Confronting Lyme Disease: What Patient Stories Teach Us (IPPY Award Winner - Health/Medicine/Nutrition) [Paperback]

Karen P. Yerges (Author), Rita L. Stanley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 2006

Lyme disease is among the most rapidly growing epidemics in the nation with as many as a quarter million new cases each year. Delayed and inadequate treatment can lead to chronic suffering and disability. In this book, fourteen patients reveal how their lives were changed by the debilitating effects of Lyme disease and its co-infections, and by unanticipated medical obstacles. 'This book represents the patients who are seen on a daily basis by physicians, like myself, who treat Lyme disease.' Lesley Ann Fein, M.D., MPH, Medical Director of the Lyme Disease Society, West Caldwell, NJ. 'Confronting Lyme Disease intimately portrays the effects of the spread of Lyme disease in North America. American and Canadian lives are ruined while the medical authorities exercise health cost management and control.' Jim Wilson, President of the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Karen “Trish” Yerges is a prolific author with over 150 published articles on the topics of medicine, history, and art. She has extensive interviewing skills and specializes in writing narratives and biographies. Her work has appeared in newspapers and books. She has advised student writers and has received awards and recognition for her writing accomplishments. Lyme disease personally touched her life when her daughter became ill in 1999. She currently lives in northeastern Oregon with her husband and two children. Rita Stanley, Ph.D., has done original research in the areas of physiology and biochemistry and has published in leading scientific journals such as The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Journal of Neurochemistry, and Biology of Reproduction. She was a Lyme disease support group leader for a decade at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon, and served on the advisory and directors' boards at the Lyme Alliance, Inc. A former Lyme patient, she lives with her husband in Portland, Oregon.

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: BookSurge Publishing (February 9, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419621653
• ISBN-13: 978-1419621659
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #454,631 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Confronting Lyme Disease, former nurse, now patient, May 22, 2006

By 

ice skater "ice skater" (East Coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Confronting Lyme Disease: What Patient Stories Teach Us (IPPY Award Winner - Health/Medicine/Nutrition) (Paperback)

This is an excellent book which details the lives of various lyme disease patients. It dispels the myths of lyme disease that it is easily curable, and readily addressed by the medical community. Often, patients such as myself, suffer severe disability , financial losses, and difficulty in obtaining treatment. A divided medical community, who do not know the full extend and effects of tick borne diseases, unable to reach consensuses what the diseases are , what the full effects are and the pressure from outdated studies and insurance payemnts contribute to the nightmare. Tick borne diseases have systemic effects beyond what can be described by other illnessses and chronic conditions that are already known. It defies being compared to any other disease process that is currently known to mankind. This is a must read. It is an excellent resource. The only perceived flaw that I could indicate as a lyme patient is emphasis on coinfections. The general public is unaware of the dozens or hundreds of other virsuses, pathogens and bacteria the tick carries to cause addtional harm to the victim. Sadly, the medications that treat lyme do not always control or cure the other diseases that the tick transmitts. This is a book that every family should own. One must not have a false sense of security as now most tick bites occur within several yards of the home. Any one, any where is at risk: the risk will continue to propogate. For myself? I was bitten by a tick that got into my apartment ina major East Coast metropolitan area. No camping, no hiking, no major risk factors. Please read this book - it may save your life or someone that you know.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Doctor recommends this book, March 11, 2006

By 

Dr. J. Doe (West Coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Confronting Lyme Disease: What Patient Stories Teach Us (IPPY Award Winner - Health/Medicine/Nutrition) (Paperback)

I am a physician who also suffered from long-standing Lyme disease. I only learned what patients really go through once I became so sick, and my colleagues didn't have a clue what to do with me. This book tells it like it is. This book should be read by physicians, nurses and others in the medical profession who need to see what it really is like from the patient's perspective.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Touching!, February 26, 2006

By 

Gerald Jones - See all my reviews

This review is from: Confronting Lyme Disease: What Patient Stories Teach Us (IPPY Award Winner - Health/Medicine/Nutrition) (Paperback)

I had no idea that Lyme Disease was as much of a problem-- nor was it such a great controversy and cause of human heartbreak-- until I read this book. The stories of patients from every walk of life and their struggles for treatment broke my heart. I would urge anyone who does not know about the Lyme Disease issue, or perhaps even those who are involved in it and seeking some hope, to read this powerful story.