Nurse
practitioner takes on Lyme disease
KVUE Online Video 
Austin, TX
by Celine McArthur / Healthvue reporter
7 September 2004
KVUE’s
Celine McArthur reports
Lyme disease is the
most common tick borne disease in the world.
While it can be treated,
it can turn deadly because it’s often misdiagnosed.
One Austin nurse practitioner
is making it her mission to uncover these cases—and she’s saving
lives.
Ginger Savely loves
her job as nurse practitioner because it allows her to spend quality time
with her patients.
It’s this connection
that earned her the title “Texas Nurse Practitioner of the Year”
and allowed her to uncover a potentially deadly problem in several of her
patients—Lyme disease.
 |
| Lyme disease
is caused by bacteria from a deer tick bite. |
“You have to be a
good detective,” Savely said.
Lyme disease is caused
by bacteria from a deer tick bite. The ticks are found in high grass or
wooded areas mostly in the Northeast and some here in Texas. Symptoms include
fever, headache, fatigue, muscle pain, stiff neck, joint inflammation, overall
itching, tooth pain, change in vision, trouble concentrating and sometimes
a bull’s-eye rash at the site of the tick bite. Doctors often misdiagnose
the disease because it mimics other illnesses like MS, lupus, or chronic
fatigue syndrome, so most people with Lyme disease are sent to all sorts
of specialists.
“The list of ‘ologists’
goes on and on, and by the time they come to me they’ve seen 10 other
doctors,” she said.
That’s what happened
to both Lisa Maynard and Jay Barnett.
Jay was infected by
a tick in Llano; Lisa in Dripping Springs.
Both have been terribly
ill for years.
“I felt like I
wished I would die,” Jay said.
Doctors couldn’t
figure out what was wrong with either of them and eventually gave up.
Lisa says one of her
doctors told her, “I need to send you to a psychiatrist, you obviously
have some mental issues because no one could be in this much pain all the
time.”
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| KVUE |
That’s when they
found Ginger Savely.
She diagnosed their
Lyme disease—and started treating them with very strong antibiotics.
Those antibiotics can
range from $1,200 to $12,000 a month, and not all insurance covers them.
Cost aside, Jay and Lisa say they’re just relieved to find out what’s
really wrong with them. They also have some advice for doctors.
“Start listening
to your patients, most people don’t lie about being in pain,”
Lisa said.
The best way to protect
yourself against Lyme disease is to avoid wooded areas. If you can’t,
cover yourself head to toe with clothing and bug spray.
For more information,
you can reach Ginger Savely at the South Austin Family Practice Clinic at
512-892-7076 or log onto the International Lyme and Associated Diseases
Society at www.ilads.org.
For footage for this
story, please go to KVUE
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