Saturday, February 15, 2014

AGENDA – Sun, Feb 23

NEW START TIME We have a guest speaker from 1 pm to 1:45 pm this month.  Regular meeting will proceed at 2 pm until 4 pm.  Meetings are held on the fourth Sunday of each month. Please let us know if you would like to attend and we will forward the location information to you.  Our email address is victorialyme@gmail.com.

GUEST SPEAKER - 1:00 pm - 1:45 pm
Dr. Patrick Callas, a Naturopath with a clinic on Saltspring Island and who also works at the Vital Victoria Naturopathic Clinic, will tell us about several IV treatments he provides which are used in the treatment of Lyme disease.  Dr. Callas holds post-graduate certifications in prescriptive rights, IV therapies, prolotherapy, and neural therapy.
Agenda
INTRODUCTIONS & SUPPORT FOR NEW MEMBERS - 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
Welcome message to new members.  The first hour or so of our meetings is for members to introduce themselves, and for new members to share their concerns and ask questions. After a short break, we continue with updates, new discussion items, and informal discussion (information sharing, support, questions, ideas for upcoming meetings etc).
NEW ITEMS FOR SHARING AND DISCUSSION - 3:00 pm to 4 pm
1.   Awareness event in May - our committee will report on our plans
2.   Fundraising
3.   Crisis intervention training from the Vancouver Island Crisis Society
4.   Elizabeth May's Bill C-442 is coming up for reading on March 3rd - still time for you to mail petition signatures to your MP in Ottawa.  Here is the petition for you to download and print: http://elizabethmaymp.ca/wp-content/uploads/bill-c-442-lyme-disease-petition.pdf  All mail to your MP's in Ottawa can be sent without postage to:  

(Ms. Jane Doe), MP, House of Commons, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A6
NEXT MEETING:  Sunday, March 23rd, 2014  (will include a presentation on medical deductions by a tax consultant)
UPDATES & INFORMATION
Lyme Support Library
Our group purchases and loans out books and DVDs on Lyme and co-infections.  Cost to join our library is $10.  Items can be borrowed for one month.  Please be courteous and return borrowed books on time.  Donations are always appreciated. Please let us know if there are any books/DVDs that you would like us to order.  Currently, we have the following:
1.  Cure Unknown:  Inside the Lyme Epidemic (Revised Edition, 2013), by Pamela Weintraub
2.  Healing Lyme Disease Coinfections – Bartonella & Mycoplasma, by Stephen Buhner
3.  Checklists for Bartonella, Babesia & Lyme Disease, by Dr. James Schaller
4.  Beyond Lyme Disease, by Connie Strasheim
5.  Ending Denial:  The Lyme Epidemic, by Helke Ferrie
6.  Healing Lyme, by Stephen Buhner
7.  It’s All in Your Head – Around the World in 80 Lyme Patient Stories, by PJ Langhoff
8.  Living a Healthy Life with Chronic Conditions (multiple authors)
9.  The Top 10 Lyme Disease Treatments, by Bryan Rosner
10.Treatment of Chronic Lyme Disease, by Burton A. Waisbren
11.Under Our Skin (DVD)
12.Treating Lyme Disease Using Integrative Medicine (5 DVDs)
13. ILADS Review of Anti-Infective Therapy (pamphlet)
14. NEW!!  Why Can’t I Get Better?  Solving the Mystery of Lyme and Chronic Disease by Dr. Horowitz
15. NEW!!  Ticked Off:  The Mystery of Lyme Disease (DVD) 
T-shirts and Buttons
We have a few extra t-shirts for sale and more of Sparky's buttons for sale. 
Facebook  
Our Facebook group for people with Lyme disease on Vancouver Island is a great way to keep up to date on news and connect with others.  Log into Facebook, search for the Victoria Lyme Group, and ask to join. The group is private – others can see who the members are, but only members can post and read posts, invite and approve new members.   
Tick Survey 
Dr Ernie Murakami asks that anyone who has removed a tick from a human send them to him. He wants them whether dead or alive along with a brief note on how the tick was removed, i.e. twisted out, tweezers with constant tension or by tension/relax method. These ticks will be checked by microscopy for missing mouth parts and research. Send your ticks, from anywhere at all, to him at: 
Box 1240, 
Hope BC V0X 1L0
Tick Collection for Researcher Janet Sperling

Janet Sperling has sent us some tick collection vials, complete with prepaid envelopes to mail them.  She is doing research on ticks in Canada and would be happy to receive ticks that you find on your dog, in the environment, or crawling on you (ticks cannot be feeding or engorged though).  You will receive a list of the bacteria your tick is carrying, although it may take awhile as she does them in batches.

INFORMATION – Recent studies, news, articles, upcoming events and useful websites
1.  Lyme Disease in Quebec:  A Ticking Timebomb:  http://www.robertgalbraith.com/320/  
2.  Island Hawk First to be Found with Ticks Carrying Lyme Bug (Times Colonist): http://www.timescolonist.com/island-hawk-is-first-to-be-found-with-ticks-carrying-lyme-bug-1.844042
3.  Morgellons: a novel dermatological perspective as the multisystem infective disease borreliosis  http://f1000research.com/articles/2-118/v1
4.  Some Recovery Stories:  
Keep up with the latest Lyme news: