It might be irrational but ticks terrify me (grew up in the Northwest where they aren’t so much a thing) and make me want to avoid moving to the East entirely
15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test
151–160 of 175 posts
Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test
#152I 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…
Did your 30s coincide with the COVID pandemic? I've had a similar experience the last 6 years, and it feels like a combination of aging (I'm 35) and Long COVID. I am trying to get out of the software industry altogether because sitting and looking at a screen all day makes me feel like shit now Unfortunately I haven't gotten a lot of answers about treatment but just putting it out there, if you don't have a character…
I think I may have had long covid or something like that as well.
for something like 12-18 months in 2023-2024 I would only go to work, come home sleep 2 hours and that was all I could manage. I felt so fatigued and tired. I started doing better at the beginning of 2025, and am doing better now. I think it may have been caused by partly illness, and partly the psychological shift to doing nothing social at all for most of covid pandemic.
Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's rough. Same symptoms of low testosterone, which a blood test can measure. This can be caused (even in younger men) through daily exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) like BPA and phthalates, heavy metals, and pesticides. Poor lifestyle exposures such as chronic stress, lack of sleep, and high ambient air pollution also significantly suppress hormone production.
Not just T. Low thyroid hormone levels as well. I just had that diagnosed, after a year or two of feeling “worn out”. I thought it might be T (I’m almost 50 now) but turns out my thyroid was under-active. Relatively easy diagnosis and fix.
Doctors call it a fatigue panel - There's a set of high-yield blood tests for common conditions that they typically order if you're generally tired. Vitamin D, thyroid, iron levels, testosterone in males. Really quite an easy fix if any of those are significantly off. I've had a couple of times I've felt really run down and got labs done, and I was either anemic or hypothyroid, after a month on a higher dose of levothyroxine or on an iron supplement I feel like a new person.
Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did your 30s coincide with the COVID pandemic? I've had a similar experience the last 6 years, and it feels like a combination of aging (I'm 35) and Long COVID. I am trying to get out of the software industry altogether because sitting and looking at a screen all day makes me feel like shit now Unfortunately I haven't gotten a lot of answers about treatment but just putting it out there, if you don't have a character…
If you think you have long Covid, you should do some research about CIRS (Chronic Inflammation Response Syndrome). It is a condition caused by exposure to toxic mold from water damaged (inside or out) buildings. There is growing evidence that there isn't actually a separate condition for long Covid, but rather it is Covid-triggered CIRS. (Lyme can trigger it too). (Note: only about 25% of people are genetically susce…
Throwing all your stuff away seems wasteful.
Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test
#155Earlier quoted context omitted.
for a prophylactic dose of antibiotics after having a tick latched for an unknown amount of time the US gets a persistent amount of emergency room visits for this sort of treatment (tens of thousands annually), and with all the news about increased tick and lyme exposure a larger number of people treat it preemptively, especially with children
Hm, that approach would have me at the doctor every second day and being on antibiotic all the time. I am outdoors a lot and had 5 ticks on me just today after not checking enough last night after being outside. I only would consider antibiotics if the red ring appears. In general I suppose I already have resistance .. or the disease slumbering in my body.
Same. I've found engorged ticks a half dozen times in my life. Never had the red ring and never had antibiotics for it. I've got hypothyroidism (genetic) and some mental health issues, but I am otherwise healthy and run 15 miles a week.
I really don't believe that the vague long term symptoms a lot of people are describing in this thread are from ticks, especially people who don't spend much time outside in lyme endemic regions. Lyme has become a favorite label for quacks to describe the fatigue/pain syndrome that is sometimes called fibromyalgia. We don't really know what causes it (and it's probably not ticks), and taking high dose doxycycline for months is not the answer, other than maybe as a placebo.
Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test
#156Start thinking about α-gal syndrome, even if you're in The North. I just pulled an adult Lone Star tick off my back last night. I had no idea that they had made it to Northern Illinois. Now I get to spend the summer waiting to see if a burger is going to kill me.
Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
Signed up to post this. So I have been on this journey with my daughter for the last 7 years, she is now 25, but only got a Lyme diagnosis less than 2 years ago, has been suffering since she was 18. It’s not just ticks, mosquitos and spiders can apparently carry the bacteria (there is not a lot of consensus about the causes of Lyme, there is the bacterial school of thought and a viral theory). This if the fringe of s…
Thank you for taking the time to sign up and write this. I'm glad your daughter is feeling better, and I wish her a continued recovery. I will consider this treatment more seriously, but the cost is significant, especially only to hope for results.
Just a note, in case it was missed and isn't a mistake: you posted about controlled hyp O thermia, the other person posted about hyp ER thermia.
Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 :)
yeah. 2 month is good number.
if you burn out at same time - it can take half year.
caffein makes you work TWO-FOUR times slower than you could without.
yeah, that is number i measured on self.
and yet i still do it - drugs are drugs - coffee makes me happy - cappuccino - to make effect longer and less strait compared to black shots.
also do not drink in the morning - feel pain of starting a day:)
the only reason you will not have job - you can start hating your job and leave. but you would do job more productive without coffee.
Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> all of the awful side effects of caffeine If I may ask as a coffee addict, what were some of these that affected you specifically?
hard to switch attention and context.
easy to fall into "first idea good idea trap".
lack of ability to work in priorities.
lack of ability achieve long term goals, as long as these are not just extensive usage of self.
procrastination.
all this before even health issues like blood pressure and sleep disruption.
if worth to drop at least once for half year - experience panic attacks may be - and get on track back with better control of addiction :)
Re: 15-minute at-home Lyme disease tick test
#160I 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…
You can't just make a post like this and not say what the condition was or what you did!!