New Documentary Discusses Lyme Disease Treatments
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Little is known about tick-borne Lyme disease, but a new documentary gives an eye-opening argument about the benefits of long-term treatment. NY1's Health reporter Kafi Drexel filed the following report. Often misunderstood and misdiagnosed, Lyme disease is brought about by a tick bite and can cause serious physical and neurological complications. The new documentary "Under Our Skin," directed by Andy Abrahams Wilson, tells the personal stories of those dealing with the serious disease after undergoing delayed or ineffective treatment.
"For me, this really is not another film I'm making. It's really a life and death issue, death and life implication, that the awareness can actually save people's lives," says Wilson.
One prominently featured patient, Mandy Hughes, nearly died before finding a doctor she says would listen and who could come up with a treatment plan that would work.
"I got to a point where I couldn't speak, I couldn't walk, I was in a wheelchair, I was bed-bound," says Hughes.
The film lays out a growing body of research showing just how widespread and serious Lyme disease can get, and takes pointed shots at the medical establishment, mainly the Infectious Disease Society of America. The society is charged with creating nationwide guidelines for doctors that say that Lyme disease is not a chronic condition and can be treated with two to four weeks of antibiotics. That in turn relieves the responsibility insurance companies might have for extended treatment.
The film features some doctors who put their licenses on the line for patients like Hughes, in order to treat patients with long term, serious complications.
In contrast, the filmmakers portray the Infectious Disease Society of America as an organization with conflicts of interest which might affect its judgment.
"There is a log jam, and the log jam is that gatekeepers of Lyme disease who are not allowing the truth to be told," says Wilson.
Hughes, who is now much improved in comparison to her condition shown in the film, says she is living evidence of the need for effective treatments for Lyme disease.
"As scary as it might've been, I think that now, I'm living proof that long-term antibiotics can help you," says Hughes. "And I don't have any side effects that I know of at this time, and I've had to take medication for four, five years. It's definitely been a wonderful thing for me, because now I feel like I'm an active member of society again."