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15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

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Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

#81

Post by nchmy »

beaker52 wrote: post #64
dlahoda wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you drink coffee?

Yes. I've tried avoiding caffeine during my year off. When I don't (even after weeks of abstinence) I sleep 12-14 hours a night and still need a nap during the day, which is incompatible with having both a day job and something approaching a well-lived life involving laundry. So I drink caffeine, to be compatible with the labour market.

You need more than weeks of abstinence, friend. Ive generally noticed 1-2 months are necessary to recover from all of the awful side effects of caffeine (from drinking a tiny amount of coffee per day - my body is just very sensitive to it). I urge you to try it.

Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

#82

Post by nchmy »

scotty79 wrote: post #63
beaker52 wrote: post #41

I didn’t discover that ticks were a problem until I was in my mid 20s, and had been rolling around in deer-filled brush for years. Either I got very lucky, or have a chronic tick-borne disease. I’ve been battling unexplained anxiety, fatigue, poor sleep and cognitive decline throughout my 30s. I’ve had every blood test under the sun, numerous sleep studies and tried every vitamin. I’ve had no answers and no change. S…

Do you drink coffee?

This was my immediate thought. Very small amounts of daily coffee have caused me significant problems with fatigue etc... Takes 1-2 months to get back to feeling good. Strongly urge anyone who feels tired, lack of focus etc to stop all caffeine intake. As with any drug, you're just chasing the initial boost, and really only getting yourself back to baseline.

Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

#83

Post by royosherove »

TLDR: A startup called LymeAlert is launching a $40 at-home test (August 2026) that tells you in 15 minutes whether a tick carries Lyme disease. You grind the tick in a container, insert a chemical strip, and it changes color if Lyme bacteria are present. Founded by an MIT Sloan MBA / physician assistant who wanted to save people the $50–$450 and week-long wait of lab testing. Caveat: it only detects Lyme (not other tick-borne infections like Alpha-gal), though a multi-pathogen version is planned for next year. They're also building a smartphone app to crowdsource infected-tick locations.

Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

#84

Post by nkrisc »

zxexz wrote: post #50
nkrisc wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do ticks commonly detach on their own before being noticed? Because from what I’ve seen of fully engorged ticks I don’t think I would fail to discover that. Or maybe an earlier stage where they’re smaller?

I always thought that too. I spend a lot of time outside and check rigorously. Very often I find a recently attached tick. Found a fully-engorged deer tick half-detached not too long ago - pulled it off jaw-intact. In treatment for early-mid stage disseminated Lyme again, for the third time. Certainly a hidden tax one pays living in New England...I've recently put a lot more effort into things like permethrin. From w…

I’ve been fortunate that all the ticks I’ve found on myself I discovered before they began feeding because I am very hairy and they tickled my hairs on my legs as they made their way up.

One other I found crawling up my white tshirt. Good reminder to wear light colored clothes when you’re out where ticks are.

Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

#85

Post by boringg »

perbu wrote: post #67
beaker52 wrote: post #41

I didn’t discover that ticks were a problem until I was in my mid 20s, and had been rolling around in deer-filled brush for years. Either I got very lucky, or have a chronic tick-borne disease. I’ve been battling unexplained anxiety, fatigue, poor sleep and cognitive decline throughout my 30s. I’ve had every blood test under the sun, numerous sleep studies and tried every vitamin. I’ve had no answers and no change. S…

fwiw; I had unexplained anxiety, fatigue, poor sleep and cognitive decline as a post-COVID induced histamine intolerance with a few bonus attributes. High amounts of histamine would accumulate in my mast cells then get released in 3-5am, undermining sleep and also inhibiting serotonin. It took me about four years to fully understand my condition. Hope you figure out what is bothering you. The body is incredibly compl…

How did you figure this one out and how did you resolve it? Asking for a friend!

Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

#86

Post by RetroTechie »

yread wrote: post #49
kaikai wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My understanding is that the ticks only transmit disease after they have been attached long enough to become engorged. None of the ticks shown were engorged. I’ve hear stats as long as 24 hours and as short as 30 seconds. One nurse told me that removing ticks by grasping and pulling means they transmit immediately, because you squeeze their contents through their mouths. I no longer believe any of the stats; seems…

I've removed several hundred ticks using soap on a wet cloth and doing one counter-clockwise rotation on the tick. No lyme, tick-borne encephalitis so far. Key thing is to check after every hike, keep checking their favorite places (where the skin gets thinner and softer) and check before you scratch something that itches. Having an easy to use method which doesn't need special tools also helps by being able to immed…

> Key thing is to check after every hike

There's the common advice to wear long pants & tuck them into socks. But at times I've found the exact opposite: short pants are fine.

Why: ticks can be hard to find on clothing. So you get home, inspect legs etc, and (later) a tick crawls from pants onto your leg & you may not notice.

Bare legs otoh make it trivial to check for ticks regularly during a walk, and/or when you feel something crawling up your leg. Since they're not yet attached then, a flick of your finger & they're off.

Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

#87

Post by beaker52 »

ed_balls wrote: post #76
beaker52 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I've tried avoiding caffeine during my year off. When I don't (even after weeks of abstinence) I sleep 12-14 hours a night and still need a nap during the day, which is incompatible with having both a day job and something approaching a well-lived life involving laundry. So I drink caffeine, to be compatible with the labour market.

Have tired ADHD diagnosis?

I have one :) Unmedicated. Side-effects impacted me more than the meds helped.

Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

#88

Post by beaker52 »

nchmy wrote: post #81
beaker52 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I've tried avoiding caffeine during my year off. When I don't (even after weeks of abstinence) I sleep 12-14 hours a night and still need a nap during the day, which is incompatible with having both a day job and something approaching a well-lived life involving laundry. So I drink caffeine, to be compatible with the labour market.

You need more than weeks of abstinence, friend. Ive generally noticed 1-2 months are necessary to recover from all of the awful side effects of caffeine (from drinking a tiny amount of coffee per day - my body is just very sensitive to it). I urge you to try it.

OK, from tomorrow, I will abstain for caffeine until 21st September at the earliest and take a read. Let's see if I will still have a job :)

Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test

#89

Post by badpun »

beaker52 wrote: post #41

I didn’t discover that ticks were a problem until I was in my mid 20s, and had been rolling around in deer-filled brush for years. Either I got very lucky, or have a chronic tick-borne disease. I’ve been battling unexplained anxiety, fatigue, poor sleep and cognitive decline throughout my 30s. I’ve had every blood test under the sun, numerous sleep studies and tried every vitamin. I’ve had no answers and no change. S…

> I’ve been battling unexplained anxiety, fatigue, poor sleep and cognitive decline throughout my 30s.

If it's not severe, it may be simply getting older.

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