UK Lyme Petition

Been left to rot by the NHS currently housebound. HAVING to seek treatment privately for Lyme disease.

better testing ...better knowledge ...better treatment urgently needed

I was bitten by three ticks in 2001 and have been increasingly ill ever since its like being buried alive being attacked from the inside it is costing the NHS thousands of pounds to be shoved from ome consultant to anouther, my family suffer watching me being tortured by this infection and forgetting what real life feels like,dont think your safe because its going to be knocking on your door some day soon

I have Lyme Disease which was left untreated and misdiagnosed for years by the NHS. The disease reduced me from being a busy producer to being bed and wheelchair bound. Even when we knew what the cause was, there was no care offered on the NHS beyond one months antibiotics. I ended up having to move abroad to receive the treatment I needed privately at great cost to myself and all my family. It has been very hard living as a medical refuge. It has been financially crippling and scary having a disease that’s so poorly understood and provided for by our healthcare system. However I am one of the lucky ones that could afford to be tested and treated abroad. The care I have received privately through foreign Lyme doctors has given me my life back. After three months antibiotics I was able to walk again. Many others are not so fortunate and are left extremely sick with no treatment or support from the NHS. It is a shocking state of affairs to witness in the UK in 2014, over something as simple as a bacterial infection. We need funds to be allocated to develop better testing and treatment. We need doctors to be educated about the complexities of this disease and the unreliability of current testing methods. It is a perfect storm with numbers of infected ticks increasing in the UK each year, insufficient provision from the NHS, inadequate testing and very low public awareness. More resources need to be allocated to this growing and poorly understood disease quickly, before it reaches epidemic proportions.

I would like to add my name to this petition for better testing and awareness of Lyme. The NHS should be more educated on this debilitating disease and should be giving adequate treatment. Why should so many suffer because of ignorance and lack of knowledge? I would also like to see warning signs displayed in parks/woodlands and tick talks given to schools. Most of the population in the UK have no idea what Lyme disease is or how devastating it can be - they don't know the symptoms and neither do health professionals who then mis-diagnose people - This needs to change!!

Please educate nhs about lyme disease

It is fatal,I have made big mistakes on my way with pain relief,alcohol and giving rope to hang myself,it does not help matters in many ways,Get a bad label when it comes to NHS.

Live in Ireland. Been unwell for 15 months.Been told i definitely dont have Lyme disease. I dont understand how the doctors can be so certain.

I was bitten by a tick over 6 years ago. I had the bullseye rash followed by a stiff neck, unexplained fatigue and weakness and aching joints etc. Six months later I was diagnosed with 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome' for heavens sake! Hello? It does not take a rocket scientist to work out I actually have Lyme Disease but of course, the UK relies on a very poor test that tells you you are negative even when you are not. How convenient for keeping the true figures of LD down! I cannot work, cannot socialise and cannot do all the normal things I used to do. Please, LD sufferers need help, support, better diagnosis and effective treatement instead of being ignored and left to rot!

Finally diagnosed after 8 years with a Melisa test from Germany. NHS treatment for chronic lyme disease is abysmal.

More awareness and better treatment protocols are desperately needed for this disease which can wreck lives.

I was finally diagnosed with neuroborreliosis (Tertiary Lyme Disease) in 2008 and it was also finally established I have suffered with this condition since 1974. Welcome to my 40th Anniversary of suffering. I find it despicable that the majority of the medical profession, medical research, and supposedly "Support Agencies" within the UK Government have either failed to work on this issue, or have attempted to deny its existence and the effect it has on people's lives. It has taken Civil Court action for NHS, DWP, and Local Authorities to acknowledge that I have this condition irrespective of the fact I have a clinical diagnosis from one of the world's leading authorities on parasitic diseases. The condition is cyclical and upon a "low" I am literally crying myself to sleep with pain that Tramadol and Motifine do NOT control. In the past, I have been suicidal because of the extreme Tetra-Paresis, Ataxia, Paresthesia, and other complex and debilitating symptoms I experience. However, I am ex-Military and when the going gets tough, the Tough get Going. ...and I am still here.

Lyme's is not a disease which can be swept under the carpet any longer. Please let's instigate immediate research into this potentially debilitating illness, which currently no one seems to want to acknowledge.

Need help n

after been bitten by a tick in Scotland I was very sick for several weeks, doctors here in England don't know much about Lymes disease, but fortunately my daughter does,and she made sure I was treated straight away, I would like to see the medical profession taught how to treat this awful disease that is ruining people lives.

This should be a standard test for anyone who may enjoy the outdoors and mayhap been exposed, I used to regularly walk at bradgate park and took ticks off myself more than a few times. Make it a test on request!!

LYMES needs to be taken seriously!!!

Found tick after 24 hrs Bulls eye rash appeared after 3 weeks Treated with antibiotic Still having difficulty walking Infected at age 78

This can happen to anyone of us!

Please help stop closing us down we all need help