Break Out The Doxy

*Spoiler Alert* If you Tivoed this weeks episode of House do not read on.

I usually try to avoid medical shows because no one likes to watch a show about the work you do. The grave medical inaccuracies are so bad that it’s often difficult for me to watch a show let alone enjoy it but this week’s House has gotten me wound up. For the third time in a year a patient on a medical show has come in with mysterious aliments and ended up having Lyme disease.

Remember not too long ago when Buffy’s little sister was on House and had all sorts of crazy things wrong with her and the episode ended up with House doing a pelvic in an elevator finding a tick in her lady parts? Or a few weeks ago when some guy came into the hospital on Scrubs with weakness and no one could figure out what it was until they shaved his head and there was a big rash on his head and he had lyme disease? This week on House a kid coming in for facial reconstruction surgery went into V-tach and vomited blood. What did they find when his head was shaved a big old rash that pointed to lyme disease.

Yes, lyme disease isn’t just the reason why Irene went crazy and left the Real World anymore. It’s become the scapegoat for all medical dramas; easily ruled out at the beginning of the show due to the lack of the bulls-eye rash only to have the rash be found at the eleventh hour and save the day. In real life things don’t work out like this.

Everyone I know who has been diagnosis with lyme disease may not have had a big bulls-eye rash but they had enough for the doctor to run test rule out lyme disease. Meanwhile they were started on doxycycline and all is well that ends well. Yes it’s a difficult disease and it wipes you out but that doesn’t make good TV.

I’m sure next week I’ll turn on the TV and ER will have someone with Lyme disease on but until then check yourself for ticks.