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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

#131

Post by huytersd »

CatWChainsaw wrote: post #122
huytersd wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Getting antibiotics maybe once a year is not excessive. Please stop being hyperbolic, I’m well aware of MRSAs and do my best to take them sparingly. Where I live between 50-70% of the deer ticks have Lyme disease so it’s not overkill.

Sorry for the akshually energy, but the acronym MRSA is specifically for methicillin-resistant Staph aureus. In this context you might have meant MDR for multi-drug resistant? There's also XDR for the apocalyptic superbugs we're inadvertently breeding.

Yeah I didn’t know the difference. Multi drug resistant anything is what I meant.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#132

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

pridkett wrote: post #116
MichaelZuo wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roughly half the doctors are below average and probably more than half of GPs are below average...

For a while I had a GP who did his med school in the Caribbean. He was fine. I knew he did it there. During one exam he asked me where I did my grad school. I respond and reflexively ask him and his response was “Blah blah school of medicine in The Grenadines. But the guy who graduates last in his class there is still called ‘Doctor’”.

I would rather have the last in his class doctor from some Caribbean country that listens to his patients than the ego doctor at the top of his class at John’s Hopkins that doesn’t.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#133

Post by keepamovin »

underbooter wrote: post #120
keepamovin wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah faithful doxycycline, a legitimate cureall. Well tolerated, cheap, with few side effects when used sparingly.

Just watch out for the vomiting.

For me it's diarrhea. But yeah...Is the vomiting mostly with babies? Or even adults?

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#134

Post by giantg2 »

mindslight wrote: post #117
giantg2 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's standard. Although in this publication they are going by engorgement. Doctors aren't that concerned with the details. It's unlikely they will get sued for prescribing doxycycline to a patient who doesn't have a known allergy to it, so why not. https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/tick-bite-prophy... https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases/tick-bite-prophy...

Is it really supposed to take 72 hours for a tick to begin feeding? The 72 hours in that link seems to be about whether it's within the window that prophylaxis would have an effect (although you seem to be acknowledging this?). In my case the doc asked if the tick was engorged, to which I responded that I didn't know - I'm not a biologist that studies ticks and can't give such a judgement as a nice tidy answer. Which…

The post exposure prophylactic treatment is actually only a single dose.

The 72 hours in the link is from time of removal. The 72 hours I reference is how long it typically takes for a tick to regurgitate into a host (it has to feed for some time before it regurgitates). The article referenced it as being engorged. The correct answer is in the middle. It takes 72 hours for the tick to regurgitate, but it could technically crawl off a dead host and on to you. But it's harder to identify if it's engorged. These facts led us to use the doxycycline while the lab confirmed if the tick was positive and how long it was feeding.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#135

Post by quesera »

jakjak123 wrote: post #130
armada651 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm guessing that having a tick for longer than 24 to 48 hours was a clear enough reason. I assume people who get hundreds of ticks will be checking more thoroughly and remove them within two days. I agree antibiotics shouldn't be prescribed without a clear reason. People are being prescribed antibiotics all over for things like the common cold and for some insane reason we're still putting antibiotics in farm animal…

We check for ticks every day you have been in the garden or just outside in the woods. Less than 2% of ticks carry Lyme disease, and there is even less chance you actually get a infection, and that the infection becomes a permanent infection. As far as I know, Lyme disease is not that dangerous, but the bacteria can enter stasis and "hide" in different parts of your body, until it suddenly becomes active again, then…

In a few (large) areas of the US, Lyme is endemic and most deer ticks are carriers.

I've tested random samples from a few forests in the Northeast, and >75% came back positive.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#136

Post by newaccount74 »

pseudosaid wrote: post #106
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").

it actually hides along the cell walls between movements. My mom had Lyme and I was born with it. at age 12 i saw on live video the Lyme in action. I got rid of Lyme via eastern medicine and a liquid oxygen shot daily. Lyme hates oxygen rich environments

Well... there's also "chronic lyme disease", which is most likely pseudo-scientific bullshit. If you "saw lyme in action", chances are your mom took you to a quack doctor.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#137

Post by switch007 »

zamadatix wrote: post #115
switch007 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The primary objective of the NHS is to save money, it can seem. Therefore they create policies that reduce costs, write advice on nhs.uk that results in lower costs, restrict access to tests/drugs etc. I DO understand the arguments about excessive diagnostics, antibiotics etc - but they certainly hide behind those arguments _a lot_. Honestly it is so stressful and time-consuming to get anything other than a basic blo…

The price of (most first round antibiotics) is so low that it doesn't really make sense to avoid prescribing them from a cost avoidance perspective.

It costs next to nothing for one person. A different policy that applies to a population of 67m is a different order of magnitude

NHS policy isn't about the individual

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#138

Post by sizzle »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #132
pridkett wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For a while I had a GP who did his med school in the Caribbean. He was fine. I knew he did it there. During one exam he asked me where I did my grad school. I respond and reflexively ask him and his response was “Blah blah school of medicine in The Grenadines. But the guy who graduates last in his class there is still called ‘Doctor’”.

I would rather have the last in his class doctor from some Caribbean country that listens to his patients than the ego doctor at the top of his class at John’s Hopkins that doesn’t.

To add to that list, I’ll take the IMG doc over PA or NP mid levels that did a fraction of schooling compared to traditional medical school.

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#139

Post by sizzle »

SOLAR_FIELDS wrote: post #62
switch007 wrote: post #55

I got Lyme when I was 26 (in an area with it, after handling an animal famous for ticks). GP refused to believe Lyme could be a possibility. Eventually got a test (probably an inferior one, knowing our health service), which came back negative. But I had a bullseye rash, flu-like symptoms etc. I'm convinced I had it. I wasn't prescribed antibiotics because the test was negative The 2 years following I had bad muscles…

I had a very similar story that I’ve shared on here before. I fortunately very much knew it was Lyme because I got it in Europe where the bullseye rash is much more common. My PCP, in his infinite wisdom, said it was a skin rash and wanted to refer me to a dermatologist instead. Why? Because he couldn’t be bothered to Wikipedia Lyme disease and learn that the European one takes 8 weeks to appear, and because the gest…

Pardon my ignorance, but does antibiotics even do anything? I thought there was no cure once you’ve been bitten by a tick?

What role does the antibiotic play?

Re: How to prevent Lyme disease this summer

#140

Post by sizzle »

maxrecursion wrote: post #71
giantg2 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You have to tiptoe around their ego." Only if you have a shit doctor. I've had to be an advocate for medical care of family members, and I've had a few doctors actually compliment me on being an engaged advocate for their treatment. You still want to be respectful and open minded, but some basic study of the condition/treatment/lingo can go a long way to them seeing you as an informed patient they are willing to wor…

When you go to an urgent care it is a total crapshoot. I've seen some of the worst doctors ever there. One literally looked at my throat for 5 seconds, said I had strep, and went back to playing on his phone, they weren't busy I was the only person in there. I've had other misread tests for my kids, saying they had strep when they had RSV. But some urgent care doctors have been really good. I think the ratio is chang…

Wait till they are all replaced by midlevel NP and PAs like is currently happening in hospitals everywhere. The quality of care is going to be even more fractured by their lack of education to med school trained docs.
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