Lyme disease: It's the Great Imitator

Bennington Banner
By PATRICK G. RHEAUME
Staff Writer

MANCHESTER -- If you feel tired or irritable or if you have a headache this morning, it may be just another Monday. But if it persists, or if you've felt this way for a long time, you could be experiencing the symptoms of Lyme disease.

The disease, which even doctors often have difficulty identifying, will be the subject of a public meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 5 in the Smith Center at Burr and Burton Academy. Dr. Brian Fallon, a professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, and Pat Smith, president of the Lyme Disease Association, will speak at the event. A question and answer period will follow their speeches.

Many doctors and nurses call Lyme disease "the Great Imitator." In some cases, Fallon said during an interview on Saturday, the symptoms of Lyme disease are mistaken for something else, such as chronic fatigue syndrome.

He plans to talk about "what people look like and feel like when they have the disease."

A variety of symptoms makes the disease difficult to diagnose.

Lyme disease, he said, is more than just a rash or arthritis pain. Symptoms often include headaches, light and sound sensitivity, severe fatigue, irritability, manic episodes, cognitive problems and memory loss.

Fallon recently completed a four-year study of the disease, funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Prior to the study, Fallon said, doctors were confused about how to treat patients with the disease.

"Some recommended several treatments with antibiotics, others said that after one round of treatment the Lyme disease was gone," he said. "But this was all conjecture."

He will discuss some of the results in his speech, which are available online at www.columbia-lyme.org .

Dr. Stephanie Woolwich-Holzman, a veterinarian and an organizer of the event, hopes audience members will use the information provided by Fallon and Smith.

"We will also present a few facts about the growing incidence of Lyme disease in Vermont and the incidence of the presence of the causative agent, the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, in ticks that have been tested in various areas throughout the state," said Woolwich-Holzman.

"Right now, there's legislation before Congress that would increase funding for Lyme disease research," she said. "We want people to ask their senators or congressmen to support the bill."

Woolwich-Holzman thinks event will be beneficial for doctors and nurses.

"Dr. Fallon had offered last year to give a presentation [in Bennington] as a form of continuing education for local health care providers," said Woolwich-Holzman. "Given that he is an expert from a prestigious institution - Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital in N.Y.C. - I had thought that this would have been a marvelous opportunity for the health care providers in our area to hear cutting edge information from a cutting edge researcher about Lyme disease, a growing threat in Vermont. To my great disappointment, Dr. Fallon's offer was flatly declined."

About 70 people came last year to a similar event in the Northshire, she said, but organizers hope to see more medical professionals in attendance. "We've asked people to talk to their physicians about coming," she said.

Although the event deals with a serious subject, planning has not been entirely humorless. Woolwich-Holzman has distributed lime green flyers to publicize the speeches.

On Aug. 6, the second annual Gear Up for Lyme bike climb will take place on Mount Equinox.