DR. Wiseass FAQ's

Recently, after a 6 ½ year hiatus from the Lyme community – DR. Wiseass courageously reappeared, unveiling her NEW site http://drwiseass.com in the process.    Prior to her abrupt departure from the ‘community’ in 2007 – she had been quite a prolific blogger at www.twistoflyme.blogspot.com .    While DR Wiseass feels the posts & personal information shared on both of these sites should be a sufficient  explanation as to "WHO SHE IS" and "WHAT SHE'S ALL ABOUT"  – she has be inundated on her own Facebook page with repetitive questioning, which people feel they have the RIGHT to know.  So without further ado… the FAQ’s:

   
1)   Who IS DR Wiseass?

DR Wiseass is the pseudonym of an older gal suffering with chronic invisible illness for the greater part of her life.  She was diagnosed with Lyme disease in November 2004, and decided in 2005 to start a blog as a vehicle to work through her own struggles, as well as triumphs with this most insidious disease.  She chose to keep her true identity anonymous because:

• A) She likes to write about her in-laws.  No one in their right mind would  openly make jokes about their in-laws using their real damn name!  DUH!

• B) At one brief (stressful) point in time,  using her real name, she was quite a vocal advocate in the Lyme community, and found it most necessary to keep the distinction between her real  identity and her ‘say-ANYTHING’ pseudonym.  She’s smart enough to know some people either don’t understand or “can’t handle” her satirical, sometimes raunchy sense of humor, so she quite wisely has kept both identities separate. 

BREAKING NEWS: The CDC, Lyme disease, and the Almighty Dollar

My fellow sickos….it has begun.

Monday, August 19, 2013 may go down as a historical day for Lyme disease as the CDC made an important announcement that was decades in the making.   Although the CDC has “suspected” that the Lyme disease transmission rates were 10x higher than being reported, it took them several years (DECADES, actually) for them to make an “official” admission that their previous annual reports touting a mere ­­20,000-30,000 incidences of Lyme disease per year have been WRONG.  The CDC finally admits that approximately 300,000 US citizens are contracting Lyme disease EACH YEAR.  (And please note that number does not reflect the number of citizens that continue to suffer with the disease each year thereafter…)

While this news is a breath of fresh air for some, since the truth generally smells much better than a steaming pile of bullshit – there are some of us – call us cynics, realists, or just paranoid nuts - who realize there must be some REASON for this self-important governmental bureaucracy to finally make this admission NOW.

THE BETTER PART OF LIFE

I’ve been sick for longer than I care to remember. In all honesty, I’ve been sick off and on for what seems like most, if not all, of my life - at least the better part of it.  And I think that’s a rather odd phrase because that ‘better part of it’ not only refers to most of my life, but also, literally, the actual BETTER part of my life - which ironically, is the part I’m living right now.

Was that confusing? I hope so. Reading and writing is more fun if there’s a little mystery involved…as in… “What the hell is she talking about?” And yes, my writing is quite often, even a mystery to me as well.

Before I continue to confuse and amaze us both…allow me to introduce myself. My name is DR. Wiseass. And in answer to your question: “YES! This IS my given name!” I gave it to myself years ago when I realized I might fair a better chance of survival if real physicians thought they were treating one of their fellow ‘peers’.

OK no, that’s a lie. But my initials are “D.R.” and during my life I have been wise; I’ve been an ass; and I’ve also been a wiseass. Hence, DR. Wiseass was born - kinda like a medical WonderWoman for sick people … only without the bright wardrobe and perky boobs. (Sometimes I have a perky wardrobe and bright boobs, but let’s not get too personal too quickly….)

MISERY'S COMPANY

"Misery loves company" – at least that’s how the old adage goes.   At one point in time, I’m not sure I really understood such a gloomy sentiment.  Then, I got sick….(again and AGAIN)…and for a really long time.    It was then that I finally understood what it truly means  to feel miserable – to experience a true level of misery.  And with that misery, came this strange compulsion to start a blog.

As for my reason to blog, I've come to believe that along with physical symptoms, chronic illness provides a bevy of mental & emotional bullshit to work through.  The very act of being chronically ill can tend to make most people feel lonely, isolated, misunderstood, and just a little depressed...or often times -  A LOT depressed.