State Sen. John DeFrancisco (R-Syracuse) hopes putting the spotlight on Lyme disease can help prevent it. Experts and victims of the debilitating illness recently met at Ryder Park in DeWitt in an effort to put a personal face on the disease.
DeFrancisco introduced 19-year old Audrey Mitchell as a Lyme fighter. She was diagnosed when she was in high school, but it wasn’t a straightforward diagnosis, with doctors initially attributing her growing list of symptoms to stress. It was finally determined that she had Lyme disease and seven other infections in the spring of her senior year.
"I’ve been doing treatment for a year now. Every day I wake up in intense pain, and go to sleep in intense pain. There’s never a break and never a day off. It seems I have a new symptom every day. My body holds me captive in pain and illness," Mitchell said.
The teenager has two messages. First, prevention. She urges central New Yorkers to avoid ticks, and if they find ticks on their body or have symptoms, immediately go to the doctor. The second message is for physicians, who she encourages to consider Lyme disease as a culprit for chronic symptoms.
Dr. Christopher Polino of Upstate University Hospital says part of the problem is unreliable tests. But he believes knowledge of Lyme disease is improving in the medical community.
"I think people are more aware, and from a teaching standpoint, for residents and medical students, we really hammer that point home a lot,” Polino said.
Lyme disease is spread by ticks, and is endemic in areas of central New York.
