Under Our Skin is an in-depth documentary of the history and current status of the lyme disease epidemic in the United States. Screened at the Tribecca Film Festival to rave reviews, Andy Abrahams Wilson's documentary is accessible to a general audience and still gives new information to current Lyme disease sufferers.
However, there are some points where Wilson's documentary skims the surface of the controversy, leaving unanswered questions for information starved viewers. As the film progresses, explosive political scenes and breakthrough scientific discoveries about Lyme seem rushed over in lieu of taking a closer look at the individual effects of a few people and their families.
What could have been alarmist moments in the film to raise awareness are subdued instead of heightened. Overall, the effect is a grounded, well-rounded perspective on a controversial subject that longs for a Michael Moore bias. Though this film will raise awareness about Lyme it is still far from having the policy changing affects of an Inconvenient Truth.
About Lyme Disease
Lyme disease was discovered in the 1970s in a suburb of Lyme, Connecticut when a housewife began to notice that something was affecting not just her children, but her neighbors as well. Lyme disease is a tick born infection that causes a variety of seemingly unconnected symptoms, from fatigue and pain to cognitive impairment. Since its discovery in the 1970s the treatment and diagnosis of the disease has been the source of controversy. It is this controversy that is the center point for Wilson's documentary.
Diagnosis and Treatment
The controversy over Lyme disease is two fold. First, diagnosing this disease is quite difficult. Current health guidelines suggest a simple blood test. However, up to 50% of patients with Lyme disease will come back negative for Lyme with current blood tests. This leaves doctors using clinical techniques to diagnosis this disease. Wilson's documentary links Lyme disease with a whole host of other illnesses including, fibromyalgia, lupus, ALS, MS and parkisons disease. All illnesses with no known etiology.
Treatment for Lyme disease is controversial. A two week course of antibiotics is the usual prescription for acute Lyme. However, the two Lyme patients Wilson characterizes in his documentary suffer from chronic Lyme disease--a condition many physicians disregard as psychological in nature. One sufferer, a young woman whose story the documentary follows the closest, states that doctors suggest she go to counseling since she was obviously seeking treatment for Lyme just to get attention. According to the documentary, some sufferers need as much as a three year course of antibiotics to deal with Lyme and any co-infections that the Lyme bite may have caused.
The Future of Lyme
Wilson takes viewers on a ride through a world of corrupt scientists and doctors, politics that play into health regulations, a basement scientist trying to find the answers to Lyme at any cost and the lives of several innocent bystanders, who happened to be diagnosed with Lyme disease. At the end of the day viewers are left with an understanding of how debilitating and even deadly this silent epidemic can be and are made aware that the epidemic is growing.
Towards the end of the film there is a glimmer of hope for Lyme sufferers. A scientist finally discovers what he believes will show the presence of chronic Lyme disease and the medical board that put together Lyme disease guidelines are sued for anti-trust.
But the future for suffers still remains unclear. As many doctors believe that Lyme is rare and doctors who treat Lyme are continually indicted for malpractice, the outlook is still unsure. What is sure is that Wilson's film will create waves in the medical community and for Lyme sufferers looking for answers. But who knows how far those waves will travel.
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