If this comes through here is an interesting link to an article about lyme disease.
https://gma.yahoo.com/man-ravaging-lyme-disease-eludes-doctors-092750747--abc-news-health.html
Good read. For a couple of months I had been feeling down, sick, tired all the time, pain in my joints, and just like I got hit by a truck. We have a lot of ticks over this way, have them on me every day no matter what I do. Big "Lone Star" ticks, small ones, you name it, and just about all the hounds that show up around here are positive for both lymes and ehrlichia, not like our line of work is easy on the body but this was worse and never getting better even with a day or so off. So I went to the DR's office and he did a Lymes test - of course it came back negative, he said it must be some virus going around - I had lots of faith in him for sure. Called the insurance company and they basically said there was nothing they would do since I was tested. So I did a bunch of research and decided for the second time in my life I was going to "self medicate". I am not a fan of doctors or meds (we have an organic farm and even the cows are not allowed to get antibiotics) so it takes a lot for me to actually do this. The last time was when I shot myself in the finger with a framing nailer - pulled the nail out and everything worked just fine but figured that was a nasty wound so I took some Cefelaxin for 10 days I had left over from when the dog was on it - same exact stuff the pharmacy gives you so I figured what the heck. The girl who worked for me at the time thought I was nuts - but it turned out just fine.
Well, this time my research pointed out to Doxycycline as being the drug of choice for the lymes symptoms I was showing. Had to learn a little latin to understand the twice a day thing and take with food, but 100 mg capsule is actually available online, made here in the US and sold as a bird treatment for about $30 for 100 capsules and I only need 60 total. Cheaper than the visit to the doctors.
Still have a couple weeks of meds to go and the joint pain is still there, but I will say the fatigue is reduced and the general feeling of just crap is not there.
The doctor told me the deer tick was the only one to carry the lymes disease, but after reading this article I get the feeling there is a whole lot more to the story that we just don't understand. Thanks for posting it here.
Sothside. Used to be an old country vet here. I have seen him go in and open a big bottle of animal medicine and take some. I think it was tetracycline.
Took a dog up to him one day that had been run over and it bit me while I was picking it up. When he saw my finger he said lay it up here. He bandaged with animal antiseptic and bandages. Charged me two dollars for examing the dog and bandaging finger. This was mid 80s
Might be near a drug cure for lyme.
Potential treatment for Lyme disease kills bacteria that may cause lingering symptoms, study finds | News Center | Stanford Medicine (https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/03/potential-treatment-for-lingering-lyme-disease.html)
I tend to believe we lump a number of tick borne illnesses under the term "lyme". I do hope for better testing and drugs.
Lyme can be resistant, can hide intercellularly, intracellularly or can form a cyst and hide and wait. Michelle went through 2 rounds of antibiotics and it returned with a vengeance a year later. She met a doc in Blacksburg who prescribed a 4 antibiotic schedule with an enzyme that finally dislodged it, during several of the pulses meant to break it out of the cyst stage she had bad symptoms all over again and then would fight that off. If it really gets in you it can be bad news for a long time. Most docs poo-poo all that and admittedly its all above my pay grade. All I can say is she fixed 3 friends that they couldn't. I can give you contact info if you need it.
Do be aware that antibiotic "abuse" can cause C. Difficile which can kill you if it goes too far. My "abuse" was all prescribed but bad bugs don't care who is prescribing. Be careful self medicating. I've been told to avoid antibiotics if at all possible from here on out. I'm on doxy now which can cause it, there is no mistaking his smell. I'm probably forever prone to go sour. Take good probiotics on an opposite schedule, real yogurt, etc, it don't play. This tick really shouldn't have gotten me even close to this good. I hate doxy it makes me ill, we keep a stash handy. When I saw it was embedded I should have immediately slammed down 2 doxies and then self monitored, that is standard protocol. I gambled this tick was clean and he wasn't, my bad. That was all a longwinded way of saying, now I know that pasture is hot :D.
Beware the barberry, the thorns that catch, the jaws that bite...
If you get Lyme disease they will treat it with Doxycycline . My Golden retriever got it even thou it had a NEW sorento tick collar. The tick was right under the collar which I never seen till it was 50 times it size. My friend got it last year and she can just about walk, she was given the same Doxycycline and Penicillin by IV for 6 months.
Good thorough article on the nasty critters.
We get infested with ticks here, mostly dog ticks but there is the occasional deer tick.
Found one deer tick while showering attached to my scrotum of all places a couple years back.
Caught it in time or it wasn't a carrier.
Not sure why there are so many dog ticks here unless its the 3 acres of field surrounding the house.
I find congregations of them on the garage door trim, 5-6 at time. Sometimes on door handles.
Have gotten good at spotting them being ever vigilant.
Have resorted to treating my outside clothing including socks with Permethrin .
Spray it on, let it dry good before wearing. Works very good at keeping them off and
one application lasts through several washings according to the label.