vitamin C and supplements. She also received ozone therapy and laser therapy for pain relief. She is now nearly symptom-free, but still deals with spine stiffness.
Alicia Cashman shows a variety of treatments she uses for her chronic Lyme disease. Seen on her counter is a jar of homemade Japanese knotweed tincture, as well as a bottle of Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) and MSM power, which she puts into a homemade pain ointment — seen in the jar on the right. “We call it a ‘do it yourself disease’ because you have to be an active participant in your own healing,” she says. “I attribute my health today to doctors who were willing to work outside the box.” Photo taken Jan. 31, 2020. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)
A bottle of A-Bart, an herbal supplement, is seen at the home of Shelbie Bertolasi in Waukesha, Wis., on Dec. 1, 2021. The bottle costs $90 and is just one of the many supplements Bertolasi takes to treat her chronic Lyme disease. “We spend tons and tons of money on treatments. There are things my family can’t do because of all the money we have to spend to treat the Lyme,” she says. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)
Stevens found two Lyme-literate doctors in Wisconsin who are versed in both Western and alternative medicine. She said she was co-infected with Relapsing Fever, Babesiosis and Bartonella. She said her treatments are highly individualized, and her doctors tweak her therapies from time to time. At one point, Stevens was on more than 40 types of herbs and supplements.
“I’m living proof that I got better as a result of all those herbal treatments,” she said. “I was not on antibiotics for four or five months.”
Bertolasi turned to a Lyme-literate doctor who also treats one of her friends with similar symptoms. Besides Lyme, she was also diagnosed with Bartonella. She has completed a 14-month course of antibiotics. Now, besides taking herbal supplements, Bertolasi follows a strict diet excluding alcohol, dairy, gluten and sugar to reduce inflammation in her body.
Shelbie Bertolasi explains the variety of supplements she takes to treat her Lyme disease. Bertolasi has spent the past few years treating her symptoms with a variety of supplements, some of which cost anywhere from $30 to $90 a bottle. She estimates she spends about $500 a month on supplements. She is seen at her home in Waukesha, Wis., on Dec. 1, 2021. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)
She said she is at least 80{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} better than about a year ago. Her memory has somewhat returned. Still, brain fog waxes and wanes — as does pain in her joints and lower back.
Croteau tested negative with three Lyme disease tests, but she was diagnosed by a Lyme-literate doctor with Bartonella and “questionable” Lyme disease. The doctor prescribed her doxycycline, triggering a severe reaction that Lyme-infected patients sometimes experience during treatment.
When Croteau found herself pregnant, the doctor suggested she take amoxicillin and clindamycin in low doses during her pregnancy. She stopped taking them after giving birth to her second child in late October 2021 and has been symptom free for the following two months. Croteau said her symptoms have returned since January, including fatigue and brain fog, neck stiffness, headache and nausea. She cares for her newborn at home and hasn’t started any treatment due to financial constraints.
‘A rich person’s disease’
Since chronic Lyme is not a recognized disease, it’s difficult to get insurance coverage, so patients are usually stuck paying out of pocket for treatment.
Pauley, who lives in Woodstock, Illinois, is still searching for affordable treatments.
Her dementia-like symptoms made it impossible to continue working as a veterinary assistant, and she quit her veterinary clinic job in 2020. Previously, she had quit her physician assistant job in La Crosse and moved back to Illinois.
“It was hard,” she said. “I went from the middle-upper class to the poverty line.”
She went to see a Lyme-literate doctor in Milwaukee in August, when she was also suspected to have Bartonella. Pauley was charged $525 per hour for the initial consultation fee, not counting testing fees and supplements. She was irritated to hear the doctor refer to it as “a rich person’s disease.”
“It’s hard to understand any doctors that charge like Beverly Hills lifestyle out in the Midwest,” she said. “We’re not celebrities, and I don’t get paid 30 million per film.”
Stevens said her average costs out of pocket range from $25,000 to $50,000 a year. “It was a huge strain on us,” she said. “This is why a lot of people can’t get better, because they can’t afford it.”
Cashman knows the financial burdens chronic Lyme patients bear, too.
She estimates she has spent $150,000 out of pocket for treatments that she and her husband — who also is a chronic Lyme patient — have taken over the years. Cashman has found ways to reduce the costs by, for example, buying pounds of ground herbs and making her own capsules at home.
Although all five women interviewed by Wisconsin Watch have tried unconventional treatments, they say they are skeptical about anyone who claims their chronic illness can be cured quickly.
Alicia Cashman leads a meeting of the Madison Area Lyme Support Group at the East Madison Police Station in Madison, Wis., on Feb. 8, 2020. About 13 other people were in attendance, some of whom had driven from more than an hour away. The group shared personal experiences with chronic Lyme disease. Also pictured is Olivia Parry of Madison, Wis. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)
“(If it) is just a quick fix to make money, and I’m just very leery of it,” Bertolasi said.
And they are using their experiences to help others. Pauley has become an advocate for lower health care costs. Bertolasi is writing a Lyme-friendly cookbook to chronicle recipes that have worked for her.
Although Stevens said being a chronic Lyme patient is “like a full-time job,” she wants people to know there is hope.
“You can be in terrible shape, but you can get better,” Stevens said. “It’s really easy to go down the road of ‘poor me,’ but it is possible to get better. There is hope. You can reach remission.”
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by Zhen Wang / Wisconsin Watch, WisconsinWatch.org June 9, 2022
<p><em><strong>Wisconsin Watch</strong> is a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on government integrity and quality of life issues. Sign up for our <a href=”https://www.wisconsinwatch.org/subscribe”>newsletter</a> for more stories straight to your inbox. and <a href=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/donate/”>donate</a> to support our fact-checked journalism.</em></p>
<p>Crystal Pauley, a former physician assistant, didn’t believe in so-called <a href=”https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4477530/”>chronic Lyme disease</a> — until she became sick.</p>
<p>Many health care providers reject chronic Lyme disease as a diagnosis. One 2010 survey found that just <a href=”https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022347610005226?casa_token=YEubQNQJIyMAAAAA:f0LQBQLgDOiAzWX0S-7Uwd7UteuqZu5kW60rxB0MijkAMTyJmn0hQpSYZEz2KJwRs17cmpocjQ”>six out of 285 primary care doctors surveyed in Connecticut</a> — an epicenter for the tick-borne infection — believed that symptoms of Lyme disease persist after treatment or in the absence of a positive Lyme test.</p>
<p>When Pauley worked for the La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Gundersen Health System, she remembered hearing about a friend from high school battling chronic Lyme in Australia. But she had her doubts. “I’m working in the medical field,” she said. “We’ve never learned about that.” </p>
<p>Years later, Pauley has changed her mind. Pauley tested positive for Lyme in 2020. She suffers from unrelenting fatigue, joint pain and brain fog. She walks up stairs sideways because of the unbearable knee pain. Pauley said she has become “pseudo-Lyme literate” because of her own personal journey.</p>
<p>Pauley belongs to a cohort of patients with Lyme-like symptoms but negative test results or patients with positive test results who suffer from lingering symptoms long after treatment. They call it chronic Lyme disease, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention labels it as <a href=”https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/postlds/index.html”>Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome</a> (PTLDS). The CDC says there is no known treatment for the condition. </p>
<p>“Their symptoms are always real. They’re experiencing them,” said Dr. Joyce Sanchez, an infectious-disease associate professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin who treats Lyme patients with persistent symptoms. </p>
<p>“If someone is having physical symptoms and isn’t feeling listened to, then they’ll have mental health repercussions and then that will impact their physical well-being,” she said. “And then it’s a spiral that if you don’t address both components of health, you’re not going to make much progress on either side. And they will continue to feel sick.” </p>
<p>Wisconsin Watch talked with five Wisconsin patients, all women, who have been searching for validation and experimenting with personalized treatments as part of a long and sometimes grueling battle with the illness. The infection comes from tiny ticks primarily found in the northeastern United States, including in Wisconsin — which is a hot spot for Lyme, ranking No. 5 among states for Lyme cases in 2019.</p>
<p>One of the five tested positive for Lyme using a two-step testing recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three others tested positive using a test not recommended by the CDC. The fifth woman was diagnosed as possibly suffering from the disease by a “Lyme-literate” practitioner.</p>
<h3><strong>Wide-ranging symptoms</strong></h3>
<p>All of the five patients share commonalities. They’ve never noticed the signature “bull’s eye” rash around the tick bite, the hallmark of Lyme disease, which is seen in <a href=”https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/lyme.html”>70{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} to 80{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}</a> of patients. But relentless waves of rheumatologic, cardiac and neurological symptoms have flattened their lives. Some of them were previously fit and healthy. </p>
<p>Pauley, 37, who as a student cranked through medical textbooks, began having trouble remembering a simple medication direction. She put up sticky notes around her office to jar her memory.</p>
<p>Alicia Cashman, 57, runs the Madison Area Lyme Support Group. She recalled unbearable pelvic pain beginning in 2010. “This causes pain of a magnitude that makes you want to die,” she said.</p>
<p>The pain metastasized quickly. She felt joint pain, headaches, insomnia and extreme fatigue. “It was so bad that I just wanted to be in a dark room with no smell, no sound, no light. Your body has succumbed to this,” she said.</p>
<p>Shelbie Bertolasi, 47, is a stay-at-home mother in Waukesha with four children ages 5 to 24. Until about seven years ago, she was healthy and stuck to a workout routine. </p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image aligncenter size-large”><img src=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Shelbie-Bertolasi-771×514.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-1269520″ /><figcaption>Shelbie Bertolasi was diagnosed with Lyme disease in July 2020 after suffering for many years with a variety of medical issues, including sweats, joint pain, rashes, intestinal issues and a miscarriage of twins. A naturopath finally recommended a Lyme test after she visited numerous doctors who she says failed to take her symptoms seriously. “I just want people to understand that Lyme is real. It’s not in our head. I want doctors to understand. I told doctors about my brain fog. My regular doctor wouldn’t even believe me.” She is seen at her home in Waukesha, Wis., on Dec. 1, 2021. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)</figcaption></figure>
<p>Bertolasi’s health steadily deteriorated starting in early 2015 when she miscarried twins. Then, she developed a high fever, with stomach and intestinal pain. She lost 30 pounds in a month due to constant diarrhea. Doctors flagged and treated excessive bacteria in her small intestine. She felt better but gradually was beset by continual pain in her joints, back, knees and hip. </p>
<p>Sometimes, she loses feeling in her feet. “It’s a nuisance when you’re in the middle of (driving), and you can’t feel the pedals that well,” she said.</p>
<p>Judy Stevens, 52, a former school counselor and psychotherapist from Wauwatosa, says shortly after the loss of her father, she was hit by joint pain, brain fog, insomnia, hair loss and night sweats. She was an athletic person, a cross-country coach at school and a triathlete. </p>
<p>None of these women recalled seeing a tick, except Jessica Croteau, who lives in Rice Lake. The 34-year-old noticed a tick on her neck in the summer of 2019 at home and started to have flu-like symptoms, but she tested negative for Lyme. Croteau suffered bouts of low-grade fever, a stiff neck and gastrointestinal problems. She ended up visiting the emergency room when her blood pressure spiked. </p>
<h3><strong>Going down ‘rabbit holes’</strong></h3>
<p>Often, chronic Lyme patients present multiple symptoms that make their diagnosis challenging. They bounce from one specialist to another to tackle each problem, but each diagnosis cannot explain all of the symptoms they are experiencing. </p>
<p>Cashman underwent an MRI because of her severe pelvic pain, and the results found two deflating ovarian cysts which can cause severe pain <a href=”https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/treatment-tests-and-therapies/management-of-ruptured-ovarian-cyst”>in the lower abdomen</a>. But that diagnosis did not explain the unbearable pain that gravitated to her knees and to her head. She recalled that the swollen knee “got red hot to touch,” and she developed a fever.<em> </em>Cashman began to look for causes. “Not everything is Lyme, but everything can be (Lyme),” she said. “It’s a weird thing, but you got to go down these rabbit holes.” </p>
<p>Croteau saw specialists, including emergency physicians, a cardiologist, a kidney specialist and an immunologist. All the tests she took were negative for Lyme disease. She was told the problems may be related to psychological issues.</p>
<p>“So basically, it’s been a timeline of two years of not being taken seriously, just pushed away — either told I can’t do anything for you (or) there’s nothing really wrong with you,” Croteau said.</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized”><img src=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Judy-Stevens-1-771×1157.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-1269543″ width=”331″ height=”497″ /><figcaption>Judy Stevens, 51, was diagnosed with Lyme disease in July 2017, but thinks she may have had it since childhood. Her symptoms included brain fog, depression, insomnia, and she said she was often treated as a psychiatric patient by the more than 30 different doctors she saw. Prior to remission in 2020, she says she was taking more than 40 herbs and supplements a day. She estimated it cost her $25,000 to $50,000 a year to treat her Lyme disease. “It was a huge strain on us. I can’t even imagine not having the resources,” she said. “This is people’s reality. It’s really costly to get better and stay better.” She is pictured at her home in Wauwatosa, Wis., on Dec. 1, 2021. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)</figcaption></figure>
<p>A medical provider suggested that she seek counseling and increase her dose of anti-anxiety medicine. But the pain in her joints and wrists were real, and her knuckles often got swollen. The brain fog made it hard for her to punch in a phone number correctly. </p>
<p>Bertolasi saw a pain specialist, a psychiatrist, a spinal therapist and a neurologist. They diagnosed her with <a href=”https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sacroiliitis/symptoms-causes/syc-20350747″>SI joint dysfunction</a>. Back surgery, therapy and exercise relieved some of her pain, but her knees continue to hurt. She was told, “You’re getting older, (so) things don’t work as well as they used to.” </p>
<p>Unsatisfied, in 2019, Bertolasi saw a rheumatologist who ordered several tests, including for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and the results were all negative. And the forgetfulness has persisted; she has left her phone in the refrigerator. </p>
<p>“You’re just surrounded by this dark (mental) fog, and you just don’t know how to navigate your way through,” she said. </p>
<p>After seeing around 30 specialists, Stevens had a bag of medications, including many prescribed psychotropic drugs. She went on those drugs, and her psychiatric symptoms got worse. However, she doesn’t blame doctors, who generally specialize in one area of the body or a family of diseases. </p>
<p>“When you have a whole slew of symptoms, it’s hard for the physicians to dig deeper,” she said. </p>
<p>Sometimes, patients with waning and waxing symptoms are labeled as malingerers who are faking symptoms to get attention. “This is very common with people with Lyme,” Stevens said.</p>
<p>Sanchez, the infectious disease doctor, worries that patients who do not get answers from mainstream medicine may gravitate toward unproven — and expensive — alternatives. But she sees no harm in some strategies that may offer relief, including meditation, tai chi, acupuncture or massage therapy.</p>
<h3><strong>No quick fix</strong></h3>
<p>Two of the five women interviewed by Wisconsin Watch have been diagnosed through the CDC’s <a href=”https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/diagnosistesting/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}3A{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}2F{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}2Fwww.cdc.gov{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}2Flyme{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}2Fdiagnosistesting{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}2Flabtest{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}2Ftwostep{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}2Findex.html”>two-step testing</a> regimen: the ELISA test followed by the Western Blot, two different ways of looking for Lyme antibodies in the patient’s blood. Pauley tested positive for Lyme using the CDC’s recommended criteria, and Stevens tested positive on just one of the two tests.</p>
<p>Two others used a laboratory that administers the same tests but uses less-stringent criteria to determine whether a person has Lyme. Cashman and Bertolasi both tested positive through that testing. A 2014 Columbia University study found that some labs using their own criteria reported <a href=”https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25182244/”>more false positive results — 57</a>{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} — among people with no history of Lyme than the 25{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} false-positive rate using CDC criteria. Croteau used three different laboratories but tested negative each time.</p>
<p>With a Lyme disease diagnosis, Pauley took the standard treatment, doxycycline, for three weeks. </p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image alignright size-large”><img src=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Judy-Stevens-2015-2-771×1028.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-1269545″ /><figcaption>Judy Stevens is seen in the September 2015 photo when she says she was suffering from undiagnosed chronic Lyme disease. “I had lost 30 pounds and was almost put on a feeding tube. I clearly look very distressed and weak. At this time, I was diagnosed with an eating disorder, even though I was eating,” she said. Ten days later she had symptoms of Bell’s palsy in her face, and her husband took her to the emergency room because he thought she was having a stroke. She was told it was likely stress and was sent home. (Courtesy of Judy Stevens)</figcaption></figure>
<p>But when she completed the antibiotic therapy, she felt even worse. While her memory has improved, she has developed muscle pain, and her knees hurt even more. She felt tired, saying she could sleep 10 to 16 hours a day. But her doctor, following standard protocol, has told her she is done with treatment.</p>
<p>The same thing happened to Stevens. The doctor prescribed her 30 days of doxycycline and suggested that she seek a “Lyme-literate” doctor as she could not prescribe any longer course of antibiotics.</p>
<p>Stevens’ doctor followed CDC guidance, which recommends against <a href=”https://www.niaid.nih.gov/diseases-conditions/lyme-disease-antibiotic-treatment-research”>prolonged antibiotic treatment</a>, saying the harm outweighs the benefit. Sanchez echoed the argument, saying that doctors must weigh the risks and benefits of antibiotics, just like other prescribed medications.</p>
<p>“If we don’t see any plus side benefit to it, then we’re only exposing people to unnecessary risks,” she said. “Nothing comes with a free lunch. It’s important to be thoughtful about the right antibiotic at the right dose for the right amount of time.”</p>
<p>She also said some antibiotics could bring down inflammation as a side effect, making some patients feel better. This is also the point at which some patients begin experimenting with treatments that mainstream medicine does not recognize.</p>
<h3><strong>Sufferers try unconventional treatments</strong></h3>
<p>Cashman, living in Cataract, Wisconsin was also diagnosed with <a href=”https://www.columbia-lyme.org/bartonellosis”>Bartonella</a>, or Cat scratch disease, and went through five years of “systemic, holistic” treatments, which included a host of herbs, antibiotics, a high dose of vitamin C and supplements. She also received ozone therapy and laser therapy for pain relief. She is now nearly symptom-free, but still deals with spine stiffness. </p>
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<figure class=”wp-block-image size-large”><img src=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Alica-Cashman-treatments-1-771×514.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-1269544″ /><figcaption>Alicia Cashman shows a variety of treatments she uses for her chronic Lyme disease. Seen on her counter is a jar of homemade Japanese knotweed tincture, as well as a bottle of Dimethyl Sulfoxide (DMSO) and MSM power, which she puts into a homemade pain ointment — seen in the jar on the right. “We call it a ‘do it yourself disease’ because you have to be an active participant in your own healing,” she says. “I attribute my health today to doctors who were willing to work outside the box.” Photo taken Jan. 31, 2020. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)</figcaption></figure>
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<figure class=”wp-block-image size-large”><img src=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Shelbie_Bertolasi_A_Bart-771×514.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-1269547″ /><figcaption>A bottle of A-Bart, an herbal supplement, is seen at the home of Shelbie Bertolasi in Waukesha, Wis., on Dec. 1, 2021. The bottle costs $90 and is just one of the many supplements Bertolasi takes to treat her chronic Lyme disease. “We spend tons and tons of money on treatments. There are things my family can’t do because of all the money we have to spend to treat the Lyme,” she says. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)</figcaption></figure>
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<p>Stevens found two Lyme-literate doctors in Wisconsin who are versed in both Western and alternative medicine. She said she was co-infected with <a href=”https://www.columbia-lyme.org/relapsing-fever”>Relapsing Fever</a>, <a href=”https://www.columbia-lyme.org/babesiosis”>Babesiosis</a> and Bartonella. She said her treatments are highly individualized, and her doctors tweak her therapies from time to time. At one point, Stevens was on more than 40 types of herbs and supplements.</p>
<p>“I’m living proof that I got better as a result of all those herbal treatments,” she said. “I was not on antibiotics for four or five months.” </p>
<p>Bertolasi turned to a Lyme-literate doctor who also treats one of her friends with similar symptoms. Besides Lyme, she was also diagnosed with Bartonella. She has completed a 14-month course of antibiotics. Now, besides taking herbal supplements, Bertolasi follows a strict diet excluding alcohol, dairy, gluten and sugar to reduce inflammation in her body.</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized”><img src=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Shelbie_Bertolasi_treatments-771×514.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-1269529″ width=”731″ height=”486″ /><figcaption>Shelbie Bertolasi explains the variety of supplements she takes to treat her Lyme disease. Bertolasi has spent the past few years treating her symptoms with a variety of supplements, some of which cost anywhere from $30 to $90 a bottle. She estimates she spends about $500 a month on supplements. She is seen at her home in Waukesha, Wis., on Dec. 1, 2021. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)</figcaption></figure>
<p>She said she is at least 80{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c} better than about a year ago. Her memory has somewhat returned. Still, brain fog waxes and wanes — as does pain in her joints and lower back.</p>
<p>Croteau tested negative with three Lyme disease tests, but she was diagnosed by a Lyme-literate doctor with Bartonella and “questionable” Lyme disease. The doctor prescribed her doxycycline, triggering a severe reaction that Lyme-infected patients sometimes experience during treatment. </p>
<p>When Croteau found herself pregnant, the doctor suggested she take amoxicillin and clindamycin in low doses during her pregnancy. She stopped taking them after giving birth to her second child in late October 2021 and has been symptom free for the following two months. Croteau said her symptoms have returned since January, including fatigue and brain fog, neck stiffness, headache and nausea. She cares for her newborn at home and hasn’t started any treatment due to financial constraints. </p>
<h3><strong>‘A rich person’s disease’</strong></h3>
<p>Since chronic Lyme is not a recognized disease, it’s difficult to get insurance coverage, so patients are usually stuck paying out of pocket for treatment.</p>
<p>Pauley, who lives in Woodstock, Illinois, is still searching for affordable treatments. </p>
<p>Her dementia-like symptoms made it impossible to continue working as a veterinary assistant, and she quit her veterinary clinic job in 2020. Previously, she had quit her physician assistant job in La Crosse and moved back to Illinois. </p>
<p>“It was hard,” she said. “I went from the middle-upper class to the poverty line.” </p>
<p>She went to see a Lyme-literate doctor in Milwaukee in August, when she was also suspected to have Bartonella. Pauley was charged $525 per hour for the initial consultation fee, not counting testing fees and supplements. She was irritated to hear the doctor refer to it as “a rich person’s disease.”</p>
<p>“It’s hard to understand any doctors that charge like Beverly Hills lifestyle out in the Midwest,” she said. “We’re not celebrities, and I don’t get paid 30 million per film.” </p>
<p>Stevens said her average costs out of pocket range from $25,000 to $50,000 a year. “It was a huge strain on us,” she said. “This is why a lot of people can’t get better, because they can’t afford it.” </p>
<p>Cashman knows the financial burdens chronic Lyme patients bear, too.</p>
<p>She estimates she has spent $150,000 out of pocket for treatments that she and her husband — who also is a chronic Lyme patient — have taken over the years. Cashman has found ways to reduce the costs by, for example, buying pounds of ground herbs and making her own capsules at home.</p>
<p>Although all five women interviewed by Wisconsin Watch have tried unconventional treatments, they say they are skeptical about anyone who claims their chronic illness can be cured quickly. </p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image aligncenter size-large”><img src=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Cashman_support_group-771×514.jpg” alt=”” class=”wp-image-1269548″ /><figcaption>Alicia Cashman leads a meeting of the Madison Area Lyme Support Group at the East Madison Police Station in Madison, Wis., on Feb. 8, 2020. About 13 other people were in attendance, some of whom had driven from more than an hour away. The group shared personal experiences with chronic Lyme disease. Also pictured is Olivia Parry of Madison, Wis. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch)</figcaption></figure>
<p>“(If it) is just a quick fix to make money, and I’m just very leery of it,” Bertolasi said. </p>
<p>And they are using their experiences to help others. Pauley has become an advocate for lower health care costs. Bertolasi is writing a Lyme-friendly cookbook to chronicle recipes that have worked for her. </p>
<p>Although Stevens said being a chronic Lyme patient is “like a full-time job,” she wants people to know there is hope. </p>
<p>“You can be in terrible shape, but you can get better,” Stevens said. “It’s really easy to go down the road of ‘poor me,’ but it is possible to get better. There is hope. You can reach remission.”</p>
<p><em>The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (</em><a href=”http://www.wisconsinwatch.org”><em>www.WisconsinWatch.org</em></a><em>) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.</em></p>
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/2022/06/wisconsins-chronic-lyme-patients-embrace-alternative-treatments-rack-up-big-bills/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://wisconsinwatch.org”>WisconsinWatch.org</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-WCIJ_IconOnly_FullColor_RGB-1.png?fit=150{fe463f59fb70c5c01486843be1d66c13e664ed3ae921464fa884afebcc0ffe6c}2C150&quality=100&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=1269502&ga=UA-17896820-1″ style=”width:1px;height:1px;”>
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