Lyme Disease any thoughts

I live in Indiana their response has been..."Lyme?? Well thats what I put in my gin and tonic" so my concern is heightened. With the last two or three weeks of weather below 25 deg. it might help cutting back on bugs in general.....

Thanks all.... the ones that have gone under successful treatment it is relief to hear it. Early diagnoses and treatment seems to be the key here.
 
The medical community here nearly refuses to acknowledge the existence of the disease. I've been fighting it for 4 1/2 years. I found a doctor about 10 months into this living hell, and did about a year of biaxin and doxycycline.

The docs here in Iowa say that, since deer ticks are rare, we can't have lyme disease. Unbelievable. I pulled off the tick myself, and crushed it, as I've always done. About 10 days later, the rash, and 3 weeks after that, my brain was on fire, I now have a palsy that must be treated, and I have an intestinal tract thats trying to be a separate living thing.

Insurance, medical, and government communities do NOT want to address this issue.

I don't get it, and I'm mad as hell. I shouldn't be suffering from advanced arthritis at the age of 50.
 
I've only found deer ticks on me a handful of times, and never any engorged ones. I'm thinking about getting tested soon though. A couple years ago Backpacker magazine had an article written by a park ranger on the west coast who had contracted Lyme disease, and by the time he was correctly diagnosed, the disease had progressed to the point where he needed medication just to remain coherent and functioning.

http://www.backpacker.com/june_2006_skills_lyme_disease_ranger/skills/10607

It's a pretty depressing look at the medical community.
 
farmboy said:
The medical community here nearly refuses to acknowledge the existence of the disease. I've been fighting it for 4 1/2 years. I found a doctor about 10 months into this living hell, and did about a year of biaxin and doxycycline.

The docs here in Iowa say that, since deer ticks are rare, we can't have lyme disease. Unbelievable. I pulled off the tick myself, and crushed it, as I've always done. About 10 days later, the rash, and 3 weeks after that, my brain was on fire, I now have a palsy that must be treated, and I have an intestinal tract thats trying to be a separate living thing.

Insurance, medical, and government communities do NOT want to address this issue.

I don't get it, and I'm mad as hell. I shouldn't be suffering from advanced arthritis at the age of 50.
Click to expand...


how did your body react to Biaxin? :(
 
anyone know if tea tree oil is as hard on ticks as it is on lice? I know a few rural teachers who swear by it to keep from getting head lice. they put a few drops in their shampoo, and while the children may be swarming with lice, they are never affected.
 
I got the Lymerix vaccine when it was available and my daughter was part of the study group. She reacted badly to the final shot. Didn't get Lymes symptoms, just nauseous and bad fever.

Not sure how long the effectiveness lasts, but I am sure I am not immune at this point.

BTW, the "Official" reason they gave for pulling the vaccine was that insurance didn't cover it and not enough people were willing to pay for it. With our current push in the US towards Socialized medicine, Lymerix and anything like it will not even be a possibility, but they really need to refine the vaccine and re-release it. It would help a lot of us.

Carl-
 
Oh yeah - even if the tick that gets you is infected, it has to feed on you for about 24 hours before it infects you with Lyme.
 
Bushman5 said:
I went undiagnosed for years, a lot of doctors are NOT in any way shape or form familiar with the symptoms, treatments etc. They tell you its not Lyme Disease, just a bad mosquito bite, dont waste our time, you'll be fine etc etc.

I finally got diagnosed by a rookie first year doctor, who happened to come from northern BC where tick bites are common. However it was far too late for the first stage antibiotics.

our hospital couldn;t even test the tick samples i had brought, they had NO IDEA where to send it for testing.
Click to expand...

Hey Bushman. I emailed or Pm'ed you. Just got a couple questions about your experience
 
Raisedby wolves said:
I got the Lymerix vaccine when it was available and my daughter was part of the study group. She reacted badly to the final shot. Didn't get Lymes symptoms, just nauseous and bad fever.

Not sure how long the effectiveness lasts, but I am sure I am not immune at this point.

BTW, the "Official" reason they gave for pulling the vaccine was that insurance didn't cover it and not enough people were willing to pay for it. With our current push in the US towards Socialized medicine, Lymerix and anything like it will not even be a possibility, but they really need to refine the vaccine and re-release it. It would help a lot of us.

Carl-
Click to expand...

According to the CDC, any benefits that might have been derived from Lymerix are long gone. There was also another vaccine called ImmunoLyme but except for the release of the vaccine, I never heard another word about it.

Doc
 
Bushman5 said:
how did your body react to Biaxin? :(
Click to expand...

I don't remember anything specific, but I was so screwed up at that time I don't know if I would have known the difference.

I went on the biaxin because when I was on the doxy, I couldn't tolerate the sun without 2nd degree burns. I really never had much confidence that the biaxin was doing me any good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top