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The Lyme Wars (2013)

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Re: The Lyme Wars (2013)

#2
The unfortunate reality is that both the CDC and the patient advocacy groups are lying their asses off. On the CDC side, all the recommendations are based around lyme when, as this article points out, there are dozens of tickborne infections including probably many that haven't even been discovered yet. So the 'official' clinical guidelines around treating tickborne illnesses make no sense. And in general many of the recommendations just seem to be deeply epistemologically flawed.

Whereas on the patient advocacy side, if you look at their (ILADS) reports, many of the footnotes go to random people's blogs, and if you follow the footnote trail long enough it just ends up where many of their recommendations basically just originate with random people making up shit.

Re: The Lyme Wars (2013)

#3
post #2

The unfortunate reality is that both the CDC and the patient advocacy groups are lying their asses off. On the CDC side, all the recommendations are based around lyme when, as this article points out, there are dozens of tickborne infections including probably many that haven't even been discovered yet. So the 'official' clinical guidelines around treating tickborne illnesses make no sense. And in general many of the…

It wasn't until after having a kid and getting very conflicting advice from different doctors for the same issues that I realized doctors are mostly making educated guesses on treatment.

Fortunately, there's a significant placebo effect for nearly any treatment from a doctor, so even when doctors make guesses it often ends up helping.

Re: The Lyme Wars (2013)

#5
post #3
post #2

The unfortunate reality is that both the CDC and the patient advocacy groups are lying their asses off. On the CDC side, all the recommendations are based around lyme when, as this article points out, there are dozens of tickborne infections including probably many that haven't even been discovered yet. So the 'official' clinical guidelines around treating tickborne illnesses make no sense. And in general many of the…

It wasn't until after having a kid and getting very conflicting advice from different doctors for the same issues that I realized doctors are mostly making educated guesses on treatment. Fortunately, there's a significant placebo effect for nearly any treatment from a doctor, so even when doctors make guesses it often ends up helping.

Not sure how much placebo effect is going to help with a bacterial infection.

Especially with this new disease that was just discovered in New York State last year, you get it within 15 minutes (unlike Lyme which allegedly takes 24 hours) and it has a 30% chance of killing you. The members of my local mycology group are getting absolutely dropped by these things... One of our members almost died a couple months ago after having the white blood cell count of an end stage AIDS patient. It's almost suicidal to go into the woods without pants stuffed into your socks, a long sleeve shirt tucked into your pants, and all your clothes treated with permethrin. I've even started wearing boxer briefs just to keep them out of there at least.

Re: The Lyme Wars (2013)

#6
post #5
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't until after having a kid and getting very conflicting advice from different doctors for the same issues that I realized doctors are mostly making educated guesses on treatment. Fortunately, there's a significant placebo effect for nearly any treatment from a doctor, so even when doctors make guesses it often ends up helping.

Not sure how much placebo effect is going to help with a bacterial infection. Especially with this new disease that was just discovered in New York State last year, you get it within 15 minutes (unlike Lyme which allegedly takes 24 hours) and it has a 30% chance of killing you. The members of my local mycology group are getting absolutely dropped by these things... One of our members almost died a couple months ago a…

What disease is this?

Re: The Lyme Wars (2013)

#7
post #6
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how much placebo effect is going to help with a bacterial infection. Especially with this new disease that was just discovered in New York State last year, you get it within 15 minutes (unlike Lyme which allegedly takes 24 hours) and it has a 30% chance of killing you. The members of my local mycology group are getting absolutely dropped by these things... One of our members almost died a couple months ago a…

What disease is this?

Powassan virus:

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&e...

Re: The Lyme Wars (2013)

#8
Lyme is now the number one infectious disease in New England. Until medical science finds an effective cure, the best solution is to hunt deer populations back down to historical and sustainable levels, around 10 or 15 deer per square mile. (current populations approach 60 deer per square mile in some areas). While mice are the most important reservoir for Lyme (and pass it to humans via tick nymphs), the adult black legged tick still needs deer to complete its life cycle.

Added benefits: deer overpopulation is also a huge problem for forest management (they eat all the hardwood saplings) and deer-auto collisions kill a couple hundred people a year and cause over $4 billion a year in insurance losses.

Re: The Lyme Wars (2013)

#9
I had Lyme disease and I started having symptoms (but no rash) roughly after 1-2 weeks after the tick bite (feeling unwell, shivering, joint pains, swollen lymph nodes). I then took antibiotics for almost 2 weeks. I continued to have severe joint pain for a couple of months. Now, more than a year later, I am feeling well, but sometimes I still feel a very slight joint pain in those affected joints near that tick bite. The most important thing is that you act on it quickly and your chances are very good. The longer you wait - or haven't noticed it - the more difficult it gets to treat.

"Kaleigh switched doctors and began a course of antibiotics that lasted eight more months." that is not only dangerous but, sorry about the harsh word, stupid. It is likely that opportunistic fungi will destroy your body if you take antibiotics for that long, and there are even cases where this has led to the death of the patient.

"It takes the tick at least thirty-six hours to transmit borrelia." Also, this is wrong. Mine was in there for at most a day and I discovered it in the evening while showering and then removed it. Why should there be a magical barrier that stops bacteria from being transmitted during 36 hours?

Re: The Lyme Wars (2013)

#10
post #6
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how much placebo effect is going to help with a bacterial infection. Especially with this new disease that was just discovered in New York State last year, you get it within 15 minutes (unlike Lyme which allegedly takes 24 hours) and it has a 30% chance of killing you. The members of my local mycology group are getting absolutely dropped by these things... One of our members almost died a couple months ago a…

What disease is this?

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