Awe. I am in awe of this film. It had me mesmerized by its brutal honesty. It was as if my plight was being told. It felt like home. Home is a place where you can be honest, cry, rest, recuperate.
The experience in watching the movie was cathartic. I felt naked and exposed. It meant I no longer needed to hide. I could relax into who I am. Or who I was recently. I was a mistreated patient, who had been unsure if I was loosing my head or just the function of my body. I have been unable to protect my kids from whats wrong with momma, and weary at the preconceived ideas of what a mom should be. I am a woman who was finally ready to lay bare before my friends.
Under Our Skin did an amazing job at showing the full spectrum of what I have been dealing with in my Lyme Disease. I was enraged at seeing all the pieces fit together as to why my diagnosis has been so hard to obtain. These are the reasons I haven’t been able to articulate to my friends and family the depth of my illness. This movie is essentially the story of the last decade (or two) of my, well actually, our lives.
That is why I passionately say, “I would love for you to see it. You gotta see it!”!
Under Our Skin followed the journey of people dealing with their extensive amount of symptoms and the effects it has on their daily lives. It showed the unfortunate battle in the courtroom that is constantly taking place with Doctors who are willing to treat Lyme patients. It investigated the Conflicts of interests in the members who are in charge of the IDSA guidelines for Lyme. That was incredibly infuriating for me to learn! Those 12 questionable members, have been updating the guidelines for over 15 years! The documentary also made the comparison for the treatment of Lyme to various diseases. The current Lyme treatment guidelines are to treat with antibiotics for up to 2 weeks. However, no other serious disease is treated for such a short amount of time.
Under Our Skin reminded me how lucky I am to have a supportive husband, children & mom, to have support to pay for medical care so my disease isn't fatal, to have found an amazing Lyme literate doctor who is willing to put their life on the line for patients.
I am also immensely grateful for Dr. Alan McDonald, who explained how his research discovering Biofilm, dismantles the argument that Lyme is all in your head! Biofilm explains why I have Chronic Lyme and why it is hard to treat. Basically, the same strand of bacteria may be hundreds or thousands of times more resistant to antibiotics because the colony of Borrellei is protected by a gel like substance.
“The fact that Lyme is a significant disease that there is no cure for and no accurate testing-should scare people” Under Our Skin
Although it was difficult to watch this film, creating a vast array of emotions, it also filled me with hope. I realized I too could become unashamed of my story. If changes to this whole system can be made, there is hope for future Lymies. Advocacy is a must.
My hope is to have as many people as possible watch the film creating a snowball effect to bring awareness to this disease. To begin that awareness, I want to get at least 30 people in 30 days to watch this movie. After you watch it, or if you recently watched it, answer my poll question (to the right-Did you watch Under Our Skin?). Then we can tract how many people are seeing it!
You can now rent it or buy it through Amazon on this blog and I get a small percentage.I would love to read your comments and have you choose to follow my blog! Thanks for checking out this article!
