Getting Tough With Lyme

The basics of the Lyme war.

By Julie Bain
From Reader's Digest
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Beating Lyme Disease
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Ask for antibiotic treatment early, even if your doctor doubts you have Lyme.
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Lyme disease is on the rise, and so is the controversy surrounding it. While about 20,000 cases are reported in this country each year, some experts say that many times that number may go undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, and undertreated. The basics of the Lyme war:

 

  • It's tough to diagnose. Not all who are infected get a "bull's-eye" rash, and the commonly used test is only about 50 percent accurate in early stages.

     

  • No one agrees on treatment. More research needs to be done. While many people are cured after taking antibiotics for several weeks, fatigue, headaches, and muscle and joint pain can still linger for some.

     

  • It can become persistent. As many as 15 percent develop neurological problems that are misdiagnosed as anything from multiple sclerosis to Alzheimer's. Evidence suggests that many of these patients respond to long-term intravenous or higher-dose oral antibiotics, sometimes for a year or more, but it can be hard to find a doctor who will administer this treatment, as it's not standard.

     

  • Patients may need to push. In her book Beating Lyme, Constance Bean tells her own story of dealing with chronic Lyme disease and advises patients not to be afraid to ask for antibiotic treatment early, even if their doctor doubts it is Lyme. "If you could have been exposed to ticks," she says, "consider Lyme disease first, not last." The risks of short-term antibiotics for prevention are far fewer than the symptoms and treatment of persistent illness.

    • From Reader's Digest - July 2008
     
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    This is the best, most concise article I've seen regarding Lyme disease. The book, Beating Lyme by Constance Bean is excellent. Thank you Reader's Digest!

    By lhugs, on 07/05/2008
    Please do not use tweezers-- you can safely remove a tick with a neat Snap action, with a product made in the USA, called Ticked Off. Widely available, they can be found at WalMart or vets, or pet or hardware supply departments in a lot of stores .They are on the Internet for ordering as well. I am proud to say the creators of the product are our friends and neighbors, in Dover, New Hampshire-regular people who are farmers and found a solution to a problem.

    By PatW1, on 07/04/2008
    I realize that new tick-handling ideas take some time to circulate, but, I am disappointed you and the author you quote have not taken time to think of how the wording and the concept/actions you and she put forth in the "How To" comes across--namely as unfortunately ineffectual, almost apologetic in tone, and really potentially harmful! First, she suggests, in "Get it Out" that the tick spotter grab the tick with a tweezer. I would say this is dangerous, in the average person's hands, as using a tweezer can cause the tick's contents (any and all microbes and infectious material, including Lyme Disease, contained in the tick) to be squirted into the person to whom it is attached. Then, in the next paragraph, "Save It", the author offers, "If the tick comes off..." IF??? This is most unsettling. And, I think, unnecessary. I hope you forgive my strong tone, but our family and thousands of others have been using a thorough, elegantly simple and effective tick remover for years, which avoids all of the above, and I am still shocked to see the whole tweezers thing suggested. A cleaner alternative,sold both here and in Europe,( and I can't think of using anything other than it), is The Ticked Off Tick Remover. It is made with pride in the USA, invented and sold, as it happens, by our friends and neighbors, Rick and Mary Hebbard, here in Dover, New Hampshire. Please check out their website (Google Ticked Off) for information for both yourselves and your readers. Ticked Off is readily available- they can find the product at Wal Mart, local veterinarians, health food stores, and hardware and pet supply departments in many many locales, and can request it be stocked, plus it is also available by mail order over the Internet. The Hebbards do their best to get the word out, but there are bound to be gaps in the public's information. I hope you can set things straight, and REALLY tell folks how to deal with a tick, successfully. Thanks for your time, and I hope you don't need this product anytime soon, but this is one of those things, if the occasion calls for it, you'll be quite glad you got one.

    By PatW1, on 07/04/2008
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