I want to know why when in 1996, seven years after this article was written, when I told my GP that I was 100% sure I had Lyme disease, he told me "impossible - you can only get that in the USA." Urgh... !!
I could have received treatment way back in 1996 and not be bounced from specialist to specialist with no outcome for another 15 years... In 2000 I was told I proabaly had the early stages of MS, then in 2005 after another MRI of the brain I was told, Not MS, could be Lupus, could Sjogren's disease, could be Lou Gerhig disease, could be Epstein Bar.... etc., etc. I was put on Lamictin for epilepsy... for several years, then when my liver started to play up I was put on Neurontin because it 'may have been' the Lamictan causing terrible enzyme levels.
It is really NOT fair!! and I am not the only one in this boat in South Africa. In December 2010, the Department of Health in South Africa told me it was impossible for me to have got Lyme disease in South Africa...
"The status of Lyme disease in southern Africa is presently unknown but preliminary evidence indicates that the disease may occur in humans in the Republic of South Africa. The abundance of hosts and tick vectors would favour the establishment of the infection in Africa"
- PMID:2699499 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
