Lyme Disease

[gcberry]

It is true that a heavy duty course of antibiotics will treat and arrest even advanced cases of Lyme disease. However, it will not necessarily cure the damage that has ALREADY been done in advanced cases, it will just prevent further decline.

[OutDoorNut]

Originally Posted by reloop

Okay, so I'm not done with it. Please tell me where in the following statement that I advocated for "staying out of the woods":

"I'll say this and be done with it:

Awareness is all one really needs. I check for ticks, I'll check for the bullseye rash if I get bitten, I'll seek treatment if needed, and I'll use a little common sense like wearing long pants and/or repellent in the woods.

I spend too much time hugging a woodstove in the dead of winter to avoid anything outdoors because of a bug.

Yes, Lyme is a serious disease which must be carefully managed throughout treatment, but life in general is deadly anyway. "

What I advocate is education and preferably not from just a few internet sources. I also advocate using one ounce of common sense, and visiting your primary care doctor or in the case of those who don't have one, a health care clinic.

What I don't like to see (and see often) is "worrywartitis."

I don't like to listen to people gripe about the cost of health care and then watch panic-prone people trot into ERs with a ziploc baggie containing a bug that they just got bitten by 20 minutes before. They get discharge papers that say "Follow up with your primary care physician" tomorrow, and a bill that they most probably can't pay for in the first place. Sorry, it may sound crass, but the fact of the matter is there is a core population of people who fret over anything, and furthermore, watch a lot of TV.

As far as thinning the deer population, I have a DH, DS, and will have a DD who will eventually contribute to that - IF there remains anymore areas in which they will be able to hunt.

That's kind of hard to do when lands get bought up by people who hate hunting isn't it? That's okay, our flat-broke state can pay for it I guess.

Also, while medicine has come a long way, there are still many diseases we have no clue about, and although we thankfully know much more about Lyme now, who's to say that the rising coyote population isn't harboring some other sort of disease-spreading tick we haven't yet discovered? No one. That's who.

Will this little factoid keep me and my hound from our daily walk in the woods? No.

Will I continue to educate myself and use a little common sense when it comes to my health? Of course.

And I'll have my last word, for now.

Education includes knowing that lyme is most often not that big a deal IF you catch it early.

BUT some people--despite the most diligent precautions--still don't discover lyme until they've had it for years.

Because early lyme infections sometimes have no symptoms. NO bullseye rash, no fever, no symptoms.

Until months or years later, by which time the disease is firmly entrenched and possibly irreversible damage has been done.

Education also includes learning that the way to eliminate lyme, is to eliminate the deer--or at least just greatly reduce the deer population.

Sooner or later, if the number of Lyme infected people continues to grow--as it shows every sign of growing--then people will finally be forced to do something about eradicating this disease or demanding a vaccine to protect humans, like the vaccine they use to protect their dogs from Lyme.

I'll just venture into the woods as little as possible until then and be super careful when I do.

And there will be a then, because this epidemic shows every sign of getting worse.