Growing Deeper Roots: My Story of Invisible Illness

              Long before my life was turned upside down-or rather, sideways-from my illness, I knew that I wanted to go into public policy or law to focus on health care reform. I've been interested in the ethical and public interest components of medicine since taking a freshman seminar called Ethics of Globalized Medicine. I suppose, since I signed up for the course eagerly, my interest may have started even before then.               Since then, I have taken several other classes that delved into the inner workings of health care and medical law. While we often debated the legitimacy and ideology surrounding the Affordable Care Act, more often than not, our discussions surrounded the shortcomings of the American Health care system that no one could deny: our wasteful spending, the gaps in coverage, the profit margins within the industries. As much as I have learned in the classroom about these issues, I hav...

One of the biggest slogans floating around about Lyme disease both in sponsored awareness campaigns and in patient testimony is "Lyme doesn't discriminate."  We can see this in the demographics of the spread of Lyme disease. When talking about Lyme, people focus on the Northeast regions of America, where Lyme was first discovered. People worry about kids, who spend a lot of time playing outside. They often warn people who live in areas with a lot of woods. But the truth is, when we really look at the demographics of Lyme disease we see that as it becomes a more and more prevalent epidemic, it really truly doesn't discriminate.  While we see a higher prevalence of Lyme in North America, Lyme has been reported on every continent except Antarctica.  We are seeing the Lyme epidemic arise all over Europe and Asia with increasing speed and concern. Clinics and specialities focusing on Lyme disease and tick borne diseases are popping up in Germany and Australia a...