Extra Credit - Under Our Skin

Last night I went to see that documentary on Lyme disease, "Under Our Skin", and I have to say it probably earned the distinction of being the creepiest show I've seen on campus. Easily 15 minutes into it I kept scratching my leg, neck, or arm, imagining some tick crawling through my hair. The documentary was around an hour and a half long, and at times I was squirming so much my chair would creak audibly, which made me even more nervous. The student sitting next to me would repeatedly shake her leg up and down as well, and reajust in her seat from time to time. She must have been as uncomfortable as I was.

And that had to be the intention of the filmakers. I dreamt about events from the movie in my sleep, and couldn't stop talking about it at work today. If their purpose was to be to spread the word about the dangers of Lyme disease, they achieved their goal with me.

For those that didn't go, the film wasn't just 24-hour footage of ticks crawling over people biting them in their sleep. It followed several people in their fight to overcome the harsh symptoms of living with late stage Lyme disease. Most of these people were nothing more than average Americans, regular folk from all walks of life, young and old. One couple, I believe their name was Jenn and Sean, although I couldn't take notes in the darkness, had it particularly rough. Jenn was filmed in so much pain she could barely control her body, went through seizures, had to inject her own antibiotics through a catheter, and all the while doctors were saying there was nothing wrong with her.

The film touched on the troubling realities of insurance providers refusing to pay for treatments or canceling full coverage all together for people that needed them to pay for the thousands of dollars of medical bills they accrued. It linked together corrupt doctors to national guidelines for treating the disease that insurance providers would reference in court cases. One doctor who represented insurance companies would claim in an interview that there was no such epidemic of Lyme disease, while another would be asked the same questions and say its unmistakable. Although the filmakers likely tried to skew some of these interviews to help present their cause, it was hard for me to find much fault in what was said by both sides.

The overall feeling portrayed about the plight of people with Lyme disease was grim. Doctors that legitimately agree to help people are few and far between, and research is lacking in the field for effective treatments. Some people have lived with pain and other symptoms for 15 years or more, and several have died. Babies would either be miscarried or born with physical deformaties. There seemed to be a glimmer of hope at the end, though, that the corrupt financial aspects of curing Lyme disease and the lack of knowledge on the subject were finally being dealt with.

Despite the overall creepiness feeling, I thoroughly recommend you all to go watch this movie. I think they said it would be out in theatres in a couple months, hopefully nation-wide. At work today it was funny; everyone I talked to about the disease seemed to know everything the movie said was uncommon knowledge. Most people I talked to knew somebody living with Lyme disease or someone who had contracted it in the past. Maybe it is more of an epidemic after all.