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Samantha Stosur, Lyme disease and winning the US Open

undcvr

Senior Member
Messages
822
Location
NYC
http://samstosur.com/2011/12/01/my-battle-with-lyme-disease/

So 5 years before winning the US Open (2011) Stosur was diagnosed with Lyme disease. After I read her blog 2 things came to mind for me, 1). That it was diagnosed early for her and 2). That she mentioned that it was a US doctor that diagnosed her with it and that if she was in Australia the doctors there would not even have considered a Lyme diagnosis.

I really feel the same way too that only after having come to the US did I feel like I was getting anywhere with my illness. It is still an uphill battle here too with many doctors still ignorant, don't get me wrong but it is also much better and progressing. Perhaps she was able to afford better medical care and more knowledgeble doctors too but for something as off mainstream as this illness the two does not always go together ( paying more money means you get better doctors ).

I am sure her age played a big part too in her being able to recover from it but then there are other athletes Henin (CMV) and Williams (Sjorgen's) who did not. It seems really really crucial to catch it early.

But I think her story is inspiring in a way.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
http://samstosur.com/2011/12/01/my-battle-with-lyme-disease/

So 5 years before winning the US Open (2011) Stosur was diagnosed with Lyme disease. After I read her blog 2 things came to mind for me, 1). That it was diagnosed early for her and 2). That she mentioned that it was a US doctor that diagnosed her with it and that if she was in Australia the doctors there would not even have considered a Lyme diagnosis.

I really feel the same way too that only after having come to the US did I feel like I was getting anywhere with my illness. It is still an uphill battle here too with many doctors still ignorant, don't get me wrong but it is also much better and progressing. Perhaps she was able to afford better medical care and more knowledgeble doctors too but for something as off mainstream as this illness the two does not always go together ( paying more money means you get better doctors ).

I am sure her age played a big part too in her being able to recover from it but then there are other athletes Henin (CMV) and Williams (Sjorgen's) who did not. It seems really really crucial to catch it early.

But I think her story is inspiring in a way.

Roger federer was suppose to have had a bad case of mono and was what helped tip him off number 1 as well as Nadal.
Lyme, isnt recognised in australia and mainstream medicine says it doesnt exist here and the few rare cases caught it from overseas but other australians who are on record has having tested positive to lyme(tested overseas) have never been out of the country. I will say that there other types of tick infections in australia as well, maybe its narrowed down to one specific species of ticks. Interesting
 

undcvr

Senior Member
Messages
822
Location
NYC
I have alot to say about Federer. Now that I am sick and hang around the house all day with nothing to do I think alot about banal stuff like this. His form really really did drop imo after his case of mono which is supposed to be caused by CMV. I am just curious what it was treated with because I know it could not be Valcyte since his wife got pregnant around that time too. I am assuming it was Valtrex or Famvir if those, at moderately high dosages for awhile. But I am also thinking that it could not have been that long a treatment time because they just don't do that with CMV. 3 months would be the max.

Having said that he stayed as a top ten player through all that so it could not be that bad.
 
Messages
76
Location
Australia
Maybe it wasn't Lyme's disease if she supposedly caught it in Oz, perhaps it was rickettsia?

Whatever the bug was she's a lucky bunny to have recovered and carry on with her tennis.
 

heapsreal

iherb 10% discount code OPA989,
Messages
10,089
Location
australia (brisbane)
I have alot to say about Federer. Now that I am sick and hang around the house all day with nothing to do I think alot about banal stuff like this. His form really really did drop imo after his case of mono which is supposed to be caused by CMV. I am just curious what it was treated with because I know it could not be Valcyte since his wife got pregnant around that time too. I am assuming it was Valtrex or Famvir if those, at moderately high dosages for awhile. But I am also thinking that it could not have been that long a treatment time because they just don't do that with CMV. 3 months would be the max.

Having said that he stayed as a top ten player through all that so it could not be that bad.

Roger federer running at 50% energy is still higher then most healthy people could ever get, but i also think anyone losing 50% of what they had can be hard to cope with??

cheers!!!
 
Messages
1
Maybe it wasn't Lyme's disease if she supposedly caught it in Oz, perhaps it was rickettsia?

Whatever the bug was she's a lucky bunny to have recovered and carry on with her tennis.

It just concerns me that the dangerous and deadly myth about Lyme disease not being in Australia is so embedded that it leads to comments like this, above.
I know it is not your intention or fault and that you, just like most of Australia and the rest of the world have been convinced of such a ludicrous assumption.
Migrating birds have not decided to hang onto their ticks and other Borrelia infected arthropods while stopping off in Australia, until they get to the next continent, even though we have been treated like imbeciles and asked to believe such tripe for decades now.
Me and my husband and hundreds of thousands, personally I believe it's even more than this, of people here in Australia have Lyme disease, Borrelia infections and many of them just like us have NEVER EVER left Australia, but it is just being diagnosed as other names, such as CFS, Fibro, MS, MND, Parkinson's, Arthritis, CTD, Depression, Anxiety, PMT, PND, Cyst or Fibroid disease, CTD, Gout, GERD, delusions, hypochondria, scabies, eczema, Juvenile Arthritis, Autism, just to name a few, pretty much any of those on the rise diseases with what they refer to as having an UNKNOWN CAUSE/idiopathic.
If we were to pool all of these together including the funds towards many of the charities, who with all good intentions, collect to find a cause for these things, we could then focus on the true cause and core of all of this unnecessary suffering, such as the Karl McManus Foundation does, my God, how many lives could we save and how much unnecessary suffering would be avoided, we could actually direct our money into researching the cause and begin to save people from this.
For our poor little maltreated babies here in Australia is the saddest part, watching them being misdiagnosed, maltreated leaving them tortured with no youthful, healthy experiences, often till death. leaves me ashamed to be called Australian.
In some cases we are dealing with Drs here who are being covert about Borrelia, in order to not make waves for themselves, but continue to collect payment for misdiagnosing and misleading us, all the while torturing and killing us, as they ignore the true cause and core of our disease, exacerbating it tenfold and often prescribing steroid/immunosuppressive drugs, leaving us helpless to fight the disease.
In quoting one recently, he said, to me and my husband, while we were standing, begging for help in his surgery, as he refused to administer our penicillin shots, of course Lyme disease is here, we are not all stupid, he went on to say, but I have to protect myself and my practice, as this book, (I assume by the book he meant the Australian Medical Journal or similar) tells me what I have to say and what I am allowed to do.
And in many cases we just have so many ignorant and clueless clinicians in this country that have been easily convinced of such an illogical farce.
Lyme disease is rife in Australia, due to this disease being left unobstructed and denied here for decades and because of a incompetently handled and bungled study nearly two decades ago and the great deal of effort that has gone into denying it and covering up the stuff up ever since, so our birds are now riddled with it, Indian Mynors for sure.
You no longer have to be out in the woods or adventurous to get this disease in Australia, you can be sitting in your home watching TV with your kids and it will come to you and your whole family, this is one of the reason, many if not all in the family often get it, either through nestings of Indian Mynor birds in your roof, or out in your backyard where these birds are dropping their load of infected ticks and other parasites off where your children and pets run around and play, or where you hang the clothes out, or set up the kids swing sets, etc, it will be common knowledge one day, but it is being dragged out too long and in the meantime we are on our way, if we are not already there, to being a nation of chronically ill, sickly people, often dying young after an unpleasant existence, all for the absurd and shameful excuse of NO KNOWN REASON. Lyme denied is Genocide. God help us all.

http://www.karlmcmanusfoundation.org.au/lyme-disease-information/index.php?id=4

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/59/p...-co-infections-in-australia---lyme-denied-is/
 

Wayne

Senior Member
Messages
4,300
Location
Ashland, Oregon
Lyme in Australia

Lyme denied is Genocide. God help us all.

Hi Jodie,
Welcome to the forum. :balloons: I have to say, I very much appreciated your first post, and your passion. :Sign Good one:

I found your description of Lyme in Australia, and the lack of acknowledgement by the medical powers that be quite interesting. I also shake my head and wonder, "Why?" It just makes no sense to deny its existence.

I sometimes wish I had the energy and the passion to write as you do. I hope you will continue to post here.

Best Regards, Wayne