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Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

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Re: Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

#221

Post by learc83 »

foobiekr wrote: post #187
learc83 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ticks do not drop from trees. They almost always climb up your legs. They are generally below waist height.

I had at least twenty ticks as a kid, all on my scalp. I used to spend a lot of time in the woods. This was before Lyme had spread, though. I still remember sitting in class feeling my hair and feeling the back of a tick. So .. I think they must be on trees and bushes, I’ve never had one elsewhere.

Sure they're on bushes and grass and low trees and they climb up your body to your scalp. They don't drop down from trees onto your scalp.

Re: Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

#222

Post by learc83 »

op00to wrote: post #161
learc83 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ticks do not drop from trees. They almost always climb up your legs. They are generally below waist height.

The other day a tick dropped from a tree onto my computer screen. I was sitting under the tree. Ticks drop from trees.

Trees and brush sure. And a tick can definitely climb a tree. But dropping down isn't the way they generally attach. They hold onto grass and low branches waiting for animals to brush past them.

They don't really have a mechanism to alert them to the presence of animals walking below them fast enough for this to be practical for them.

Re: Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

#223

Post by Balgair »

spacebatsghost wrote: post #69
Assossa wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would greatly appreciate it if you could find the name of that medication. My sister has Lyme Disease and is still suffering health effects from it despite various treatments.

Most non-Lyme Literate Medical doctors prescribe Doxycyclin. If you are seeing a Lyme Literate Medical doctor they'll put you on a cocktail (often Clarithromycin, Doxy, Alinia (anti-parasitic), and a few others. This also depends if you have co-infections or not.

A family member is on Doxycyclin for another issue unrelated to Lyme. It has caused them a fair amount of nerve degeneration issues in the toes and fingers. This is perhaps the risk that the some doctors are trying to avoid.

Re: Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

#224

Post by khawkins »

switch007 wrote: post #205
khawkins wrote: post #165

Bullshit, they're not exploding. Lyme disease confirmed cases are occurring at roughly the same rate in 2017 as 2007. Look at the CDC data yourself: https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/graphs.html

You can call "bullshit" by picking a random year, sure. I can pick 2010 (22,561) vs 2017 (29,513) Their data set begins at 1997 and ends in 2017 though: 1997: 12,801 2017: 29,513

Exploding doesn't just mean increasing, it means accelerating. No one would look at that graph and say the rate is increasing. No doubt they excluded it from their article, and instead chose to cherry-pick years like you're saying, because it discredits their title.

Re: Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

#225

Post by CptFribble »

lkrubner wrote: post #89

I was bit by a tick and I got sick. No doctor could figure out what was wrong. I tested negative for Lyme. I took antibiotics (Biaxin) and 3 months later I was fine. I stopped taking antibiotics. Within 2 months I was sick again. I took Biaxin for 6 months. I felt great. I stopped antibiotics. Within 2 months I was sick again. I took Biaxin for a year. I felt great. I stopped taking antibiotics. Within 2 months I was…

Are you still vegetarian? Do you think you acquired Alpha-Gal allergy from the tick bite?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha-gal_allergy

Re: Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

#226

Post by gregoryexe »

ceejayoz wrote: post #126
ColanR wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

15 years ago, conspiracy theorists were being asked to prove government spying. It's hard, and the coverup might leave only circumstantial evidence, but it doesn't mean its not true. Either way, if you're trying to provide a source against the point being made, it needs to be better than that one. Is there any other? Edit: I did a bit of looking into it. Tick-borne diseases were definitely studied there, which means…

> The geography of the disease also fits a spread from the Plum Island facility. See the same article for a map. No, it doesn't, considering it was documented in Scotland in the 1700s. The Plum Island facility was started in 1954. > From wikipedia: "The review in Army Chemical Review concluded 'Lab 257 would be cautiously valuable to someone writing a history of Plum Island'". The actual quote is: > The review in Arm…

> No, it doesn't, considering it was documented in Scotland in the 1700s. The Plum Island facility was started in 1954.

Yes, it does. This strain was before unseen in the US so much so it's very name references where it was first seen in the US, regardless of where it may have been elsewhere in the world.

Re: Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

#227

Post by hartleybrody »

magduf wrote: post #133
stupidboy wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, that's proper procedure--except for the scotch tape. Our lab techs need to tediously remove ticks from adhesive every day because some authority (first-aid manuals?) is telling people to do that. It ends up in pieces after extraction which hinders us from identifying the species, life stage, and duration of engorgement. Hopefully this practice phases out with time.

So how else do you store the tick? I can see why they would recommend scotch tape: deer ticks are tiny, and the tape helps keep you from losing them. Don't say "put it in a film storage canister" because no one has those any more! I haven't seen one of those in decades. I'm not sure what I'd do with one honestly; I have some small Tupperware containers I could use, IF I happen to be at home when I pull the tick off.

When I was in the woods and found one on me, I took the batteries out of an extra flashlight I was carrying and kept the tick trapped in the handle.

When I got home, I transferred him to a double ziplock labelled with the date and where on the body I found him and tossed him into the freezer for a few months until I figured I was in the clear.

Re: Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

#228

Post by rb808 »

Tharkun wrote: post #204
gerbilly wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know what you mean. However we might not be awash in deer if we hadn't first 'culled' all the predators. Wolves for example.¹ 1: http://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/AppalFor/Readings/leopold.pdf

The wolf population is slowly increasing in western europe. Here's some wolf news for those who enjoy that sort of thing, in Dutch: http://www.welkomwolf.be/node/238

I'd love wolves roaming around my local forest, but my neighbors with pets and local farmers wouldn't let it happen.

Re: Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

#229

Post by monort »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #213
monort wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a counter-argument - my quality of life was greatly increased by an unsolicited advice here.

Can you point me to the exchange in question?

Can't find it - it was a long time ago. I was getting strong headaches while traveling, it was a caffeine withdrawal, but I didn't know it until someone here mentioned the possibility. I started drinking caffeinated beverages while traveling, and the problem was gone.

Re: Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

#230

Post by DoreenMichele »

monort wrote: post #229
DoreenMichele wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you point me to the exchange in question?

Can't find it - it was a long time ago. I was getting strong headaches while traveling, it was a caffeine withdrawal, but I didn't know it until someone here mentioned the possibility. I started drinking caffeinated beverages while traveling, and the problem was gone.

Thank you for trying to find it and for replying.

Please note that you getting strong headaches while traveling due to caffeine withdrawal really doesn't fall under what I was describing.

I'm talking about people with much more serious, chronic conditions where the entire world would like to act like "Your genetic disorder would totes go away if you would just eat this thing here/take this supplement/read this article!"

And I struggle with this myself because I actually have a genetic disorder and it actually has responded well to dietary and lifestyle changes, so I am prone to wanting very much to spread the good news and it tends to not go over well with other people. So I've had to learn to curb my own enthusiasm.

I'm not suggesting no one should ever offer unsolicited feedback on Hacker News. I'm just suggesting people be a little sensitive when talking to folks with overwhelming and incurable problems who have probably heard your suggestion umpteen other times and will probably just find it to be an imposition, not a brilliant insight.

Most of the time, they aren't commenting about their condition because they are hoping some random stranger will know the miracle cure that they hadn't heard of and be able to somehow back it up credibly. Most of the time, they are just trying to distract themselves from unremitting agony by engaging in a little discussion and their medical situation is something they happen to know something about, so they offer their two cents worth in hopes of feeling like a normal human being for thirty seconds.

Intruding on that with "Have you tried X! You should totes try X!" tends to be a super negative experience in most cases for such people. It robs them of their moment of normality that they were reaching for as someone who can simply talk to other people, just like anyone else.

You have a great day.

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