At 27, Doug Posluszny was having one of the best years of his life: successful, engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Michelle, and in perfect shape. But one day on the way to an appointment, everything changed. He became disoriented, started sweating profusely, and had stabbing pains in his chest and lower back.
Doug rushed to an urgent care facility where the doctors told him that aside from being a little dehydrated, he was fine. But over the next few weeks, Doug quickly grew so sick he had to declare disability. After an especially painful chest pain episode, Doug was admitted into a hospital for a week of extensive testing, but still there were no answers. He returned home convinced he was dying and lost hope he'd ever be diagnosed. But a chance meeting with an old acquaintance led him to Dr. Lesley Ann Fein—who knew exactly what's wrong with him.
What was wrong with Doug was Lyme Disease, a bacterial infection caused by a bite from an infected deer tick. We talked to Doug to find out how he's doing, and to his doctor, Lesley Ann Fein, to get her side of the story.
Q: What were the first signs that something was not right? How did the disease progress?
A: My illness started with flu-like symptoms (104 fever, muscle aches, joint pain and overall weakness). After the initial onset I was not the same—as weeks went by I was getting progressively sicker. I lost a significant amount of weight (40 pounds in a 10-12 week period), my vital organs started to become affected— intermittent irregular heartbeat, Pleurisy causing shortness of breath (lungs), encephalitis (brain inflammation). My liver, spleen and pancreas were also showing as enlarged at one point or another. There was clearly something wrong—most definitely an inflammation process was underway.
Q: How do you feel the medical community handled your case? Were there certain doctors/hospitals or clinics that were more patient-friendly than others?
A: I personally feel that the medical community at large failed me miserably. If I was grading our health care system as a whole I would have to give it a "D" at best. Not to say all physicians are incompetent, but the 90 percent that I had encountered left much to be desired—they seemed to be preoccupied by insurance reimbursements vs. patient care and quality of life. On the other hand there were a handful of physicians and nurses who were more patient friendly than most. They were willing to listen, although they couldn't pinpoint my actual illness. Unfortunately they were the minority.
Q: How did you first meet Dr. Fein?
A: I met Dr Fein through a friend of mine—he literally saved my life! Both he and his daughter had Lyme Disease as well—my symptoms along with the fact no one could help me caught his attention. He knew I was very ill and needed proper treatment sooner than later.
Q: How did you feel when you found out it was Lyme Disease?
A: I felt relieved—finally someone had listened to me and put all the pieces together! After many months of being misdiagnosed, misunderstood and mistreated (on all levels) I was vindicated. Many of these "doctors" were telling me it was in my head, stress-related, etc. I went back to each and every one of them with my positive results to ask them not to shun or dismiss other patients who in the future come to them with similar situations.
