Opionion of the Dr. Phil Show

[Guest guest]

Hi Everyone,

I was really curious as to what others thought about the Dr. Phil show about

Lyme disease that aired on Friday. Please post your thoughts.

My Opinion:

Although I am happy that the show brought some limited awareness to Lyme disease

in general, I was very disappointed in the overall content and the honesty of

the show.

Please hear me out...

My biggest complaint is that they did not give full disclosure about who Dr.

Auwaerter actually is. They identified him on the show as being from

" 's Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore " , when in fact he is much more than that.

Dr. Auwaerter is also a member of the IDSA and was actually one of the

editors of the often hotly debated IDSA's Lyme Disease Guidelines! He is also,

from what I can gather in a quick online search, a voting member (His term runs

from 12/16/10 through 11/30/14) for the FDA's, CDER (Center for Drug Evaluation

and Research and it's Anti-Infective Drugs Advisory Committee).

These missing facts about his credentials should have been stated at the outset

due to possible conflicts of interest and it might explain why a real

conversation about the controversy surrounding the IDSA's Guidelines were not

discussed. It appears that Dr. Auwaerter was only in attendance to keep Dr. Phil

and his guests in check and to keep it all on the down low... as usual. I say

this because this doctor did nothing to assist or educate the public in avoiding

or effectively treating Lyme disease. He was simply there in a defensive

modality.

I also feel that Dr. Phil gave Dr. Auwaerter much more outright respect than he

did his other guests. You can tell if you watch and listen carefully that

Dr.Phil was extremely careful and overly polite when it came to addressing Dr.

Auwaerter.

On top of that Dr. Phil didn't ask one intelligent question! Dr. Phil should

have read the book " Cure Unknown " before doing this show, so he could have asked

intelligent and thought provoking questions.

I am further disappointed because if a national show of this magnitude is going

to be done, about an important topic, of epidemic proportions, such as Lyme

Disease and it's co-infections, it should be done in an honest and fair manner

and this definitely was not.

Dr. Phil basically portrayed the young model, as a faker and a drug

addict. He made her look like a neurotic mess. I felt terrible for her. He

never once mentioned that late stage Lyme can and does cause neurologic

problems; he just lead the audience to believe that she was a drugged out nut

case (which I don't think that she is).

On several occasions Dr. Phil made it very clear that he didn't know, nor could

he vouch for the credibility of Dr. B, Landau and the model, ,

but he never said that to or about Dr. Auwaerter (giving him more credibility).

I feel that this show should not have focused so much time on if this " model "

was faking or how she chose to personally medicate herself for unbearable pain

and seizures. They reduced this poor girl's credibility to zero. They had a

much better and more credible Lyme disease patient/victim sitting in their

audience ( Landau).

If Dr. Phil was TRULY trying to bring awareness to the public and to provide an

actual service for the Dr. Phil viewers, then the show should have been about

Lyme Disease and the huge epidemic it has become, which by the way is not

debated by anyone, including the IDSA or the CDC.

And they kept referring to all these people as having " Chronic Lyme Disease "

which as far as I know is the term for people who have been infected with Lyme

and treated with antibiotics and the treatment does not cure them. Well, what

about " Late Stage Lyme Disease " ? Which from what I know, is totally different

in that this is when people, like myself, go mis-diagnosed and untreated for

many years and the Lyme disease goes unchecked. These are two very different

things. What does Dr. Auwaerter have to say about " Late Stage Lyme Disease " ?

Does he deny that this exists as well? That is a question that I would have

asked him if I was Dr. Phil.

This show should have given real facts and taught people how someone is supposed

to go about being " properly " tested, how to educate their own doctors, if need

be, and how to find already competent doctors to help treat this devastating

illness.

I find it even more upsetting that this show, that had so much potential, did

NOTHING to either slow the spread of this terrible disease or to help those

already infected and it did nothing to tell people how to avoid tick bites, that

you can be infected with Lyme in almost every state in the US, or how to get

properly tested (and if that isn't possible) then they should have at least

instructed people about how to send the tick that actually bit them off to a

credible lab for PCR, DNA testing to definitively prove if the tick had Lyme, or

one of its many co-infections . This is crucial! So that you can start treatment

right away without having to wait until you get a " possible " bulls eye rash or

until you experience medical symptoms of Lyme, in which case it may be too late.

To me, some of the biggest hurdles right now with this disease are to get the

facts into the mainstream media, so that people can avoid this disease in the

first place and that people can be properly medically treated, with the correct

combinations of antibiotics, in the first crucial hours and weeks after a tick

bite.

If our mainstream medical doctors were properly educated (by the IDSA and the

CDC) and people were diagnosed and treated correctly at the outset of a tick

bite, which they are not, then the debate over Chronic Lyme or Late Stage Lyme

would but mute. Why isn't there more attention spent on this topic?

I was hoping that those that watched, that are currently suffering, with or

without a proper diagnoses, could have found through this media attention,

resources for real medical help and testing.

In addition, I had hoped that Dr.Phil would give society a better understanding

of the devastating effects of this terrible disease and that this is a REAL

medical bacterial infection and illness and not a hypochondriacs made up

illness. It saddens me that knowingly or unknowingly, he just further

perpetuated the idea that many of us are malingerers.

This Dr. Phil show was a frigging joke and a disgrace to all those that are

suffering. It makes my blood boil that the producers of the show were not honest

and forth coming about who Dr. Auwaerter actually is and that tells me an

incredible amount about the true intention of the Dr. Phil show overall.

I urge you all to comment on Dr. Phil's Comment page and tell him how you feel

about his recent show on Lyme disease.

http://community.drphil.com/

I am sorry that this was so long but I am so disappointed,

Lizz