All she lost: My sister's battle with Lyme disease

[woodjin]

I think it was DDT. I don't believe there has been a substantial change in the weather since the '50's according to most reports. I think every year we progress from the last DDT spraying, the more ticks and chiggers we experience. Although, you would think that the populations would have reached an equalibrium since then. Just a thought, I am not a scientist and have not looked into it too deeply. Perhaps Sue has some insight.

Jeff

 

[Boyd]

I think it was DDT. I don't believe there has been a substantial change in the weather since the '50's according to most reports.

This is a pretty interesting chart too: http://www.fi.edu/weather/data2/images/wthrwntr.jpg

Rather than a straight-line trend, the temperature pattern looks more like a sine wave.

 

[Teegate]

It shows that in the 60's when I was a kid, and the 70's a teenager, it was colder. It is so different now.

Guy

 

[Boyd]

Yeah, but if you were a kid in the 1930's is would have been a very different story.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

I think it was DDT. I don't believe there has been a substantial change in the weather since the '50's according to most reports. I think every year we progress from the last DDT spraying, the more ticks and chiggers we experience. Although, you would think that the populations would have reached an equalibrium since then. Just a thought, I am not a scientist and have not looked into it too deeply. Perhaps Sue has some insight.

Jeff

DDT is extremely persistent, but I seriously doubt it has any bearing on the tick populations. It is VERY toxic to fish and birds, and if it was within their reach from environmental spraying, these populations would be a lot different. DDT persists in the fat of animals (including humans), where it goes and stays there. Forever. It stays in the environment basically forever, too, the half life is about 15 years in the soil. It doesn't move around though, and as organic matter is deposited on the soil, it gets buried and stays there. It associates very tightly with soil, in fact, so it won't go anywhere. It won't run off or wash away. Therefore the ticks (or the birds, deer, humans, etc) are generally not exposed to it.
I think the tick population increasing is simply a product of a shift in the ecological balance of the area. It may or may not be due to the increase in the average temperature, that is obviously the topic of lots of debate. Their ecological niche is expanding, whatever the cause. The most plausible explanation to me is the increase in deer populations, as well as rodent hosts, both of which they need to reproduce.
Ticks species have definitely been expanding their ranges in the US. This is a study on the changes in the ranges of Ixodes scapularis, the black-legged (deer) tick.
http://www.ehponline.org/members/2002/110p635-640estrada-pena/estrada-pena-full.html

 

[omega]

I have a friend in North Carolina who went misdiagnosed for a very long time. He is a musician, recording engineer and sax repair tech. He was being treated for arthritis. that treatment lead to retinal bleeding, which lead to laser eye surgery and a loss of a lot of his vision. He tells me his hands were the size of boxing gloves and he just couldn't get them to do what he wanted any more (his hands) He finally went to see a doctor in Boston and was diagnosed with Lyme. He is being treated now, and says he is feeling better, but will never be 100 percent. Doctors told him 60-70% he is hoping for the higher end. When this all happened he was rebuilding a saxophone for me, and that started about 4 years ago. He hasn't been able to work on it in a couple years.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

The symptoms have returned. I'm going to find a doctor who will administer intravenous vitamin C.

 

[Teegate]

Gabe,

If you think you have Lyme you need to find a doctor that will listen to you and give you the proper drugs. Generic versions are available at WallMart for $4. Get to the doctor now!:jeffd:


Guy

 

[46er]

The symptoms have returned. I'm going to find a doctor who will administer intravenous vitamin C.

Check the link I posted on the first page of this thread. They have a Dr referral there for doc's that treat Lymes. I don't think Vc is the solution. The longer one waits, the more difficult it becomes to treat. Good luck.

 

[Pandot]

The symptoms have returned. I'm going to find a doctor who will administer intravenous vitamin C.

Gabe,

Dr. Steven Streit in Jackson/Howell area is a specialist on the disease and is highly recommended by my friend, Denise Lang, author of Coping with Lyme Disease.

If you again come up negative, perhaps you should consider rheumatoid arthritis as the culprit. That, like lyme, only gets worse if left untreated.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

46er,

I've been reading that IV Vitamin C has been known to completely wipe out infectious diseases, even in their advanced stages. I don't know for a fact that I have advanced Lyme, of if I have it at all, but I read that antibiotics are pretty ineffective late in the game. Besides, those antibiotics kill alot of good stuff in the body, don't they?

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Guy,

What is this generic versionyou refer to? I'm assuming I need a prescription?

Pandot, thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely be looking into my options. However, I cannot afford to pay another $500 to take the highly unreliable Lyme test.

 

[46er]

46er,

I've been reading that IV Vitamin C has been known to completely wipe out infectious diseases, even in their advanced stages. I don't know for a fact that I have advanced Lyme, of if I have it at all, but I read that antibiotics are pretty ineffective late in the game. Besides, those antibiotics kill alot of good stuff in the body, don't they?

Columbia University has a research center devoted to the study and treatment of Lymes and tick borne disease. I'd talk to someone there before starting any kind of treatment, especially if I was not sure if I had something or not. Just some well intended suggestions, do with them as you wish and good luck.

The link to Columbia;

http://www.columbia-lyme.org/index.html

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Guy,

What is this generic versionyou refer to? I'm assuming I need a prescription?

Pandot, thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely be looking into my options. However, I cannot afford to pay another $500 to take the highly unreliable Lyme test.

What have you been treated with so far? What are your symptoms? They could be leftovers, but it could also be the bacteria coming back. If it were my body, I'd definitely take antibiotics again if the doctor recommends them. I am sure there is a lot of anecdotal data out there, and if vitamin C works for some, great. But don't skip the antibiotics either. Yes, they kill the good things, but they also kill the bad things. If you have active bacteria in there, it does not sound smart to me to use only vit c. You can take antibiotics long term and even IV, my colleague had an IV pump for several weeks. That worked for him.

 

[Teegate]

Guy,

What is this generic versionyou refer to? I'm assuming I need a prescription?

I am referring to antibiotics. If there is generic of the prescription you are given you can get them for $4.

Guy

 

[46er]

Just some general info for those that may not have health care or prescription drug coverage. I worked for a major pharmaceutical company for many years. Most, if not all of them offer patient assistance programs, PAP's, that provide meds at no cost. Check this link to a 501c(3) that keeps track of them.

http://www.needymeds.org/indices/needymedspage.shtml

 

[long-a-coming]

Reviving an old thread here. My bloodwork came back positive for lyme. I have been taking Doxycycline for about a week and will get tested again in another week or so. What prompted me to ask the doc for a test was unusual pain that was sharp in my arms and legs but would not last more than a few days. I recently had knee pain so bad it put me on crutches for 2 weeks. Knee is better now but still weak. No knee pain but i cant just take off and go into a sprint. The diagnosis for the knee was a cyst that popped inside my leg. I dont think its related to the lyme's. Reading this thread is scary but I am hopeful i got it early enough. I know of two occasions this summer where I found a tick burrowed into my skin days after a woods trip. There was no bulls-eye rash on either bite.

 

[Teegate]

Sorry to hear that Tom. The tick you found buried most likely was not a deer tick so that most likely did not cause it. Deer ticks are really small and hard to see.

Guy

 

[subkron]

Long-a-coming: Forget the test, you were lucky you had a positive result but if it shows up negative it may (actually most likely) be a false negative. If your doc wants to stop meds because a test the negative then you need to strongly consider changing docs. I am not a doc and this is not medical advice, but the best course of action is to treat the the symptoms, and to be honest everything you describe sounds Lyme (or tick-borne illness) related.

I was bit by 2 deer ticks this summer and immediatly went to see Dr. Steven Streit in Jackson/Howell. He is the closest Lyme literate MD around. I posted earlier in this thread about my son who after 6 1/2 years still has symptoms and is still being treated. I can't stress this enough - make sure sure to see a Lyme literate MD and get educated.

 

[ecampbell]

What type of test did you get? There are several.
http://www.morristown.com/LymesDiseaseNJ/DiagnosisandTesting.html
If it was the titer, you will test positive for many years even if you cure the disease. This tests your antibodies to the disease, not the lyme spirochete.