Live data from Hacker News

New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

news.northwestern.edu

131–140 of 166 posts

Re: New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

#131
post #83
post #26

> Northwestern scientists identified that piperacillin, an antibiotic in the same class as penicillin, effectively cured mice of Lyme disease at 100-times less than the effective dose of doxycycline. Would be nice if it translates to humans. > The authors argue that piperacillin, which has already been FDA-approved as a safe treatment for pneumonia, could also be a candidate for preemptive interventions for those pot…

As someone allergic to doxycycline (was given it as a kid, had a huge rash all over my body), that sounds helpful if I ever need it.

Not allergic myself, but tetracyclines basically turn me into a vampire, the slighest bit of sun exposure burns me to a crisp. Very unpleasant.

Re: New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

#132
Simple way to detect if you're in an area with ticks: tape a white washcloth to a long stick and swish it back and forth around the ground. Check the cloth for ticks every so often and you'll find the tick "hotspots" and can avoid them. Permethrin-treated clothing is also fantastic for protecting against ticks - it's just highly toxic to water life and cats in liquid form.

Re: New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

#133

Both of my sisters (currently mid-30s) have had their lives on pause for over 10 years due to chronic Lyme disease because doctors in Mexico hadn't ever even heard of it. It took 4 years of pain for the first of them to be diagnosed. Not sure when, if ever, they'll be cured because when you don't treat Lyme disease within a few months of infection, it digs in and is incredibly difficult to kill.

> Not sure when, if ever, they'll be cured because when you don't treat Lyme disease within a few months of infection, it digs in and is incredibly difficult to kill FYI, the idea that active infection continues to exist in hiding within the body is a fringe theory. The linked article talks about one of the current theories for why some patients have persistent symptoms after the infection is treated. The theory invo…

> This is a difficult topic because some alternative Lyme treatment providers will tell patients they have a persistent infection and then subject them to years of high-dose antibiotics with no scientific basis, which can create a separate set of problems without addressing anything.

I know someone who has been suffering from what they call "chronic lyme" for years. These people are painfully well aware of the unlikeliness of antibiotics fixing them, and they're very much aware of the problems being caused by antibiotics. But the alternative ("doing nothing") isn't helping them either, so they cling to the hope that the antibiotics will do "something".

It doesn't help that they're stigmatised. They're "lazy". They're "faking it". It isn't a "real disease". None of that helps them. Maybe the antibiotics don't help them either, but at least they have a chance of doing something.

Re: New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I could hunt Borrelia with spears it would be over

I would like to kill more deer which are part of the Lyme cycle. There are so many in the rural area I live, they remind of big city rats.

Make wolves great again

Re: New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

#135
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why have I heard so many stories of doctors not wanting to diagnose something as Lyme disease?

American doctors are also reluctant to do rabies shot. Yeah they are expensive, the risk is low and there are ways to rule it out, but I'd rather not die. Other countries can get them anywhere for cheap. Here...thousands of dollars in the ER. One reason could be its just not administered enough. The other is, for profit American medical system because no one wants to die.

"Other countries can get them anywhere for cheap."

Those of us outside the US understand the US health care system is more profit orientated than many other countries but we cannot understand the huge price differentials, they're often huge in comparison with many others. Surely figures that high are nothing other than price-gouging. (Even if demand is low and the stuff has to be imported the additional costs can't be that costly. Surely not?)

So why doesn't consumer and or monopoly law kick in to stop it (as it does in many other places)?

Re: New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

#136

Good time to remind people that right next to the town of Lyme CT is Plum Island Animal Disease Center, who happened to be researching tick based disease transmission when Lyme disease was first discovered (named after the town that had the first case). Crazy coincidence. https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2019/07/did-us-invent-lym...

Not really. Isn't the best place to open a center that "researches tick based disease transmission" somewhere that's close proximity to a hot-spot for ticks that transmit diseases?

Hmm reminds me of the lab in Wuhan’s that’s doing weapons level bio research, and yet the virus came from a wet market

Re: New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

#137

Both of my sisters (currently mid-30s) have had their lives on pause for over 10 years due to chronic Lyme disease because doctors in Mexico hadn't ever even heard of it. It took 4 years of pain for the first of them to be diagnosed. Not sure when, if ever, they'll be cured because when you don't treat Lyme disease within a few months of infection, it digs in and is incredibly difficult to kill.

I read an account here years ago of someone that tried everything and as a last resort did a 2-3 week fast under doctors supervision and it cured it. I always thought I would try this if I got LD.

Re: New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it is even broader than that. It is removing any potential opposition. That opposition is independent institutions, such as universities, but also the truth itself. If there's no one to research things, then how will you know if something is "true" or not? If there's no one to communicate those findings, how will anyone find out? Etc.

Independent institutions is an oxymoron.

Independent from POTUS is what was meant.

Re: New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why have I heard so many stories of doctors not wanting to diagnose something as Lyme disease?

I literally used to get laughed out of the clinic, told I was a healthy young male and just needed to exercise more. After a decade of this, I was finally diagnosed with gout, something doctors had just been lying about testing for. No one could believe someone could have gout in their 20s (It's been developing since my late teens and I've generally had arthritis my entire life, since I was a child). It took a physic…

This is why, although I know there will be problems with it, we should get AI and blood tests more accessible for individuals. Accessing the healthcare system for "I know I'm not 100% but ... I don't have anything specific wrong like a broken bone" is basically a crapshoot - and a totally stupid one.

Re: New studies offer insight into Lyme disease’s treatment, lingering symptoms

#140
post #52

My mother got a tick bite and felt off and the doctor told her she had allergies and sinus infection due to high pollen. Luckily my younger brother is a physician and told her to go back and ask for a Lyme disease test. They said okay but said Lyme disease is really rare and wasn’t necessary. Long story short she was positive but was caught early enough that 30 days Doxy was all she needed. That same year I was bitte…

always have to argue with a doctor to get a lyme test. i'm like come on please i spend a lot of time in the woods idgaf what you think i'm paying for it
Post reply on HN