Eileen's letter to NY magazine being printed!!!!

[Guest guest]

Eileen sent this as an attachment, and I want to make sure all our digest and archive readers can read this....this is a great letter, and I am so excited that they are printing it. Eileen, thanks so much for telling them about G-burg, I hope they cover it. I feel really guilty now for wishing more doctors would get this disease, I am so sorry you got this dread disease and passed it on to your daughter, seems only the nicest people get this disease, and so unfair that you can not practice anymore, I do hope and pray we will find a cure for this especially for people like you and the kids,

Hugs,

Marta

NYLetters@...

could you forward your phone number and the town you're writing from? we'd liketo use your letter_______________________________________________________________________________Subject: Germ WarfareFrom: Eileen Glaessgen <emcinerney@...> at InternetDate: 2/23/00 10:10 PMDear Editor: Thank you so much for printing the great article written by Rusty Unger. I,too, amone of those sick, angry people who has been diagnosed with Lyme disease,treated for 3months, and then told I have " Post-Lyme Syndrome " because the headaches,fatigue, jointpains, hoarseness, sore throats, and neuralgias didn't go away. I ran from thatdoctorbecause I had read Dr. Burrascanos' Guidelines on Lyme Disease. I ended upfinding thatthere was decreased blood flow to parts of my brain (after 5 months of oralantibiotics)that resolved (normal blood flow to all parts of brain) after 6 months ofintravenousantibiotics. Placebo effect? I don't think so! I also found out that this easyto treat,easy to cure disease had taken a toll on my short-term memory--I, at 45 years ofage,had pre-senile dementia! Of course, my health insurance carrier does not believethat Ihave Lyme disease because their 2nd 2nd opinion said that I don't have it. (Howconvenient!) By the way, the 1st 2nd opinion they sent me to said I did havechronicLyme disease with encephalopathy so they paid for 30 days of IV antibiotics. The2nd 2ndopinion even mentioned that my daughter has a diagnosis of congenital Lymedisease (butI can't have it!) He also said that I couldn't have Babesiosis (I had a testthatdemonstrated positive RNA specific to Babesia microti in my blood) because Ilive in NewJersey and not Nantucket! Is this physician being paid by the insurer to saythesethings? I'd put money on it! By the way, I am a Board-certified Anesthesiologist who is now disabled,probablypermanently, from chronic Lyme disease and Babesiosis. I'm on Social SecurityDisability(as is my daughter) and I'm fortunate to have other disability policies. I amnot lazy,I am not pretending nor happy to be sick; I used to be a very active person. Ido notget my jollies by sticking a needle in my chest implanted port every week so Ican runin intravenous antibiotics. I am a patient of Dr. Burrascano's and am proud ofit. I ambetter than I was before I got to him, and I'm hoping that my next treatmentphase ofHBO will help, too. Yes, we're angry. We have a disease that takes on average 7 years and evenmorephysicians to get diagnosed. (It took me 6 years and ~ 10 physicians and I'm adoctor! Ididn't count myself). Thanks to Dr. Burrascanos' Guidelines I was able todiagnosis mydaughter and my husband and get them appropriate care. Now, the biased OPMC istakingaway our doctors! We're having a rally in Gettysburg on April 8th, 2000 and Mr.Ungerand anyone else from New York Magazine is certainly invited.Sincerely,Eileen McInerney Glaessgen, MD