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No Warranties or Representations
Lyme Disease symptoms vary from person to person. (lymes disease lyme's disease lime disease limes disease)
The data and information presented in this web site are presented in good faith and believed to be accurate regarding Lyme disease (commonly misspelled lymes disease lyme's disease lime disease limes disease) and other related diseases. Any and all liability for the content or any omissions including any inaccuracies, errors, or misstatements in such data or information is expressly disclaimed. The web site is compiled for the sole purpose of informing community members of resources and information pertaining to Lyme Borreliosis Disease and its coinfections. Lyme disease symptoms may vary from person to person.
The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation, Directors and members are not liable for any direct or indirect damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of information available from this website.
Consult a qualified Lyme ( Borreliosis ) Disease literate doctor for medical advice if Lyme Disease is suspect to discuss your Lyme Disease Symptoms.
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This page outlines the struggle in Great Britain between victim and the medical system. They too are fighting the global stranglehold corporations have over our respective health care systems.
Our once venerable institutions such as the Centers for Disease Control and similar institutions have been hijacked by the global medical "industry".
Health care is secondary to profit. These institutions can no longer be trusted and this must change.
The influence of the big three is rampant in government, universities and research centers. (big 3 = pharmaceuticals, vaccine manufacturers, and the global medical insurance industry)
The global medical insurance industry has been very active in downplaying the pandemic of lyme disease. Why?...they underwrite the prescription and disability coverages for employees world-wide and have an enormous need to not have this disease recognized as a treatable illness pandemic.
From The Hinckley Times
HUNGER STRIKE
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BY SHIRLEY ELSBY
10:52 - 17 February 2005 see also 2006 Update
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A woman has gone on hunger strike in protest over the lack of medical treatment for a disease which has made her blind and crippled.
Christine Jennings, 43, started refusing food on Monday and for three days has been on fluids only.
The mother-of-four, of Strathmore Road, Hinckley, says she has taken the desperate step to highlight her 10-year battle for treatment.
Christine believes she contracted the rare condition Lyme disease when she was bitten by a tick on a day out in Bradgate Park 10 years ago.
She says the doctors and hospitals which have treated her have been unwilling to acknowledge she has the disease.
Now, after years of deterioration and with excruciating pain in her eyes, she has mounted the hunger strike to draw attention to her case.
Miss Jennings, a former interior designer, is on a regime of medication which includes steroids and strong painkillers, but says she needs different treatment.
"This has taken me 10 years," she said.
"I have had to go blind. I have had to fight every step of the way."
"I am still fighting to be acknowledged and to get the right treatment."
She said she had been told by American specialists that she had the disease and should be treated with long-term intravenous antibiotics.
Yesterday, on day three of her hunger strike, she received a visit from her GP with a letter of referral to her hospital of choice, University Hospital Middlesbrough, which specialises in diagnosing diseases which are difficult to detect. She said she would stop the hunger strike when she was sure she had an appointment.
Her daughter, Rebecca Sabin, (22) said: "There is no cure now but it could suppress this disease and prolong what she has got left.
"To help the pain is the biggest thing."
Miss Jennings has already won support from her ward borough councillor, David Thorpe.
He said: "First of all, I want to make sure Christine gets the treatment she needs, then I want the PCT to recognise that it is an issue and there are people out there who are suffering, who are losing their mobility, going blind, and even dying, because they are not being diagnosed and treated for this condition."
He said he wanted the medical profession to become widely aware of Lyme disease and to put diagnostic testing for it in place if there was the least chance that it was what a patient had.
Hinckley and Bosworth Primary Care Trust said it could not discuss individual patients because of confidentiality practice, although it is understood it held an emergency meeting about Miss Jennings' case yesterday.
Heather Norgrove, director of strategy and commission, said: "The PCT has a duty to ensure each patient has access to a high standard of health care. The PCT aims to support any clinically appropriate NHS treatment recommended by referral from a GP or hospital consultant."...see follow-up below !!
....Follow-Up...She Stops Hunger Strike !!
MUM ENDS HUNGER STRIKE AFTER TREATMENT PLEDGE
BY DAVID OWEN 10:30 - 26 February 2005
A mother who was 12 days into a hunger strike over a row with
health bosses has ended her protest.
Christine Jennings, 43, who took the action after she claimed
doctors refused to recognise that she has Lyme disease has now been given an
appointment with a specialist.
The news brings to an end a dramatic protest by the mother of
four whose health was worsening by the day because her protest meant she
could no longer take the medication.
She began the hunger strike because she claims doctors would not
recognise her illness, which she says was caused by a tick bite in Bradgate
park 10 years ago.
The problem has left her blind, needing a wheelchair and reliant
on daily steroids and strong painkillers.
Supported by her eldest daughter Rebecca, Miss Jennings refused
to give up her hunger strike until she had proof of an appointment with an
eye-specialist at the James Cooke University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.
Her battle was won yesterday morning when a letter arrived at
her home in Strathmore Road, Hinckley, telling her she will see the
consultant on Thursday.
Since her story was publicised by the Leicester Mercury last
week, she has been inundated with messages of support from around the world.
An American doctor specialising in Lyme disease has now
volunteered to liaise with the James Cooke Hospital over her diagnosis and
treatment. A European specialist has also offered to give her a second
opinion.
Rebecca, who will drive her mother to Cleveland for the
appointment, said: "My mum had some soup and a custard slice at lunchtime
which she said has never tasted better."
Recovering at home, an emotional Christine said: "After 12 days
without food it did taste quite good.
"I am happy but worried at the same time.
"I don't want it to be just another referral. I just hope I have
the right tests so they can finally treat my condition.
"With the response we have received, more people are now aware
of the disease. I just hope its not another dead-end.
"I wouldn't recommend the action I've taken to anybody, but I
want people to know it is how desperate I felt. I am blind and immobile and
it was the only thing I could do to get people to listen. I've just been
messed around so much.
She said: "I would like to thank everybody who helped and
supported me, especially all those people who share my condition."
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Thank you for saving my life
27 July 2005 From Sunderland Today
A BLIND and disabled mum today said an emotional thank-you to a Sunderland doctor for saving her life after an 11-year fight for treatment.
Christine Jennings, 43, went on a two-week hunger strike after claiming she could not get proper medical care for life-threatening Lyme Disease, which she caught after being bitten by a tick during a country walk.
The mum-of-four, from Hinckley, Leicestershire, was moved to tears when Professor Terry Daymond, of Sunderland Royal Hospital, stepped in to end her long battle for her treatment by offering his help.
The mum-of-four, who is wheelchair bound, had an operation yesterday after travelling up to Sunderland with her daughter, Rebecca Sabin.
Mrs Jennings said:"If it wasn't for Sunderland Royal Hospital and Professor Daymond, I would have no future.
"I've been fighting for 11-and-a-half years for somebody to help me and had virtually given up, but he has given me hope.
"I'm overwhelmed. I'm so relieved to have started my treatment. I feel like it is the first day of the rest of my life."
She added: "Professor Daymond has been amazing. He's done everything he can. I can't talk to him without crying. I know he's had to fight my corner to get me here.
"The staff have been wonderful. Everybody is so friendly. I've never been in a hospital like it, with the care and time they've got for everybody. I've been really touched by it."
Consultant rheumatologist Professor Daymond is believed to be one of the few doctors in the country who treats Lyme Disease, which is thought to affect about 300 people a year in this country.
Mrs Jennings has been blinded by rare eye diseases caused by her condition and it has left her wheelchair-bound, affecting her joints, organs and central nervous system.
Today, Mrs Jennings is having a tube, known as a Hickman line, put in her chest through which antibiotics and other treatments will be fed.
Daughter Rebecca, 22, has been her mum's full-time carer for the past 11 years and has travelled up to Sunderland with her.
She said: "I'm so grateful they've saved my mum. We want to say thank-you from the bottom of our hearts. Without treatment she would be dead.
"If it wasn't for Professor Daymond and the people at the hospital she wouldn't have any hope at all
"I'm so amazed by how nice everybody is. I can't thank the nurses, doctors and Professor Daymond enough.
"We've been in tears, not because we're upset but because of how good they are. I want the chief executive to know how much it means to us being in Sunderland."
Former interior designer and artist Mrs Jennings, who is also mum to Sebastian, 20, Jemma, 18, and 13-year-old Kelsey, will make regular visits to Sunderland over several years for treatment.
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A 2006 update on Christine Jennings as written by her 15 year old daughter Kelsey
Following my mums hunger strike in February last year, through the efforts
of other Lymes sufferers and not our NHS my mum was put in contact with
professor Daymond of the Sunderland royal hospital, he is known to be one of
only few doctors who treat Lymes in this country. He got mum into his
hospital in July last year and she started I.V treatment through a Hickman
line and remains to be treated with this twice a day to the present date.
She has suffered a few set backs with problems with the Hickman line and her
H.B. professor Daymond care and understanding of my mothers suffering
leaves her deeply indebted to him.
However she has made very little progress
in getting the same understanding for her accumulated eye problems from any
one in the field of eyes. The main problem with my mothers eyes is the
severity of the eye pain and total intolerance to light. Although the
A.M.P.P.E and uveitis and choroiretinitis are at present stable she has also
very matured sub capsular cataracts.
Following writing a letter to a Dr
Sxxxx in America who we heard of and sent photos of mums eyes to for
advice he suggested mum have an M.R.I and could see from the scans pressure
in the brain was involved.
Clearly this is something our English doctors could have seen, but with their
willingness to dismiss my mum it was more a case they didn't want to see it!
On
march the 3rd this year professor Daymond did an M.R.I scan as still no one
in the eye field would. Mum had had an M.R.I in January 2001 witch showed
slight changes but mum was told it was normal, this brain scan in march this
year showed she had inflammation of the white matter, 6 lesions, (4 on the
right and 2 on the left of the brain), pressure on the brain, inflammation
of the blood vessels and part of the lining of the brain has disintegrated;
all of this professor Daymond has no doubt it is a result of the Lyme.
My mum
has been registered blind and we are waiting for professor Daymond to find a
lyme literate neurologist here in the U.K.. Until my mum sees the neurologist
she worries what this now means, it all came as quite a shock. Even more
worry because professor Daymond is retiring in February 2007 and we need
to get some one to take over her care. We have no doubt professor Daymond
will not just leave my mum, he is a really good doctor who cares.
My mum is to take the NHS to court to make some one responsible for the
years of intolerance and attitudes she has had to fight. It is very much a
test case in this country and we hope it will help to raise awareness of
what Lymes sufferers are subject to. My mum is dedicated to then take the
issue of Lymes and the lack of duty of care by the health protection and
public health in this country, to acknowledge Lymes' existence when they are
aware of the problem it is, to the court of human rights.
In the U.K the
health protection says it would cause panic for people to be aware of the
real facts of the extent of the problem of ticks carrying the Lyme bacteria.
My mother strongly believes awareness and more knowledge known publicly
about Lyme will help people protect themselves and educate them about
all of the problems we are up against. My mums suffering is only made more
bearable by a long list of pain killers including morphine. My mums and my
greatest respects go out to the doctors in America who communicate with my
mum and keep her strong and have shown so much compassion. One doctor in
South Carolina, a Dr William Mxxxx who isn't even a Lyme doctor is most
definitely one of earth's angels.
When I tell my mum of some of the stories I
find on the internet about the problems people face and suffer not just in
the U.K but every where including Canada she said she knows she cant change
the world but every voice will help add to other voices and hopefully one
day things will get a bit better in the medical world for people with Lyme
and those fighting this for the same reason. Only then will she feel her
suffering will have not been in vein and our hearts go out as a family who
whiteness this ordeal to all those in this situation.
I know my mum is
strong but I also know she cries alot too because she worries about what is
in the future and she worries about us (her children). We are waiting for a
time when hopefuly through this court case we can raise more awareness here
and help raise some funds.
It is very nice to be able to update you and to
help keep my mum strong.
I am doing this and promise to read any messages I
receive. It makes me angry and sad but also very glad that there are people
like you (at Canlyme) helping others in this same way. My greatest respect to you. I will
happily keep in touch with you and keep you updated. We have just been
taking part in a documentary that will be on TV early next year about many
people in the U.K with Lymes so I will let you know about that when we have
more details and an update on this will be in our local Leicester Mercury
some time this week.
I will leave it there for now. Sending you my best
wishes and thanks for responding to my email.
Yours sincerely Kelsey
Jennings.
Anyone wanting to email Kelsey and her family can do so through us here at Canlyme We will forward all replies...jimwilson@telus.net
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