Proponents of chronic Lyme essentially just dismiss the scientific evidence, and instead resort to anecdotal evidence of a subjective response to treatment in some patients. As would be expected, when a group has a persistent belief that experts reject due to lack of scientific evidence, or even evidence of lack of efficacy, conspiracy theories proliferate. In this case the usual “Big Pharma” conspiracy won’t work, because the treatment being offered is pharmaceuticals. So a new enemy was invented, insurance companies. They were made the bogeyman for not wanting to pay for multiple courses of IV antibiotics.
— Dr. Steven Novella, Chronic Lyme Disease — Another Negative Study
Today, I received the following email from an Evangelical man named Jacob. Jacob read two posts on this site, How Dare I Badmouth IFB Evangelist CT Townsend! Says Fundamentalist Christian and the About page. Jacob spent nine minutes reading my writing before emailing me. He read none of my autobiographical material, nor did he bother to perform searches on the subjects mentioned in his email. No need, right? I am sure Jacob felt led by God to email me. After all, he knows exactly what is wrong with me physically and psychologically; that both my doctors and I are one hundred percent WRONG!
My response to Jacob’s email is indented and italicized.
Hello brother,
I am not your brother. I did learn last year that I have half-brothers and half-sisters, but I doubt you belong to my newfound family. I suspect you are using the word “brother” in a Christian sense; as in a “brother in Christ.” In what way am I your brother? I am an atheist. I am an enemy of Christ. I reject the central claims of Christianity. I am an apostate and a reprobate. I believe your religion is a cult. According to your true “brothers,” I am a tool of Satan, used by the Evil One to lead many people away from Jesus.
You spent less than ten minutes on this site. You don’t know me at all. So, let’s dispense with the familial language, okay?
First, I came to your page from your topic on CT Townsend. I just finished a 5 day youth camp and even though I am a Christian, I know much of what you had to say to be true. It’s sensationalism. They intentionally get people in their emotions and then pounce.
Yet, you are still a part of this. Why?
With that said, I only contacted you to share something with you that I’m certain you will toss aside and ignore: Many of your mental and physical ailments are caused by one thing: Lyme+ I understand the denial that comes when I say this, and I understand why. However, I am 100% certain that this is the truth.
Jacob is an evangelist for chronic Lyme disease, a diagnosis that has no scientific foundation. Please understand that lyme disease and chronic lyme disease are two different things. Please read the following for more information:
Chronic Lyme disease: Fake diagnosis or pseudo-diagnosis, NOT fake disease by Dr. David Gorksi
Avoid prolonged antibiotics for “Chronic Lyme” by Scott Gavura, BScPhm, MBA, RPh
Chronic Lyme Disease – Another Negative Study by Dr. Steven Novella
Does Everybody Have Chronic Lyme Disease? Does Anyone? by Dr. Harriett Hall
I have been reading the work of Gorski, Novella, and Hall for years. Proponents of science-based medicine, I find them to be credible experts on a wide array of medical issues. I have had the same primary care doctor for twenty-six years. I also regularly see specialists for the various diseases that afflict me. I have had extensive work-ups at the University of Michigan, the Toledo Clinic, and Parkview Medical Center in Fort Wayne. I have been poked, prodded, and scanned. CT and MRI scans from head to toe. Blood draws 3-4 times a year. Down the mouth and up the ass, doctors have looked at the internal workings of my body.
Yet, Jacob, who has no medical training outside of the ability to do a Google search and read feels duty-bound to offer a complete stranger on the Internet unsolicited, unwanted, unneeded, and most certainly, not appreciated medical advice.
I recommend listening to videos from the doctors studying this stuff like Dr Dietrich Klinghardt PhD. There is an excellent documentary called “Under Our Skin”. Please don’t just dismiss what I’m saying, but instead dig into it.
I will leave it to readers to do searches on the things mentioned by Jacob. I spent a few minutes doing so. I read enough to lead me to conclude that I am not going to waste my time. I’m confident that my doctors are doing the best they can for me. Yes, I wish they could magically heal me, but that’s not in the cards. I refuse to chase after woo and nonsense, only to be disappointed in the end. Years ago, I chased the fibromyalgia rabbit down numerous trails. I ended up in some crazy places. Who doesn’t want to feel better, right? My doctors do what they can to ease my suffering; to maintain or improve my quality of life. At this point in my life, that’s fine. I expect my doctors to do all they can to help me, but I know they aren’t miracle workers. Believe me, they would LOVE to fix me. Imagine the medical journal article they could write if, through their expertise, all my symptoms went away! This, of course, ain’t going to happen.
I went from early onset dementia(among many other things) at 28 years old, to feeling great and living my life again. There is no such thing as “fibromaylagia”. It is a blanket term used to describe symptoms of a chronic bacterial infection. DNA connexions has a wonderful test that will pick up these infections unlike the CDC guideline test that looks for an immune response. These infections infiltrate our body and essentially turn off our immune system to themselves. So, the test will always show negative if not caught early enough.
I have had fibromyalgia for almost as long as Jacob has been alive. I know this disease inside and out. And I know how to spell the damn word. 🙂 Jacob has been convinced by peddlers of woo and anecdotal evidence that fibromyalgia (and chronic fatigue syndrome) is not a real disease. Twenty-five years ago, this sentiment was more common in the medical community, but no longer. I haven’t been treated by a fibro-denier in years (and once I find out they are, I fire their asses).
Jacob thinks I have chronic Lyme disease, not fibromyalgia. Never mind the fact that I have been tested several times over the years for Lyme disease (especially when I first started having symptoms). Jacob is an Evangelical, so much like resolutely believing the Bible is inerrant and infallible, he believes the gospel of chronic Lyme disease. No amount of evidence will convince him that it is wrong — not even a peer reviewed double-blind study. He once was lost and now he is saved; he once was sick, and now he is healed. Here an anecdote, there an anecdote, everywhere an anecdote, JUST BELIEVE!
Good luck and I know you don’t believe in God, but I’ll pray for you, just in case you’re wrong:)
Fuck you, Jacob. You refuse to accept any of my story at face value. You stupidly and ignorantly — not really knowing anything about my medical conditions — reject my health claims. Then, you conclude your email by saying that you are going to pray that I get saved because you know that I am wrong about that too. Evidently, in Jacob’s world, no part of my story is my own. He, alone, is the arbiter of what is true. Imagine if I did the same to Jacob, trashing his beliefs and experiences? Why, he would be outraged. But, I don’t do such things. I accept the stories of others at face value. And I most certainly don’t question the medical care of others. If asked, I will answer questions and give practical care advice. After all, having fibromyalgia (and gastroparesis) has taught me a few things about the disease. I read the relevant literature when new reports and books are released. It would be impossible for me not to do so. When news headlines scream NEW TREATMENT FOR FIBROMYALGIA, GASTROPARESIS, OR CHRONIC PAIN, I am going to get a shitload of texts, emails, and social media messages.
I am sure Jacob thought he was doing me a favor by sharing his medical “expertise” with me. I am sure he thought I would be “grateful.” Hopefully, this is a lesson well learned for the young man. Don’t email strangers on the Internet; especially cranky curmudgeons; especially someone who has been seriously ill from COVID -19 and is currently bedfast; especially someone who was two weeks into topical chemotherapy treatment for cancer on his nose when he tested positive for COVID; especially someone who battles nausea, vomiting, and unrelenting pain every day of his life; especially someone who hasn’t seen his grandkids or gotten laid lately. 🙂
Saved by Reason,
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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If I felt better I’d be closer to boiling mad. Jacob comes here, does a superficial look at your blog, and thinks he can give you medical help? WTF is wrong with people?
I know the feeling, Bruce. I had believer tell me before my diagnosis that my disabling neurological disease was a loving shot across my bough that I was to consider how close I was from meeting my “Maker”. I can tell you it boiled my blood but I bit my lip as they were the ones “helping me” find a place to live after I could o longer work nor afford the home I was renting.
In time they found me a place conveniently “free” until I the VACP and SSA came through. The place happened to be owned by a person known by that the same believer that told me what was said in previous paragraph. Well turns out they double-teamed me for almost a year with their pop-in visits. I continued to bite my tongue and take the abuse as I couldn’t lose a place for my wife and I to live. I was even told by one of them that my painful anxiety caused by massive pain was a demon tormenting me! But soon my break came. The landlord sold the place and the new landlady who befriended my wife and I asked how was the former owner and I told her. She was blown away at their hatefulness.
When I was finally got my 100% physically disabled status and diagnosed with Chronic Adhesive Arachnoiditis along with my diabetic neuropathy I told them off and this time I didn’t bite my lip. Turns out a while later one of them threatened his wife after being caught in statutory rape of a 16-year old girl and the landlord was later brought down on tax fraud charges. So, I guess the Flying Spaghetti Monster blessed me with additional vengeance. Praise be his noodle appendages!
I remember in the late 1970s my brother and his friend would watch this staticky UHF evangelism show “Faith for Miracles”. The music was simple but catchy, “He has power! power! power in his hand! In his haaaand!”
Makes me think of Jacob here who thinks he can just reach out and heal ya through the internet.
I’m thinking back to my Bible studies as a kid, Jacob is living up to his name as it means “heel” (The Biblical Jacob was holding twin brother Esau’s heel when they were born).
As someone who actually works in a hospital and has had a 40-year run of fibromyalgia, my prescription for Jacob is one paper cut for each of the 70,000+ medical reports I’ve typed over the years. evil grin
and don’t forget the lemon juice
And ghost peppers! Gotta have ghost peppers.
Um, Jacob….are you completely sure your ”early onset dementia”…has gone away cos you submitted yourself to the ‘tests’ of quacks you delusionally believe in?……not so sure about that myself from your writings here. There are doctors in my family. Believe me, if there was a proven, medical, scientific way to ‘switch off’ early dementia….they’d be using it immediately to protect their patients from that very cruel disease.
Sending all good wishes Bruce for recovery. Brysiwch wella, get well soon from Wales!
Early onset dementia seemingly can be reversed if appropriate action is taken, but I have doubts that, firstly, Jacob was properly diagnosed and, secondly, that he would have the wherewithal to beat it. He’s someone who is lost in his own opinions, and I doubt he would have heeded the advice that would have been necessary to reverse it.
Hubris is built into evangelicalism as evangelicals believe they are led by a Real Live Holy Spirit. Evangelical finds a pseudoscience website that confirms what he wants to believe? Must be the Holy Spirit leading him! Or Satan…but probably the Holy Spirit.
Sorry you had to endure that.
OMG you made me laugh Bruce. More than once. 🙂
as usual, these Christians are liars about everything in their lives, be it medicine to their god.
I am blown away by the number of people who think that poking around the ‘net with Google is the equivalent of getting a real MD degree. At most, if I hear of a diagnosis that doesn’t completely make sense to me, I’ll check out what WebMD and the Mayo Clinic sites have to say, which will prompt questions that whoever has been diagnosed (me or someone else) can throw at their doc to get a better understanding. Not that docs are right all the time, but will usually course-correct if the questions make them think. I’ve fired a couple over the years who wouldn’t course-correct. But it would never occur to me to offer more than, “Hey, I’m so sorry you’re suffering from [your diagnosis], but it sounds like you don’t completely understand what your doc is thinking. Maybe respected sites on the ‘net can help you figure out what questions to ask, and I’ll do the research if you’d like.”
Medicine can’t fix a lot of things. Bodies are actually good a partially compensating for stuff that’s wrong, and for some individuals, there are nonprescription remedies that can help. My housemate suffers from chronic migraines, and the prescription medications available all make her sicker. The state of the science, as I understand it, is that migraines aren’t well-understood, nor are why some pharmaceuticals help some people. So my housemate, who is very good at spotting woo, has read lots of things, and come up with a regimen involving Excedrin, aspirin, Sudafed, small doses of THC (we’re in California where it’s legal), and lots and lots of water sipped throughout the day. Took her a year to settle on this regimen, and it works most of the time to keep the pain controlled, but she still suffers from associated bouts of exhaustion. Will it work for other migraine sufferers? Maybe, maybe not. Will she share unless she’s asked? Heck, no, that’s rude.
My sister-in-law swore that chronic Lyme was the reason she felt so lousy until she admitted that she was an alcoholic.
https://austinkleon.com/2018/11/15/the-worlds-more-interesting-with-you-in-it/ I hope you recover from your bout with the coronavirus. As for your other physical ailments, I am not a doctor, I have not stayed at any Holiday Inn Express recently, but I Would try to soak up as much emotional support as you can from your family members and friends. It might not do anything for you physically but it might help you emotionally and mentally.
I want to say to Jacob, at least you didn’t use the news that Bruce has had to deal with COVID recently, as an excuse to harass him !! I must give you some credit for that much. Certainly the most rabid of evangelist fanatics have been doing this, even as it serves zero purpose in ‘changing heats and minds’ From what I know of Lyme disease, ticks carry it, New England is where it causes the most problems, rather than Ohio, even rural Ohio. If I ever got it, I’d want to be prescribed antivirals, since antibiotics don’t apply here. Living in California, I had to pluck numerous ticks off my cat when he went outside, when in the Northern part of the state. Never while in Southern California. I was bitten by a few of those ticks, but never got Lyme from those things-as far as I know. There should be more research done on viruses, not enough is done, obviously. Unless it’s for weapons purposes. That says a lot about the States, doesn’t it !
Bruce,
All I can say on your reply (and I’ve learned not to ever mention I have something as all the quacks come out of the wallpaper), is it sounds like you’re back in action. I hope you’re feeling much better!