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How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

news.harvard.edu

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Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#31

Post by Freak_NL »

dabber wrote: post #13
astura wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's "Lyme disease," named after Lyme, Connecticut (which, in turn, gets its name from Lyme Regis in England). Not "limes," that's a fruit.

Sure, but I'm not a doctor and anyone who is living in an area that I'm speaking to will understand what I wrote and those that don't (perhaps yourself included) might learn a new colloquial phrase given the context of the comment.

When writing about medical issues, spelling matters. If you don't like being corrected, then just ignore the helpful hint and move on. Doubling down on a typo is just weird.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#32

Post by lencastre »

komatsu wrote: post #23
huytersd wrote: post #7

Just go to your PCP and get your one time course of 2 doxycycline pills as soon as you get bitten. I also spray my hiking/yardwork pants and boots with permethrin. DEET is pretty useless, I’ve seen them walk right over DEET sprayed boots onto my pants. They make it about 5 steps through permethrin. I’m surprised advise from Harvard is getting this wrong. If you want even more protection, you can buy stocking like sla…

Taking antibiotics after every random bite is overkill. Antibiotics overuse is a serious issue for your body and for the general antibiotics resistance as well. When the tick is attached less than 24 hours it won't transmit Lyme disease according to the CDC. I check myself every evening after outdoor activities, remove 10-20 ticks every year and knock-knock never had Lyme disease yet. I wasn't aware of the permethrin…

10-20 ticks every year??? I can’t imagine that and I often run in grassy fields (not tall grass) and at most I found 1-2 ticks on me or my kids.

How do you get that kind of numbers in the first place?

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#33

Post by mindslight »

eurleif wrote: post #19
IncreasePosts wrote: post #4

Something to note for anyone in Lyme disease range: The bullseye is the stereotypical sign, but it is not necessarily going to show up 100% of the time. When I was diagnosed with Lyme disease in ~Y2K New Jersey, I had the bullseye rash, and the doctor called in the nurses to look at it because he had never seen one before, despite diagnosing a lot of people with Lyme disease.

Conversely, a doctor told my dad he couldn't have Lyme because he didn't have a bullseye rash. That resulted in a significant delay in treatment, and probably in permanent damage. I'm still mad about that.

That's a typical experience of the US medical system, where you're lucky if you get ten minutes before they start looking around for a broom stick to shoo you out the door.

One should have some idea of what levers one expects a doctor to pull. If a doctor isn't really engaging with your problem, then push towards those. Obviously you can't directly ask for them but rather focus on the right symptoms to nudge them there. You have to tiptoe around their ego.

And if you're wondering why you've got to learn to be your own doctor instead of relying on specialization of labor, well, welcome to our post-capitalist overfinancialized hellhole.

Also for this particular topic, you can send a tick in to UMass for testing and they'll tell you if it has Lyme and many other diseases. There's a bit of a turnaround time so it doesn't work for primary triage, but it's sure nice to find out that you're definitely in the clear.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#34

Post by b112 »

newaccount74 wrote: post #16

What sucks about Lyme disease are the possible long term effects that an infection can have. Some people believe it's because of bacteria that stay hidden in your body, but I think the more likely explanation is an auto-immune reaction. There is no treatment for these long term effects. (It's called "post treatment lyme disease syndrome").

Hmm. I know viruses definitely can hide in places, specifically muscle tissue but that sort of makes sense, as their reproductive strategy is to actually use cells to reproduce and such.

But I guess there are all sorts of places for bacteria to hide out. One thing I've always wondered, is there were reports around 5+ years ago, of a "new organ" being discovered. This was some sort of layer of liquid below skin layers, which was never apparent after death. And it was only discovered as a result of improving capability to view our body while alive, in this case tech not really possible 30 years ago.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/meet-your-interst...

I guess my point here is, if bacteria were in the interstitium they could hide out in this organ, and it's massive if it exists. I've wondered about this, as I suspect some fungal infections actually live in the interstitium for fluid ingestion and to travel to alternate sites, but then actually poke through the skin for air/etc. It could give a better clue as to why some fungal infections are hard to fight.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#35

Post by b112 »

vundercind wrote: post #14
acheron wrote: post #6

It says to use DEET? No. Use permethrin (on clothes) and picaridin (on self).

Yes to permethrin, but beware it’s very dangerous for cats. Don’t spray your clothes anywhere near them. Maybe keep any clothes you treat with it in a room they can’t reach, or sealed in a container—I think once it dries it’s less-dangerous but I still wouldn’t want one to decide to curl up on a pile of them.

https://canadianrockiestrailguide.com/ticks-permethrin-and-c...

I first heard about people using permethrin 5 years ago, but haven't looked into it too fully. Then I see this! There's likely some reason for it, Health Canada is known not to bow easily to corporate pressures, but I'm curious as to why.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#36

Post by someoneiam »

lencastre wrote: post #32
komatsu wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taking antibiotics after every random bite is overkill. Antibiotics overuse is a serious issue for your body and for the general antibiotics resistance as well. When the tick is attached less than 24 hours it won't transmit Lyme disease according to the CDC. I check myself every evening after outdoor activities, remove 10-20 ticks every year and knock-knock never had Lyme disease yet. I wasn't aware of the permethrin…

10-20 ticks every year??? I can’t imagine that and I often run in grassy fields (not tall grass) and at most I found 1-2 ticks on me or my kids. How do you get that kind of numbers in the first place?

I think that is just what happens if you live in tick-dense areas and do a lot if outdoor activities. I take every precaution, and remove approximatively the same number of ticks per season. Some places are just like that. Once, I rested with my right hand against the ground, just a couple of seconds, and upon lifting it up I noticed around 30 ticks crawling on it.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#37

Post by southerntofu »

Covzire wrote: post #5
IncreasePosts wrote: post #4

Something to note for anyone in Lyme disease range: The bullseye is the stereotypical sign, but it is not necessarily going to show up 100% of the time. When I was diagnosed with Lyme disease in ~Y2K New Jersey, I had the bullseye rash, and the doctor called in the nurses to look at it because he had never seen one before, despite diagnosing a lot of people with Lyme disease.

Hard logic dictates maybe the other diagnoses were something else.

No, Lyme disease is entirely treatable in the first days following the infection. You can get it multiple times and treat it every time.

Once you don't treat it for a few days, you'll have it for life and that's when it gets nasty.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#38

Post by armada651 »

rpmisms wrote: post #30

I'm incredibly fortunate to have never had a tick bite, but my wife has and got Lyme. Don't fuck around, go get the antibiotics immediately. If your doctor doesn't believe you, write a formal complaint to their board after finding another doctor.

I did get a tick bite that I only noticed after three days. I didn't screw around and immediately went to the urgent care to get that thing removed by a professional. They also didn't wait for any kind of rash before giving me antibiotics given how long the tick was there. Lyme disease is no joke.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#40

Post by cs02rm0 »

astura wrote: post #10
dabber wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had it three times as a kid and the most recent one didn't produce a "bulls eye" rash. I knew what it was by then and went to the doctor, symptomatic, telling them that I had limes, but they hadn't seen it before and told me I had the flu. I got a second opinion with blood work that came back positive for limes. So if you have "the flu" symptoms around a time you were had been running around grassy area where li…

It's "Lyme disease," named after Lyme, Connecticut (which, in turn, gets its name from Lyme Regis in England). Not "limes," that's a fruit.

Although Lyme Regis gets its name from the river Lim.

(But yes, Lyme disease).

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