Is Lyme the New AIDS? Part Three: A Caution to Gay Men

Note: This is the third and final entry in a series about how my life has been devastated by Lyme disease. With the advent of PrEP and effective medical interventions for HIV, I am truly disturbed that gay men -- first, younger generations, but increasingly people my age who lived through the plague of AIDS -- increasingly are rejecting the use of condoms and feeling invulnerable to potential sexually transmitted infections. Although the CDC claims absolutely that Lyme disease cannot be transmitted sexually, objective scientific research and anecdotes of those whose partners have Lyme argue otherwise. You do not want Lyme disease. It will change your life for the worse, not only by potentially disabling you at too young an age, but by rendering you an untouchable to many primary care physicians who at this time fear persecution by the medical establishment. While the jury is out on many facets of Lyme disease -- except for those of us who live with it and know the reality -- I still feel the shockwaves of the AIDS crisis in my DNA, and as my body continues to experience symptoms few people would believe unless they lived them, from bartonella rashes that masquerade as all-over stretch marks (I have scores all over my body, and have never had a waistline greater than 31") and bizarre rashes that come like clockwork at 4 p.m. every day to crippling arthritic pain and inexplicable fatigue -- at age 37 -- I beg the gay community to remember a lesson taught by the early days ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news