Is Obama backing Sexual Promiscuity as a Woman's Wellness Issue?

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Obama backs federal regulation to pay for sexual promiscuity

In another bizarre deviation from the norm when it comes to an over-reaching federal government President Obama, and today the Democrat controlled Senate on a narrow 51-48 vote, have extended federal health care jurisdiction to guarantee protection for sexual promiscuity.

Under ObamaCare the federal government has now determined that sexual promiscuity must be covered by health insurance companies by ordering them to pay for multiple kinds of birth control in addition to abortions.

Where in the US Constitution does it guarantee the government will pay for freedom of sexual promiscuity?

Is this what a Harvard trained lawyer like Obama learns about our Constitution in law school?  He is the one claiming to be a Constitutional lawyer.

In the first place birth control was available and paid for through private sources for anyone in America for the last few decades.  Was it even necessary?  Or was it another ruse to expand the social engineering to further undermine morality and religion in our country?

Leading liberals, particularly feminist spokespeople, have made a passionate case that birth control is just another woman's health issue as if sexual promiscuity has no relationship to the matter and a woman is not normal unless they have a healthy sexual appetite.

They deny morality is involved and that religion has any role in working to stop the sexual epidemic currently facing our nation.

The Henry J. Kaiser family foundation says:

Every year there are more than 15 million new cases of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) in the United States, including approximately 10 million new cases among people aged 15-24. Put another way: By age 24, at least one in three sexually active people will have contracted an STD.

Americans are getting hit at three times the rate of other wealthy nations by bad health consequences of sexual activity, a report says.

Based on an analysis of national health data, researchers said 20 million adverse health events occur each year as a result of sexual behavior.

An additional 30,000 deaths each year are attributable to sexual behavior translating to 2 million years of lost life, according to the study.

You may think it can’t happen to you, but every year there are almost 3 million unintended pregnancies in this country. Among young people the problem is especially serious. Each year nearly 1 million young women aged 15 to 19 get pregnant; that’s a little more than one in every nine teenagers. Eighty percent of these pregnancies are unplanned.

These unplanned pregnancies result in about 1.2 million abortions every year in America.

The Centers for Disease Control says `these are numbers that have been reported; actual cases may be much higher. But it remains a hidden epidemic, not just because many STDs have no symptoms, but because of the stigma and politics that complicate efforts to fight them.

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz

DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz told Megyn Kelly of Fox News that all women deserve free contraceptives.  Here is what else Obama spokesperson and Democrat National Chairwoman Wasserman Schultz has said on this issue.

"Contraception in which 99 percent of women in America have used at some point in their life. And the Republicans want to debate not just religious liberty. They want to debate allowing all employers who might have an objection to deny that coverage that President Obama has said should be available under the Affordable Care Act, without a copay, and without a deductible."

"There is a new poll that shows the American people trust the president to make the right decision about this."

"that's a huge extreme divide between President Obama and his excellent accomplishment in passing the affordable care act and then giving access to health care, free preventive wellness like contraception"

"Contraception is an important part of women's preventive health care. It not only prevents unwanted pregnancies, but also allows couples to limit family size, increase the interval between pregnancies, and reduces infant, child and maternal deaths in women whom, either because of age or health, should not become pregnant. Oral contraceptives can also be crucial for women who suffer from painful maladies like endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, or debilitating menstrual cramps or irregular periods."

Just a couple of notes about the facts and omissions from Chairwoman Wasserman.  She has said repeatedly that 99% of all women in America have used contraception.

Facts and Omissions

According to the US Census Bureau there were 127,026,000 women in America 15 years and older in 2010.  That means Wasserman says over 125 million women use contraceptives.

According to The Alan Guttmacher Institute:

• There are 62 million U.S. women in their childbearing years (15–44).

• Seven in 10 women of reproductive age (43 million women) are sexually active and do not want to become pregnant, but could become pregnant if they and their partners fail to use a contraceptive method.

• The proportion of women aged 15–44 currently using a contraceptive method increased from 56% in 1982 to 64% in 1995, and then declined slightly to 62% in 2002 and 2006–2008.

In other words, 38 million women use contraception in America of the 43 million who could use it.  Wasserman's facts are off by over 84 million.  Even if we assumed she misspoke and meant 99% of the "childbearing age " women use contraceptives she is still dead wrong, just 61% of that group use contraceptives.

She also goes into great detail about how couples and families have a right to a government mandate to provide contraceptives for child planning purposes but fails to mention teens who are responsible for one third of all unwanted pregnancies, are far more sexually active than adults, and suffer far more from an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases.

Family Planning Centers and many schools have free contraceptives available for teens yet the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases continues to spiral upward.  Her ideas will do nothing to help this demographic, the sufferers of the worst consequences of rampant sex.

What are STDs?

These are some of the diseases transmitted sexually.

• Bacterial Vaginosis (BV)
• Chlamydia
• Gonorrhea
• Hepatitis, Viral
• Herpes, Genital
• HIV/AIDS & STDs
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV)
• Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID)
• Syphilis
• Trichomoniasis
• Lymphogranuloma Venereum (LGV)
• Pubic Lice Infestation
• Scabies

In 2010, a total of 1,307,893 cases of sexually transmitted Chlamydia trachomatis infection were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is the largest number of cases ever reported to CDC for any condition. This case count corresponds to a rate of 426.0 cases per 100,000 population, an increase of 5.1% compared with the rate in 2009.

Rates of reported chlamydial infections among women have been increasing annually since the late 1980s, when public programs for screening and treatment of women were first established to avert pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and related complications.

Following a 74% decline in the rate of reported gonorrhea during 1975–1996, overall gonorrhea rates plateaued for 10 years; it decreased during 2006–2009 to the lowest rate since national reporting began and then increased 2.8% between 2009 and 2010. In 2010, a total of 309,341 cases of gonorrhea were reported in the United States, which corresponds to a rate of 100.8 cases per 100,000 population.

The rate of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis reported in the United States decreased during the 1990s, and in 2000, it was the lowest since reporting began in 1941. The low rate of syphilis and the concentration of most syphilis cases in a small number of geographic areas led to the development of the National Plan to Eliminate Syphilis from the United States, which was announced by the Surgeon General in 1999 and updated in 2006.

The overall rate of P&S syphilis in the United States declined 89.7% during 1990–2000, then increased each year from 2001 through 2009. In 2010, the overall rate decreased for the first time in 10 years. The rate decreased 21% in women but increased slightly, 1.3%, in men. In 2010, a total of 13,774 cases of P&S syphilis were reported to CDC. After 14 years of decline, the number of reported cases of congenital syphilis reached an historic low of 339 cases in 2005. The number of cases increased from 2006–2008 but has since decreased with 377 cases reported in 2010, a 15% decrease since 2008.

Do we really believe this has nothing to do with sexual promiscuity or morality but is simply a matter of wellness for women according to Obama?

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Did You Hear About This in the News?

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Someone forgot to tell us the news we can use

I'm a curious sort so I try to understand the world view on America by following news sources from around the world.  It has always fascinated me how the American, and the television network and cable news stations in particular, seem to filter what we need to know.

So I check out the BBC in the UK and other sources in France, Germany, Russia, China, Japan, Mexico and South America every day.  Many international events are not even reported on American television.  In fact, a lot of American events are not reported on American television.

It makes one wonder.  Why are stories important to the world considered not important to our own television network and cable news shows?  Isn't that what they are supposed to do?

Take a look at some of the following stories that can be found around the world.  Don't you think it would be important to know about them?  Don't you think they have an impact on America?

Europe freezes: Death toll over 600; 140,000 people trapped by snow

Today Europe faces a tremendous tragedy from a brutal winter as the death toll from the European deep freeze has killed 600 people and 140,000 more are isolated from help by the record snow and cold pounding the continent.  Snow drifts reaching rooftops have trapped tens of thousands of villagers from the UK to Russia.

More than 47,000 Mexicans Killed in USA Border Drug War

Mexico has made a concerted effort to take down top leaders of criminal organizations, saying 22 of the 37 most important kingpins have been captured or killed since 2009.

American officials have said President Felipe Calderón has pressed for more high-profile captures, even as a growing body of analysts suggest that the country needs to focus more on shoring up its justice system to weaken the groups.

The public has grown increasingly wary of the drug war here, which the government said last month had led to the deaths of more than 47,000 people since 2006, when Mr. Calderón began an offensive against the gangs as violence increased.

America's Legal Drug Addiction

Prescription drug abuse has become a major problem in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 100 people die from drug overdoses everyday in the US; and nearly 3 of 4 drug overdoses are caused by prescription painkillers.

In other words, legally prescribed drug abuse results in 27,375 deaths a year, while illegal drug abuse results in just 9,125 deaths a year.  Think about it.  Three times as many people are killed by doctors as all the illegal drug dealers combined.

Deaths from Hospital Medical Errors Near 200,000 a year in USA

Preventable medical mistakes and infections are responsible for about 200,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, according to an investigation by the Hearst media corporation.

In a separate article by Dr. Gary Null, (archived at government statistics were gathered to present an overall picture of the extent of death-by-the medical-system serving the United States.

Here is a summary of the data supporting Dr. Null’s conclusion that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States resulting in at least 783,136 dead.

The medical system mortalities break down this way: adverse drug reactions: 106,000; medical error: 98,000; bedsores: 115,000; infection: 88,000; malnutrition: 108,000; outpatients: 199,000; unnecessary procedures: 37,136; and surgery-related: 32,000.

As Dr. Null explains, these are conservative estimates that do not attempt to overcome the considerable limitations of self-reporting regarding error and negligence.

Dr. Null's report is at:
http://www.mercola.com/2004/jul/7/healthcare_death.htm

Are Medical Mistakes Counted in "Leading Cause of Death Records in USA?

Leading Causes of Death

(Data are for the U.S. and are final 2009 data; For the most recent preliminary data see Deaths: Preliminary Data for 2010 [PDF - 724 KB])

Number of deaths for leading causes of death

·         Heart disease: 599,413

·         Cancer: 567,628

·         Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 137,353

·         Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 128,842

·         Accidents (unintentional injuries): 118,021

·         Alzheimer's disease: 79,003

·         Diabetes: 68,705

·         Influenza and Pneumonia: 53,692

·         Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 48,935

Posted by the US Center for Disease Control

Editors Note:

Do you see a category for any of the Medical Mistakes that cause deaths?  Neither the Hearst investigation nor the study by Dr. Gary Null which indicates there are nearly 800,000 deaths a year from Medical Mistakes are reflected in the CDC report.

Why are we not being told what is going on in America?

When considering these stories and the death totals note that the In Hospital Medical Error deaths (200,000) would rank it as the 3rd highest cause of death in America while the Medical Mistakes deaths (800,000) would make it the number one cause of death in America.

Is there a financial incentive for news media to NOT report the news?  Stay tuned for further updates.

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Lyme Disease - the Secret Pandemic Sweeping America - Part 3.

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Attacked by Lyme disease - When you become the Victim!

Before I get into the moment I knew something was terribly wrong, let me give you a brief overview of my background. From the time I was a kid growing up in Iowa I loved the outdoors, farms, ranches, camping out, hiking and playing in the woods. Being outside was the highlight of the day.

Then came Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and even camping out on family vacations. I was at peace outdoors. In high school and college I was a jock and among my passions was golf, so much so that I even worked at golf courses when I wasn't playing, yet more exposure to the outdoors.

Once I made it through early childhood I was a healthy kid suffering only injuries related to sports and being a kid. Only once in my life since I was a kid was I hospitalized, back in 1964 when I had an emergency appendectomy at the University of Arizona.

Since then I was only at an emergency room twice, for observation for exhaustion in the 1970's, and for straining my lower lumbar in the early 1980's when I landscaped my yard with 36 tons of Belgian block. For most of my life I have owned dogs, a carrier of ticks.



I continued to play golf, softball and basketball well into the 1980's and golf forever until today. Living in Iowa, Nebraska, California, Virginia, New Jersey, Kentucky and Maryland I always liked the outdoors, spent hours creating a natural landscape where ever I lived, and enjoying the sun. All of which exposed me to more and more ticks.

Medically, I started following the teaching of the traditional Hopi Indians in 1964 when I first visited their reservation in Arizona and spent much time ever since visiting and studying this unique nation of original Americans. By the 1980's I got to know an old Chinese herbalist in NYC's Chinatown and added this discipline to what I learned from the Hopi medicine people and elders.



I stopped taking vaccinations long ago, stopped taking antibiotics and pain killers, because of what I learned about how we are destroying our immune systems. Over the years my diet became rather good and my health was fine and I have not needed the service of a doctor in over 26 years. Fact is I never had a health insurance claim during that time though some jobs provided comprehensive health coverage.

I paid very close attention to my body and how it reacted to food, liquids, and life, meaning mastering stress in my life, and I had some very stressful jobs. To a nutritionist I had bad eating habits because I only ate once a day. To western medicine I had horrible sleeping habits as I never seemed to need more than about 3 hours sleep a night. Once I went to a sleep clinic but they could find no harmful effect from the lack of sleep.



This was how I functioned for 63 years until about four weeks ago.

The first signs of trouble. One morning in late April of this year I woke up and felt like I had twisted my hips during sleep and pinched a nerve. The pain was severe and I took it easy through the day. The next morning I woke up and felt the pinched nerve had caused a second pinched nerve at the base of my neck just between the shoulders. Within 48 hours I could barely move my arms, shoulders, lower back and legs from the severe pain.

In other words, there were none of the early detection signs of Lyme disease but several of the late stage or chronic stage signs of Lyme disease. This spring I had encountered ticks working on the yard and I had removed ticks from my dog almost every day. But there was no redness from any bites and they had never bothered me before.

My previous exposure to friends with Lyme disease and intense study I had made of it caused me to consider the possibility I might have it as I could barely walk within 48 hours. Then both hands went numb, as if frozen, and I lost all sense of touch from my wrists down. It felt like my hands were frozen, and I knew that feeling from winter blizzards on the Great Plains. No pain, just numbness.

By the third day I was still forcing myself, at great pain, to walk my dog for one mile early each morning but I noticed motor problems. When I first awoke I experienced extreme vertigo and when I tried to walk I felt my brain signals to my leg muscles were being interrupted and had a great deal of difficulty walking anything close to normal.



Fact was, probably because I have some background in theater and television production, I reminded myself at times of the Scarecrow character from the Wizard of Oz. My brain could not get my legs to do what I wanted. It was a disconnected feeling like when the Scarecrow tried to walk or dance. Once I started forcing myself to walk I became like the Tin Man and was very stiff and disjointed.

By the third day I felt little pain unless I moved but when I did move I became exhausted easily. The frozen feeling remained in my hands but my temperature remained normal and other people said my hands did not feel cold.

I began to think it might be Lyme disease except I had skipped all the early stage signs from the redness of a tick bite to fever, flu like symptoms, exhaustion, headaches, and other symptoms. If I had it I was exhibiting what I knew to be late stage symptoms which seemed quite strange to me.

Within a few days I was in for testing and though all my body measurements were normal, I had a serious problem because I could barely walk. Lab tests of blood and saliva indicated two markers for Lyme disease and from that moment on I focused on what to do next.



Because of the unexpected appearance of Lyme in my system I focused on the late stage symptoms and knew every thing I was experiencing fit the disease. Of course it also fit some of the many diseases I have discussed earlier as it mimics up to 300 infections. Caution about drawing a conclusion was eliminated when the testing showed the two Lyme markers.

As I said earlier, long ago I gave up antibiotics and pain killers because of the damage they do to our immune system. Other than providing short term relief from the bacteria, I had my doubts about the long term value of treatment with drugs anyway.



I was committed to finding the best treatment using natural products that built up the immune system rather than destroying it like antibodies can do. Because of the seemingly advanced stage of the disease, which I could not explain at the time, and the danger that a failure to address the problems quickly might leave me with permanent damage, I focused on two possible paths of treatment.

One was a new treatment I learned about in the past year that can be found at http://www.lymephotos.com based on the research by a Lyme disease victim who exhausted all conventional treatments over a 13 year period with no improvement in wiping out the disease. His research identified a heretofore unknown aspect to Lyme disease, that the bacteria seemed to work with a variety of parasites in your body. If both the bacteria and parasites were not treated together you might never fully recover from the disease.

After all his years of trial and error only one treatment seemed to attack both the bacteria and parasites and that was a combination of pure sea salt and Vitamin C taken in large quantities that attacked both bacteria and parasites by restoring your immune system. The instruction was to work up to 1 gram of salt and 1 gram of Vitamin C for every 10 pounds of body weight up to a maximum of 18 grams of each per day. Since I weighed slightly over 200 pounds I had to consume the 18 gram maximum at full strength.

I turned to my nutritionist and he said the best form of unprocessed salt, without any additives like aluminum, silica or iodine, was Celtic salt because it retained the most natural minerals. I was to take 18 grams per day, slightly more than three tablespoons per day.



For Vitamin C at the high levels required he recommended BIO-C which provides the Vitamin C through a proprietary blend of fruits, herbs, sprouts, and extracts whose diversity would be more amenable to the body at such high levels. I would need to take about 10 capsules a day.

However, because I was at the advanced stage I decided I also wanted to use another natural compound that also had recently achieved remarkable results in treating Lyme. Because the clinical work was done in Equator it was not recognized by the US which raises all sorts of questions about just how bad the CDC and FDA want to attack the problem.

Using Cat's Claw, a vine that grows in the Peru rainforest, there have been stunning results supplementing your damaged immune system. Cats Claw (Uncaria tomentosa) is a South American vine that works its way up the jungle canopy using sharp thorns on its stems. Many varieties of this plant are harvested by the Ashaninka people of central Peru, but there is one variety in particular called Samento that they value above all the rest.

This incredible plant, which has been used medicinally for more than 2,000 years by the indigenous people of the region, is now the subject of intensive investigation by scientists all around the world. Clinical evidence has shown that Samento is of great benefit for inflammatory and auto-immune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and asthma. The plant is also showing great promise as a breakthrough treatment for Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome and other degenerative illnesses. In addition, it is an ideal herb for strengthening the immune system.

I ordered Samento through the Internet and as soon as it arrives I will be using it along with the salt and Vitamin C treatment already underway. So there you have it, the two types of natural treatment I am using and intend to use to attack the advanced stage of the disease. The combination attacks all the flaws I found in current treatment of Lyme disease from the failure to recognize the parasites to the use of antibiotics which destroys the immune system, the very thing that could have protected us from the bacteria in the first place.

After my first week on the salt and Vitamin C the feeling has returned to two fingers on each hand though the freezing cold sensation still remains. I have noticed a slight improvement in the nerves in my lower back as walking has become somewhat easier but I expect the Samento to attack the inflamed nerves much more aggressively when I start it next week.

The nerves at the base of my neck have relaxed a bit as well and the shoulders have loosened up although it is expected there will be some problems when the parasites, which are being driven out of the body by the salt and Vitamin C, start counter-attacking before they will be forced to flee. Right now the muscles in my upper arms are sore for no reason other than a parasite attack.



Much of the feeling of vertigo has gone although when I walk the morning mile by the end my fatigue level is such that I can feel the vertigo start to return. Too much continuous walking or too much continuous sitting seems to have the same impact.

There is no problem with my diet and digestion though I am trying to eat fresh and balanced foods and to eat at least two meals a day. Sleep is normal without pain. Throughout the whole ordeal I have felt no headaches, had no problem keeping my mind functioning normally, and do not feel any fatigue as long as I do not engage in excessive physical activity.

The big problems are the pain in the arm muscles which is constant, difficulty standing initially, and the numb fingers. When I pick things up I cannot feel pressure so I drop them often. Don't use the good china. And when I type the lack of feeling results in hitting a lot of double letters which I try to catch in edits so I apologize for any mistakes in the text. Finally, the lack of feeling is so complete that you can touch hot things and not know it or have the shower way too hot for the rest of your body. You just have to be careful.

The salt saturation in my body has resulted in some interesting changes, almost as if you are spending a lot of time swimming in the salty ocean. Dead skin peels off faster, your complexion clears up, and you have the feeling of salt in your eyes as if swimming.

Copy and paste the other two parts of the series at:

Part 1. Lyme Disease - the Secret Pandemic Sweeping America

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping.html

Part 2. Lyme Disease - the Secret Pandemic Sweeping America

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping_19.html

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Lyme Disease - the Secret Pandemic Sweeping America - Part 1.

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May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month. With the focus by the Obama Administration on health care in America and my many responses that propping up the current system makes little sense if we are just making the flaws a lot bigger, I thought my current predicament might give you some first hand insight into the problems we face in health care.

Recently I was diagnosed as having the symptoms of Lyme disease. It was not unexpected as I live in Southern Maryland along the Potomac River just above the Chesapeake Bay where it is hot, humid, and ideal conditions for the disease.

Adding to the problem is the fact we have had an extremely wet past year in an area that already gets more than enough rain per year. Compound that with a short winter with record snow and cold and a very warm spring and all the animal and plant life is totally out of sync with normal patterns.

By early April the first ticks appeared and by May the poison ivy and poison sumac had become far more virulent than any year since I moved here. However, ticks have always been a huge problem and if you have dogs you will have ticks. No flea or tick treatment I found kept them off the animals the past three years.



So it was just a matter of time that the right tick would be on me, especially the tiny deer tick known to transmit the disease. However, I was not unprepared as I first encountered the disease when I lived in New Jersey and worked in New York City of all places. Lyme disease was first discovered in Lyme, Connecticut 1975, suspected of being transmitted by ticks in 1978, but remained a mystery until confirmed in 1982.

In 1992 my boss, who had a house in rural Connecticut got the disease. He underwent massive treatment with antibiotics and it was not until almost a year later that he no longer showed signs of the disease. Yet another friend in New Jersey contracted the disease while jogging through the beautiful countryside about the same year and she was nearly bedridden for a year before recovering.



That got my attention. This disease had no limits, it could strike the rich or poor, the healthy and office bound, and in most cases you could not even see the tiny ticks infecting you. It is an infectious disease and in the years since has spread like wildfire through humans. However, the medical authorities have always been way behind the times in diagnosing and treating this disease.

In addition to ticks, it has been learned that Borrelia, the bacteria in Lyme disease, may be carried and transmitted by fleas, mosquitoes and mites. Also it is not exclusively vector-borne. Humans have been known to pass the disease through breast-feeding and blood transfusions. Also the possibility exists that Lyme disease can be food infection.

With the help of two informative web sites with much more current research on the Lyme disease, healthynewage.com and lymephotos.com, I have been able to provide you with a far more accurate picture of the disease and what it means to you.

Lyme disease, or lyme borreliosis, is an emerging infectious disease caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato is the main cause of Lyme disease in the United States, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most European cases.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. Borrelia is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks belonging to a few species of the genus Ixodes ("hard ticks"). Early symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue, depression, and a characteristic circular skin rash called erythema. Left untreated, later symptoms may involve the joints, heart, and central nervous system. In most cases, it is thought the infection and its symptoms can be eliminated by antibiotics, especially if the illness is treated early.

There are over 100 strains of Borrelia burgdorferi in the United States, 300 strains worldwide and 5 subspecies of Borrelia burgdorferi. This diversity is thought to contribute to the antigenic variability of the spirochete and its ability to evade the immune system and antibiotic therapy, leading to chronic infection. Lyme disease bacteria has been reported for years in across Europe, Russia, Canada and throughout the world.



In the past late, delayed, or inadequate treatment was thought to lead to the more serious symptoms, which can be disabling and difficult to treat. Occasionally, symptoms such as arthritis persist after the infection has been eliminated by antibiotics, prompting suggestions that Borrelia causes autoimmunity.

Some groups have argued that "chronic" Lyme disease is responsible for a range of medically unexplained symptoms beyond the recognized symptoms of late Lyme disease, and that additional, long-term antibiotic treatments are needed. Other groups argue that antibiotics are the wrong form of treatment and can serve to mask the results temporarily but an even more dangerous parasite exists with the bacteria and the parasite can form a cocoon around the bacteria and preserve it through the antibiotic treatment.

As far as the antibiotic treatment, of four controlled trials of long-term ceftriaxone and doxycycline treatment in patients with ongoing symptoms, two found no benefit, and two found inconsistent benefits with significant side effects and risks from the antibiotic treatment.

Most expert groups, including the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the American Academy of Neurology, have found that existing scientific evidence does not support a role for Borrelia nor ongoing antibiotic treatment in such cases. However, the subject is controversial, with some doctors, patient advocacy groups, and politicians continuing to argue that long-term treatment is beneficial. This dispute has led to legal action over treatment guidelines, as well as harassment and death threats made against physicians who will not acknowledge "chronic" Lyme disease as a legitimate diagnosis.



Lyme Disease is far more complex than what the public has been told and the number of reported cases, though tripling every couple of years and spreading at a rate 7 times faster than that of AIDS, is officially estimated to reach 300,000 new cases this year alone. However, other evidence suggests this represents less than 10% of all cases.

What is clear is that Lyme disease is the fastest-growing epidemic in the world. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Ga., USA, affirms that "there is considerable underreporting" of Lyme disease, maintaining that the actual infection rate may be 1.8 million, 10 times higher than the 180,000 cases currently reported. Nick Harris, Ph.D., director of the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS), states "Lyme is grossly under-reported. In the U.S., we probably have about 200,000 cases per year."

Considering vector, congenital and sexual transfer, it is estimated that 15.5% of the global population, nearly 1 billion people, could now be infected with Borrelia. The Sierra Integrative Medicine Clinic in Reno, Nev. states that "Authorities estimate that up to 90 percent of the population could be carrying the Lyme spirochete and that Lyme is a factor in over 50 percent of chronic illnesses."

Katrina Tang, MD, HMD, founder and director of research at the Sierra Integrative Medicine Clinic, states that Lyme disease eludes doctors because of its ability to mimic many other diseases. For example, according to an informal study conducted by the American Lyme Disease Alliance (ALDA), most patients diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) are actually suffering from Lyme disease. In a study of 31 patients diagnosed with CFS, 28 patients, or 90.3%, were found to be ill as a result of Lyme.

Paul Fink, MD, MS, past president of the American Psychiatric Association, has acknowledged that Lyme disease can contribute to every psychiatric disorder in the Diagnostic Symptoms Manual IV (DSM-IV). This manual is used to diagnose psychiatric conditions such as attention deficit disorder (ADD), antisocial personality, Anorexia Nervosa, Autism and Aspergers syndrome (a form of autism), to name a few.



Lyme Borreliosis causes, mimics, is manifested as, is misdiagnosed as, or is a contributing factor to more than 300 conditions, such as:

Acute coronary syndrome
Acute Meningitis
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)
Alzheimer's Disease
Bell's Palsy
Bipolar Disorder
Brain Tumor
Brown recluse spider bite
Cardiac Disease
Coronary aneurysm
Depression
Epilepsy
Fetal death
Fibromyalgia
Hepatitis
Infectious Mononucleosis
Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis
Lymphoma
Multiple Sclerosis
Peripheral Facial Palsy
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sudden Infant Death (SIDS)
Tourette's Syndrome
Vertigo



As you can see, even within the western medical practice there is widely disputed and conflicting information regarding the cause, composition, status, extent and treatment for this disease. New information, especially from foreign countries where response to medical issues is often dealt with much faster than in America with our institutionalized medicine, challenges are more pronounced.

In subsequent articles I will detail the effect the symptoms of the disease have had on me, my approach to treatment, and the results of treatment as I try to overcome the various manifestations of the disease I have experienced. It is hoped this experience and reporting on the progress will give you a better idea of what your alternatives are should you share the same fate and experience the devastating impact of the disease if you get caught in the pandemic.

Copy and paste the other two parts of the series at:

Part 2 can be found at:

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping_19.html

Part 3 can be found at:

http://coltonspointtimes.blogspot.com/2010/05/lyme-disease-secret-pandemic-sweeping_20.html

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