VirginiaIron
Minister of Fire
I heard that one should hold on to the tick, date a container, and stick in the freezer so you can bring it to the doctor if you get infected or sick since it is easier to test the tick.
Tick bites and Lyme disease
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Ashful
Minister of Fire
Yeah, I thought of that. Unfortunately, the thought came to me about 4 seconds after washing him down the sink drain.
jaoneill
Feeling the Heat
My doctor keeps a bottle of 100ml Doxy in his office. If one gets an imbedded tic we give him a call and he provides 2 pills to be taken together at once. Apparently this is a very successful protocol that stops the Lymes from gaining a foothold.
LocustPocust
Burning Hunk
Powassan is an emerging disease in my area, and there have been cases of tick borne Babesiosis. Both can cause sudden cardiac arrest in healthy people. I don't know WTF is going on but it's getting so I don't like going into the woods anymore.
jetsam
Minister of Fire
(broken link removed to https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/transmission/index.html); they usually need 36-48 hours to transmit.
I wouldn't personally go to a doctor (they'll sell you antibiotics under the banner of 'better safe than sorry')- which is bad for you in terms of existing bugs potentially developing resistance to that antibiotic. It's not the end of the world if going makes you feel better, but you're paying for a potentially harmful treatment. If you take antibiotics for every little thing, you can wind up needing exotic antibiotics once your local bugs are resistant to all the common ones.
If you're worried, keep an eye out for (broken link removed to https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/signs_symptoms/index.html), which is good advice for everyone anyway.
I wouldn't personally go to a doctor (they'll sell you antibiotics under the banner of 'better safe than sorry')- which is bad for you in terms of existing bugs potentially developing resistance to that antibiotic. It's not the end of the world if going makes you feel better, but you're paying for a potentially harmful treatment. If you take antibiotics for every little thing, you can wind up needing exotic antibiotics once your local bugs are resistant to all the common ones.
If you're worried, keep an eye out for (broken link removed to https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/signs_symptoms/index.html), which is good advice for everyone anyway.
Birdbrain
New Member
@Ashful
Advice? See a doc now, or wait a few weeks and get tested.
Depending on your medicinal bend, there are natural remedies for immediately after bites to prevent bacteria from getting hold, Naturalopathic docs. Medical docs will give you antibiotic. But now the best time to beware. Natural doc near Philadelphia has $40 preventive remedy.
I do not like antibiotics, if you take them, take good quality probiotics and enzymes. Sometimes antibiotics out weigh possible consequences. Build up immune system, best defense. Plenty online on how to. Draxe.com has good database.
Do watch it, 1st 30 days best window for treatment, after that the bacteria goes into hiding to brew trouble.
Advice? See a doc now, or wait a few weeks and get tested.
Depending on your medicinal bend, there are natural remedies for immediately after bites to prevent bacteria from getting hold, Naturalopathic docs. Medical docs will give you antibiotic. But now the best time to beware. Natural doc near Philadelphia has $40 preventive remedy.
I do not like antibiotics, if you take them, take good quality probiotics and enzymes. Sometimes antibiotics out weigh possible consequences. Build up immune system, best defense. Plenty online on how to. Draxe.com has good database.
Do watch it, 1st 30 days best window for treatment, after that the bacteria goes into hiding to brew trouble.
Lyme has been reported in 50 of our 57 states. The risk is lower some places than others, but there is no place that has zero risk.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Huh? I know some folks like to count Puerto Rico... but 57?
He must be eating a steak, that's overcooked.
It's interesting though, we have friends in the Upper Peninsula of MI that tell us the ticks are so back they and the dogs can barely go in the yard. I can honestly say I've never seen a tick on our property.
Well, we live in a hot zone--lower Hudson--with lots of deer, lots of deer ticks, and (from testing), a high percentage of ticks that carry Lyme and related co-infections.
There's some good info in this thread, but also a few posters who think it is prudent to avoid the antibiotics. My personal opinion--if you have been bitten, take the Doxy immediately--and then take a probiotic to keep your digestive tract in order. I can't stress this enough--the consequences of leaving the Lyme spirochete in your body untreated are far worse than the disruption of the antibiotic. And the doctors in the 'hot zones' know this, and know that the first "test" will come back negative, and by the time the (inadequate) test comes back positive, the little bastids could have gone anywhere.
As my doc says, Lyme is the new syphilis--and it can infect internal organs, joints, brain (one friend has permanent memory problems from an untreated infection).
So don't be "manly" about it--if you have been bitten by a deer tick, and you live where Lyme is prevalent--get the Doxy and take it! (Dog or brown ticks do not carry the infection). Second--if you start to feel crappy and live where ticks are prevalent, insist that your doctors do a Lyme test as part of your blood panels--you may have to argue the point, but tell them that you spend a lot of time outside.)
I'm at four infections and counting--first was classic (bullseye rash) and it laid me low for months, and took over a year for me to recover to a functional state (and the first test came back negative!), and took me a lot longer to really feel like myself.
Second was another full-blow co-infection (Babesiosis) that attacks your white blood cells--no visible signs, I just kept getting weaker and feeling worse until my wife piled me into the car and took me to Emergency (Never saw the tick, never had a rash). They tested, it came back positive for the Lyme coinfection and they started me on blood transfusions immediately. (Good news--Doxy kills the co-infections as well).
Third was no rash/bullseye, just slow decline with flu-like symptoms. I preemptively started on Doxy that time, and it seemed like it did not get a real foothold.
Fourth was this summer--I was outside a lot painting the house, was bitten, never saw the tick, no rash, no real catastrophic symptoms--I was just getting slower and feeling more tired (which I put down to the hard work of painting the house)--until I finally went to the doctor, and almost as an afterthought asked if they would run the Lyme test--and it came back positive/active infection yet again. Twenty one days of Doxy, and I am still feeling the after-effects with arthritis-like symptoms. Already checked in with the Doc, and it is in reversal, and I'll do a followup checkup at the 6 month stage.
Don't mess with Lyme, it will destroy your health if you let it.
On this page (Loudon County VA) is a great brochure that they issued--on the RH side, click on the image with the picture of the tick) and it will open a PDF that is the best single document that tells you what you need to know:
https://www.loudoun.gov/index.aspx?NID=1273
There's some good info in this thread, but also a few posters who think it is prudent to avoid the antibiotics. My personal opinion--if you have been bitten, take the Doxy immediately--and then take a probiotic to keep your digestive tract in order. I can't stress this enough--the consequences of leaving the Lyme spirochete in your body untreated are far worse than the disruption of the antibiotic. And the doctors in the 'hot zones' know this, and know that the first "test" will come back negative, and by the time the (inadequate) test comes back positive, the little bastids could have gone anywhere.
As my doc says, Lyme is the new syphilis--and it can infect internal organs, joints, brain (one friend has permanent memory problems from an untreated infection).
So don't be "manly" about it--if you have been bitten by a deer tick, and you live where Lyme is prevalent--get the Doxy and take it! (Dog or brown ticks do not carry the infection). Second--if you start to feel crappy and live where ticks are prevalent, insist that your doctors do a Lyme test as part of your blood panels--you may have to argue the point, but tell them that you spend a lot of time outside.)
I'm at four infections and counting--first was classic (bullseye rash) and it laid me low for months, and took over a year for me to recover to a functional state (and the first test came back negative!), and took me a lot longer to really feel like myself.
Second was another full-blow co-infection (Babesiosis) that attacks your white blood cells--no visible signs, I just kept getting weaker and feeling worse until my wife piled me into the car and took me to Emergency (Never saw the tick, never had a rash). They tested, it came back positive for the Lyme coinfection and they started me on blood transfusions immediately. (Good news--Doxy kills the co-infections as well).
Third was no rash/bullseye, just slow decline with flu-like symptoms. I preemptively started on Doxy that time, and it seemed like it did not get a real foothold.
Fourth was this summer--I was outside a lot painting the house, was bitten, never saw the tick, no rash, no real catastrophic symptoms--I was just getting slower and feeling more tired (which I put down to the hard work of painting the house)--until I finally went to the doctor, and almost as an afterthought asked if they would run the Lyme test--and it came back positive/active infection yet again. Twenty one days of Doxy, and I am still feeling the after-effects with arthritis-like symptoms. Already checked in with the Doc, and it is in reversal, and I'll do a followup checkup at the 6 month stage.
Don't mess with Lyme, it will destroy your health if you let it.
On this page (Loudon County VA) is a great brochure that they issued--on the RH side, click on the image with the picture of the tick) and it will open a PDF that is the best single document that tells you what you need to know:
https://www.loudoun.gov/index.aspx?NID=1273
Last edited:
jaoneill
Feeling the Heat
I was raised in the Harlem Valley (Dover Plains) and still have six siblings in that area so have been well aware of Lymes for 40 years. It has only recently reached as far north as we are now but I would reitterate your warning above. I went through a nasty bout with it 2 years ago and was a year recuperating; took three courses of Doxy to knock it. I have never been one to take medications and don't think I had taken more than a half dozen asprins in my entire life until then. Although I have no recollection of being bit since then, it has recurred twice but I now recognize the initial symptoms and fortunately have a doc who doesn't hesitate to call in a Doxy scrip when I call him.
Birdbrain
New Member
Jotel me this
Feeling the Heat
3 years later you get a reply..
its insane how bad ticks are when there is a CURE available for lyme disease! the issue is that the drug companies wont make the cure because theres no money in it for them (which makes no sense because there would be).
jaoneill
Feeling the Heat
Again late this summer I began feeling the usual symptoms, mostly extreme fatigue, my Doc was on vacation so went to the local clinic. The doc there was a reasonable sort and called in a doxy script, but only a 10 day course. She also sent me for a blood test. Results came back negative for Lymes but positive for anaplasmosis, a similar tick curse. 10 days wasn't enough doxy and as soon as my doc got back in the office he wrote me another 21 days worth; that seems to be what it takes.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Jotel me this
Feeling the Heat
Apparently youve never heard of LYMErix which came out in the 90s and cured pretty much 80 to 90% of all infections.
it was taken off the market due to 'fears of side effects'.
Dig deeper and you see big pharma loves profit.. not curing people. They saw it as a waste of time creating a drug that cures a few thousand people a year when there are billions to be made in other diseases and infections.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/5/7/17314716/lyme-disease-vaccine-history-effectiveness
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870557/
"Despite these limitations, the vaccine offered an effective prevention strategy for those at high risk for Lyme disease."
Jotel me this
Feeling the Heat
They dont make it because of red tape but its 80 to 90% effective..
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/5/7/17314716/lyme-disease-vaccine-history-effectiveness
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870557/
Ashful
Minister of Fire
I still don’t follow. Lyme is 100% curable with existing drugs, I know several people who have had it, and have been cured. The trouble with Lyme disease is the difficult diagnosis, and permanent effects when it goes undiagnosed, not the cure.
Right. you said it. "permanent effects when it goes undiagnosed".. thats the problem. getting it diagnosed. doctors are sick of constantly hearing patients say they think they have lyme disease so the doctor just brushes it off to the common cold or flu.
it is curable but only for a VERY select few around 20% of people in the VERY early stages AND got diagnosed with it fast enough where they could get on antibiotics. the problem is most people never get a rash, never see the tick, and worst of all doctors today think they are demigods and many refuse to give you the ELISA test to see if you even have lyme disease in the first place. the majority of people who get it never fully recover. Those several people who have it were extremely lucky with good doctors.
This summer my father mother wife and daughter all went through treatment for lyme disease. It was my wifes 4th time. Only my wife and daughter had the bullseye and without that my parents had to push hard to get tested and insurance wouldnt cover the test. It is totally ridiculous.
it absolutely is. you go to the doctors wanting help and the doctor looks at you like, "HOW DARE YOU NOT BELIEVE MY EXPERTISE!"
Lyme disease could be as easily treatable as bronchitis. Governments know it, your doctor knows it.. and the sick thing is DOCTORS hand out antibiotics left and right EXCEPT for when you tell them its lyme disease! i went to the doctors not feeling well and within 30 seconds he said, "Ill write you a script for whatever it was." I asked him if he was even going to look at me. even sicker is that its the doctors who are causing antibiotic resistance super bugs.
makes me sick
its curable for dogs because vets hand out doxycycline immediately. human doctor refuse to.
Hasufel
Feeling the Heat
Here's a recent article from our local news station: (broken link removed to https://wtop.com/health-fitness/2018/11/us-officials-report-a-record-number-of-tick-diseases/) .
Basically, the number of tick-borne diseases reported to the government last year (59,000) jumped 22% from the year before. About 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported each year but experts think that the real number of new cases is closer to 300,000. Stay safe, friends.
Basically, the number of tick-borne diseases reported to the government last year (59,000) jumped 22% from the year before. About 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported each year but experts think that the real number of new cases is closer to 300,000. Stay safe, friends.
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