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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

#41

Post by datascienced »

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 makes no medical sense. Like you don’t have concussion because no bruise or something.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#42

Post by chickenchase-rd »

in a pinch I rub black pepper or thyme (hopefully a fine powder) everywhere and on clothes.. (I think thyme tests higher as a repellant for ticks and BPepper for mosquitos).

rub it between your hands to heat it a little to activate the oils inside and apply liberally.

Just remember - do not do it casually at social situations and be wary of staining your clothes and triggering an alergic reaction on yourself.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#43

Post by jakjak123 »

armada651 wrote: post #38
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.

Ticks are incredibly common. People in my area of the country get hundreds of ticks during their life. It's also fairly rare they carry Lyme disease and gets you infected. You definitively should not be given antibiotics without a clear reason.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#44

Post by atombender »

b112 wrote: post #34
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…

Adding to this, bacteria can form biofilms that are undetectable with blood tests. This is thought to be one way that streptococcal bacteria such as _S. pyogenes_ can stay around in the body for a long time, perhaps indefinitely [1].

These biofilms become microcolonies of bacteria (in places such as in the tonsils) that can lie dormant and reinfect in cycles. People who experience recurring strep infections (i.e. strep throat or strep tonsillitis) are often advised to get a tonsillectomy.

Additionally, strep is thought to be capable of inducing autoimmunity through a mechanism called molecular mimicry [2], and this mechanism been implicated in several diseases, including rheumatic fever and psoriasis.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK333419/

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6684244/

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#45

Post by microtonal »

rapjr9 wrote: post #27
reify wrote: post #15

How to prevent Lyme disease this summer? Not been out since covid. Looking a bit like skeletor but thats OK. I mean, is there anywhere safe these days. You could catch anything out there. All those viruses and germs in the air and people breathing on you. Now I can catch lyme disease off of those sneaky sneaky Ticks living in the long grass. Thank heaven I dont go out. I wont catch that bugger! The new staying in! Do…

A neighbor caught a tick borne disease (not Lyme) even though she took precautions. The tick came off a tree onto her head and she didn't notice it there. So consider all attack angles. Watch out for West Nile also!

FWIW ticks generally don’t jump from trees, which is a common misconception:

https://wgme.com/amp/news/i-team/ask-the-i-team-do-ticks-jum...

If she didn’t notice it, it’s more likely the tick got on here from grass tips or bushes and worked its way up.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#46

Post by oliv__ »

keepamovin wrote: post #22

A Lyme disease vaccine from Pfizer and Valneva is in a Phase 3 trial right now. We’re hopeful that the vaccine will be ready in 2025. The UMass Chan Medical School is also studying another potential therapy to prevent Lyme disease that is in clinical trials. This prevention is not a vaccine but a monoclonal antibody that kills the Lyme bacteria in the tick’s gut. This is good news. I like the idea of the monoclonal a…

Side effects? What are you a conspiracy theorist? /s

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#48

Post by qwertox »

I did get Lyme disease. I had no idea that it was a thing because I did not get educated about it, not even about ticks. I was just fascinated by the bullseye and never went to see a doctor.

Sometime later I felt sick with fever and something like an itching inside the head, but since it went away, I never bothered with it again. I also never made a connection between this and the bullseye, maybe it was the cause.

I'm constantly wondering if it would be beneficial to talk to a doctor about it, but it was almost 25 years ago.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#49

Post by chickenchase-rd »

newaccount74 wrote: post #17
reify wrote: post #15

How to prevent Lyme disease this summer? Not been out since covid. Looking a bit like skeletor but thats OK. I mean, is there anywhere safe these days. You could catch anything out there. All those viruses and germs in the air and people breathing on you. Now I can catch lyme disease off of those sneaky sneaky Ticks living in the long grass. Thank heaven I dont go out. I wont catch that bugger! The new staying in! Do…

The article is pretty clear: wear long sleeved clothes, tuck your pants in your socks, check your body for ticks when you get home. Ticks are dangerous, but if you are careful the risk is low.

[flagged]

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#50

Post by bregma »

southerntofu wrote: post #37
Covzire wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is untrue. Borelliosis is treatable at any time: it's caused by a spirochete very similar to syphilis. The second time I had it it was diagnosed about 10 months after infection began, and a simple course of 100 mg Doxycycline for 21 days was all it took.

It's true that (a) sometimes an advanced case where the bacterial infection has spread to the brain requires a stronger intravenous antibiotic that will cross the blood-brain barrier and (2) the infection can cause permanent damage to the joints, heart, and even the brain. But the latter is no longer Lyme disease, it's just arthritis, heart disease, or brain damage and has to be treated symptomatically. You no longer have Lyme though.

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