New study on Lyme Disease

[Boyd]

Interesting article here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/lyme-di...cans-do-nothing-to-stop-tick-bites-1431351024

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wall street journal Lyme-Disease Alert

There seems to be a lot of confusion out there. Many people are getting treated much longer than the NIH recommends. Many people think Lyme Disease is a problem in areas where there are no ticks. Only about 20% of people in the survey use repellants. Only about 20% check themselves for ticks. Over 50% said they do nothing to prevent tick bites.

 

[flash]

I have had Lyme disease since I was around 7 years old. I am very cautious when hiking in the pines or anywhere outdoors

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Wow, there's more confusion than I thought.

 

[TheePackRat]

Ticks are my biggest concern when riding my bicycle in the pines. I check myself when I get out of the woods and then again when I get home. I don't use bug spray but shower as soon as I get home. I've only ever found two on me and both times it was on the double check search.

My sister is a bird watcher and wound up with a nest in her hair. Her husband used duct tape to get them all off. I've been carrying a small roll in my pack since.

 

[Jersey Jeff]

I was bushwacking near the Friendship Bogs this weekend and I noticed I had three deer ticks making a meal of my inner thigh. Should I ask the doctor for some antibiotics or should I wait and see if symptoms develop? BTW, my dog was diagnosed w/Lyme Disease antibodies in 2013 but the doctor said to sit tight and call if any symptoms develop. So far, she is a happy & healthy pooch.

 

[bobpbx]

Did you dab some alcohol on and wash with soap and water afterward? I do that, then watch them.

 

[Jersey Jeff]

Did you dab some alcohol on and wash with soap and water afterward? I do that, then watch them.

Yep. The little buggers probably attached overnight. I found them yesterday morning, pulled em off w/tweezers and then nuked the area with isopropyl alcohol and then soap and water.

 

[pinelandpaddler]

What tests can be done today that are reliable in determining whether or not someone has Lyme?

 

[46er]

I was bushwacking near the Friendship Bogs this weekend and I noticed I had three deer ticks making a meal of my inner thigh. Should I ask the doctor for some antibiotics or should I wait and see if symptoms develop? BTW, my dog was diagnosed w/Lyme Disease antibodies in 2013 but the doctor said to sit tight and call if any symptoms develop. So far, she is a happy & healthy pooch.

Do you still have the ticks? Take them to the doc with you. I doubt a doc will put you on anti's without symptoms, but you could ask. I had the bullseye and the tick still embedded, tiny little bugger.

 

[Old Crazy]

If you still have possession of the ticks, you can get them tested for $50 each. I had two deer ticks on me last year that were completely engorged, so I sent them off to this lab for testing. It was a big relief when they both came back negative.

https://www.tickreport.com/

Antibiotics for Lyme are heavy hitters, and I'd hate to take them prophylactically if I wasn't feeling ill, but with Lyme you want to start taking antibiotics as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the greater a foothold it gets on you, and the harder it is to get rid of. When I had it 12 years ago, I didn't start feeling symptoms until three weeks after I was bitten. Then I waited another week to seek medical attention because I thought I had just picked up some kind of virus. It was almost a year before I felt 100% again.

 

[Boyd]

New article today in the WSJ about post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS)...

The Mystery of Chronic Lyme Disease
Some patients continue to have severe symptoms for years, and experts are divided on the cause

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mystery-of-chronic-lyme-disease-1436197582

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Wall St Journal The Mystery of Chronic Lyme Disease

Experts aren’t sure why symptoms persist for some patients long after they have been treated for Lyme disease. Some believe it is the result of residual damage of tissues caused by the disease, while others think it is a post-infection complication of the immune system, said Dr. Mead. Another theory: PTLDS may be caused by a lingering bacterial infection

“In many patients, post-treatment symptoms appear to be more related to the aches and pains of daily living rather than to either Lyme disease or a tick-borne co-infection,” the guidelines say. “Put simply, there is a relatively high frequency of the same kinds of symptoms in ‘healthy’ people.”

 

[bobpbx]

I have the strong suspicion that "some" people who complain of lingering effects of lyme disease (which was never professionally diagnosed in any case) are the same people that have several other mysterious ailments, and can list them at will.

 

[Teegate]

I was looking over reviews on the internet of one of my doctors and there was one from a woman who hated him. She was not happy that while she was telling him all of her symptoms he laughed and told her she much have memorized a list of symptoms from the internet because nobody could have that many.

 

[RednekF350]

Several full strength doses of Anacanapanasan worked for me.

 

[46er]

The empathy is really flowing this morning

http://news.health.com/2015/06/30/why-is-it-so-hard-to-get-a-lyme-disease-diagnosis/

 

[Teegate]

It just seems odd to me that a doctor would see symptoms of the disease and not push forward and make sure it is not the problem. Anytime I hear someone have those symptoms the first thing I think of is Lyme.

 

[Dragonfly Whisperer]

I have had Lyme Disease three times begining in 1990, which took me almost 2 years to get over, but I can attest to the feeling that you are never 100% right again. That said I have learned to live with the problems I still face. Still other problems can show up years later due to the immune system response, and one condition I was diagnosed with in 2010 has been linked to prior exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochete that causes Lyme. My second and third times I recognized the symptoms right away and sought treatment right away, so oral doxycline did the job in a few weeks. These days I am in the woods all the time on my land, don't wear spray, but check, shower and recheck before bed. I pull them off, but have missed a few that embedded, but I did not get sick.

 

[Teegate]

I saw an article online a few days ago there is a new test for lyme disease that is now in trial. Only one doctor is running it. They expect it to be the new way to find out accurately if you have it.

 

[46er]

Would you have a link Tee? If it is a clinical trial folks may be able to join it.

Perhaps it was this for early stage Lyme.

http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/lymeDisease/Pages/NewDiagnosis.aspx

 

[Teegate]

Would you have a link Tee? If it is a clinical trial folks may be able to join it.

I tried to find it but could not. I will search some more.