Yes I've read on the internet that chickens and guinea fowl will eat deer ticks but is this something that was mentioned on the internet and then passed along as fact - what I'm wondering is there an actual study to determine if this is true - those ticks are very small
I figured I'd wait and see if there any others in the same dilemma, there's your answer. My family member would have looked like a hedgehog if he would have had all the blood test needles done at once. There was one good doctor in toronto however he was "pushed out of the way" by another group of physicians as he was getting good results. It's highly unfortunate that we don't have better educated physicians that know how to get the correct result. Another distant family member went and had the testing (positive result) done in the US, properly diagnosed and treated with no recurring results.Originally Posted by johny
My oldest son had a tick followed by the characteristic bulleyes rash. Family doc put him on 3 weeks of antibiotics without a test as he said the rash was proof enough. Doc had him tested following the antibiotics and it came back negative. Doc however was not convinced and put him on a second 3 week course of antibiotics and than tested again and the test came back negative a second time. This was 2 years ago and no symptoms since. Guess we got lucky with early diagnosis and a proactive doc.
The wilderness is not a stadium where I satisfy my ambition to achieve, it is the cathedral where I worship.
When I get a deer tick on me - I've had many - I put it into a small pill bottle and take it to my doctor - the doc puts me on an antibiotic and sends the tick away to be tested - the results come back in a couple days and if negative I stop the antibiotic - if positive I continue to take it for 10 days -
There is no real test for Lyme disease - if they think you may have Lyme they will do a Elias test which looks for antibodies in your blood which would indicate that you have a foreign bacteria in you system - if that comes back negative then your ok - if it comes back positive then they will use a western block test which is more accurate - it is much more costly so that is why they don't use this test in the first place -
One thing to remember is some time is needed before the antibodies form in you blood so if you get bit by a tick and get tested right away the test is not accurate - also once you have Lyme Disease you will have antibodies in you system for some time and any tests will show these antibodies - the best thing to do is have the tick tested - where I live 1 tick in every 4 carries Lyme Disease - also to be noted is that these ticks can also other diseases that can do a job on you
If you go into the woods a lot it is best to spray your clothes with Permethrin - it kills the tick on contact and once sprayed will last up to 6 months -
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/kris-kri...-lyme-disease/Actor and songwriter Kris Kristofferson and some of those closest to him are speaking out about his health problems and their surprising cause.
Kristoffferson struggled with memory problems in recent years and was told he had Alzheimer's disease, but it appears he was misdiagnosed and all along has actually been suffering from the tick-borne illness Lyme disease.
Articles in Rolling Stone and the entertainment magazine Closer Weekly reveal that the 80-year-old -- whose songs have been covered by the likes of Johnny Cash, Janis Joplin and Elvis Presley -- has struggled through a years-long medical odyssey.
Kristofferson and his wife Lisa told Rolling Stone that for years, doctors had been telling him that his increasingly debilitating memory loss was due to either Alzheimer's or to dementia brought on by blows to the head from boxing and playing football and rugby in his teens and early twenties.
"Some days, Kristofferson couldn't even remember what he was doing from one moment to the next," the site said of the actor who starred alongside Barbra Streisand in the 1976 film "A Star is Born," and who's known for his roles in the Blade movies and other films.
Earlier this year, though, a doctor decided to test Kristofferson for Lyme disease, which can cause neurological problems, including memory issues and what some describe as "brain fog," as well as a broad range of other symptoms. The test came back positive.
His wife told Rolling Stone she believes he picked the infection up from a tick as he crawled around the forest in Vermont during six weeks of filming the movie "Disappearances."
"He was taking all these medications for things he doesn't have, and they all have side effects," she told the magazine. After the Lyme diagnosis, he dropped those medications and went through three weeks of treatment for Lyme.
"It's like Lazarus coming out of the grave and being born again," Kristofferson's friend, Nashville singer-songwriter Chris Gantry, told Closer Weekly.
Gantry, who's known Kristofferson since 1964, said he was heartbroken when he thought his longtime buddy seemingly had Alzheimer's.
"For the past six or seven years, there was this slow realization that he was becoming forgetful. It was apparent," Gantry said. "For the past six or seven years, there was this slow realization that he was becoming forgetful. It was apparent."
Bucky Kahler, Kris' best friend since middle school, weighed in in the Closer article, too. "[Kris is] in great spirits," he said. "He's getting better and better."
While Lyme disease can sometimes mimic Alzheimer's with dementia-like symptoms, there are effective treatments available for Lyme, including antibiotics -- unlike Alzheimer's, for which there is currently no cure.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are about 329,000 cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. each year. Only about 30,000 are officially confirmed and reported to the CDC.
Doctor's often look for a hallmark bulls-eye rash around a tick bite, but not everyone infected has an obvious mark. Symptoms may include a fever, rash, facial paralysis, and arthritis. Other severe problems sometimes linked to Lyme include heart and brain issues and can appear months or even years after being bitten by an infected tick.
"Kris is as sharp as he's been in the past 20 years because of his treatments," another longtime friend told Closer. "His wife, Lisa, and his eight children see a different Kris now. It really is a modern-day medical miracle."
Federal agency issues call for Lyme disease research
http://www.ottawasun.com/2017/07/20/...sease-researchA federal funding agency has issued a national call for new Lyme disease research as the country’s population of disease-carrying ticks continues to climb.
The research initiative is the first step in the federal government’s recently announced $4-million, four-year plan to combat Lyme disease, which is now the most common vector-borne illness in Canada.
“There are a lot of ticks now that carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease so we have to be able to provide some answers on how to better prevent infection and treat the disease,” said Dr. Marc Ouellette, scientific director of the Institute of Infection and Immunity at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
In concert with the Public Health Agency of Canada, CIHR intends to build a pan-Canadian network of Lyme disease experts to define a national research agenda.
“There are pockets of excellence in Canada on Lyme disease research but we want to bring them together to have more impact,” Ouellette said.
Many questions remain unanswered: Why do some people bitten by an infected tick not suffer any Lyme symptoms while a tiny minority will develop a painful, hard-to-treat form of the disease? Does the disease leave telltale biomarkers in the bloodstream that would allow doctors to diagnose Lyme in its earliest, most treatable stages? How do previous Lyme infections affect a person’s immune system? Is it possible to develop a vaccine?
Dr. Tara Moriarty, an infectious diseases researcher at the University of Toronto, studies how the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, spreads in the body and makes people sick.
“It’s a complicated disease that is quite difficult to understand — and it’s turning out it be more complex than people originally thought,” said Moriarty.
Her lab has found that obesity and diabetes make mice more susceptible to the bacteria that causes Lyme; it has also discovered that the bacteria can cause bone loss in mice.
Ouellette said the research network will be asked to establish a large national cohort of patients to study and track their experiences with the disease.
The goal, he said, is to better understand how Lyme manifests itself in patients; how best to diagnose and treat it; and the extent to which the disease can persist in people who have been treated.
The first round of research proposals are expected to be reviewed later this year, with the first grants being issued in 2018.
The number of Lyme disease cases in Canada soared to 917 in 2015 from from 144 cases in 2009. Public health researchers now estimate that, by 2020, 80 per cent of eastern Canada’s population will live in areas where blacklegged ticks have become established. The small arachnids carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
In 2010, just 18 per cent of eastern Canada’s population lived in places where they were at risk of contracting the disease.
Ouellette said Canadians will have to learn to live with Lyme disease since it’s unlikely that blacklegged ticks will be eradicated any time soon.
Last year, a record 75 people in Ottawa were diagnosed Lyme disease — up from just seven in 2010 — and earlier this year, the city was officially designated an at-risk area.
Ottawa Public Health officials said Thursday that 16 per cent of the 166 local ticks examined this year have tested positive for the Lyme-causing bacteria.
Blacklegged deer ticks can be found anywhere outdoors, but tend to concentrate in forests and tall grasses. Since they can’t fly, the arachnids position themselves on grasses or leaves with their front legs outstretched in order to latch on to a passing mammal. They can populate new areas by travelling on a host bird.
Public health officials recommend using insect repellent with DEET and wearing long pants and sleeved shirts in wooded areas. They also recommend scanning pets and children for ticks after being outdoors.
Ticks should be removed with tweezers as soon as possible since it takes at least 24 hours for ticks to transmit the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
If it’s discovered early, the flu-like illness can usually be treated with antibiotics, but left untreated it can cause arthritis, numbness, paralysis, heart disorders and neurological problems. Some people report symptoms that last years after treatment in a condition now referred to as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS).
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...e-on-the-rise/An increasing number of Americans with medically ambiguous symptoms are being misdiagnosed with “chronic Lyme disease” and prescribed dangerous and often expensive treatments that do not work, according to a new report.
In some instances, patients have died after receiving intensive, long-term and inappropriate courses of intravenous antibiotics that led to septic shock. In other cases, misdiagnosis caused dangerous delays in treatment of a patient’s actual underlying condition.
These incorrect diagnoses have existed for years. But public health officials and clinicians say they are alarmed because of the increasing severity and scope of some treatments in recent years, said Christina Nelson, a medical epidemiologist and author of a report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Many of the various treatments, including courses of intravenous antibiotics lasting months and years, have no evidence of effectiveness. Studies have shown that prolonged courses of intravenous antibiotics can often result in serious harm, including death.
Unorthodox alternative therapies include intravenous infusions of hydrogen peroxide, electromagnetic frequency treatments, garlic supplements, even stem cell transplants.
Health Canada, the CDC and the insurance industry need their heads checked.
http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...ease-awarenessSome advocates for people with Lyme have been at odds with mainstream medical guidelines. Wood-Giles, for example, is critical of guidelines that don’t prescribe treatment if a tick is attached for less than 24 hours or the bite was in an area where ticks are deemed to be at low risk of being infected.
“Prevention is great — there’s more we can be sharing with people — but it’s the treatment point where we have to get more awareness,” argued Wood-Giles
Ottawa was declared a region at risk for Lyme disease a year ago after more than 20 per cent of ticks captured in 2016 carried the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.
Last year was a record-breaking year for reported cases of Lyme disease in Ottawa, with 168 cases reported by November, more than double the 74 cases reported in all of 2016.
https://www.facebook.com/twoweekwindow/
https://outofthewoodz.blogspot.ca/20...mps-about.htmlI tested negative for Lyme, was sent to Infectious Disease where I also tested negative for Lyme.
Later that year, I struggled with many illnesses. My doctor said, “I seemed to be catching everything that was going around”. Some described me as the unhealthiest, healthy person they knew. Symptoms continued to build and my doctor became more concerned. More specialists - more tests - revealing nothing.
I slowly but consistently declined, I lost feeling in many parts of my body, I lost my balance regularly, my short term memory was almost non-existent, as was my reading comprehension. I could barely follow a story line in a tv show. I was reverting to things in my past, getting lost and confused. When I spoke, the wrong words came out. I couldn’t walk in the morning without support and the fatigue…In a few short years I went from running an ironman to barely being able to walk.
In one last effort to seek help in Canada, I visited a locum at my doctor’s office, wanting to investigate Lyme further. She wondered “why did I want it to be Lyme’. After refusing to review my list of symptoms she could only suggest we revisit the tests I had done over the last 3 years and wait for more symptoms to develop in case it was MS or ALS. This left me no option but to travel to the US and spend (what has now amounted to) 70K of my own money.
I was diagnosed in the US with Lyme and two co-infections, bartonella and babesia. I was put on a strong antibiotic protocol for an estimated 3 years. I sought out complementary treatment and travelled to another clinic in Utah. I have battled many of my physical symptoms and am now on a new protocol to help my cognitive and cardiovascular symptoms.
After some recovery, I decided to return to my doctors office to see if they would support or follow my treatment. A different locum insisted I go off my meds since they only treat with Doxy in Ontario. I explained I was dealing with Chronic Lyme, which I had for over three years. No response, no suggestions, no assessment of my basic health indicators.
A few months ago, my original doctor returned. Her positive reception gave me hope. I referenced my last year since diagnosis to which she replied, “I read through the history, no need to go back through it.” I referenced Lyme to which she responded “that is between you and your specialist”. No questions asked - visit over - third doctor in ON - no basic vitals taken or interest.
Like so many, I have been denied any long term disability. While I go further in to debt legally fighting that decision, I am one of the lucky ones who might go back to work. Except, I work with and manage many people who work in parks, the outdoors and in the field. How do I do that knowing I am responsible for their health and safety. If they are bitten the chance of them getting diagnosed, treated or even acknowledged is immensely low?
I agree, the science needs to improve, but first the humanity around this illness must improve. This is not an illness without a cure. It just needs to be recognized and treated immediately. Clinical diagnosis can only work when doctors are willing to learn what Lyme looks like and what the early to chronic symptoms really are. If the consequences of treating this illness and the fear in talking about it continue to be as severe as it is, the situation has little chance of improving.
Kristy's Open Letter to Doctors, Nurses and all Health Agencies about Lyme - https://outofthewoodz.blogspot.ca/20...urses-and.html
It would be nice if they could develop some vaccine so you don't get the disease in the first place
It’s crazy the number of people affected by this and the way our medical system brushes it off. My 15 year old has been fighting chronic Lyme for what feels like forever. Everyone’s stories of getting diagnosed is the same . This so called great health care inhve paif my whole life for has fail my child miserably!
Where is that good health care system you guys keep telling me about ?
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