lyme disease, ticks & new film "under our skin"

[caithnesscrofter]

my cousin who is 33 years old is now into her 11th year of being so ill that she has been bedridden all this time and struggles to even sit upright for any length of time. She fell this ill overnite and was a very healthy girl before this. She spent 6 years with doctors telling her they had no clue what was wrong with her and diagnosed her with things like ms, chronic fatigue, autonomic nervous system dysfunction and various others. One doctor finally suggested she get tested for lyme disease. She has it and unfortunately was caught so late that she has already been going thru 3 years of antibiotic treatment and may have to for many more years to rid her system of the bacteria. She lives in america however, here in the uk they are saying that 1 in 5 ticks in scotland carry lyme disease and other things like babeosis and ehrlichiosis. Scotland also has the highest rate of ms in the world. Lyme mimics diseases such as ms, cfs, als, alzheimers and parkinsons. So, one woders how prevalent lyme disease is here in the uk?! My cousin told me to buy this new film about lyme called "under our skin". It is very good ad would recommend.

[Odsox]

I'm not sure about the UK, but I suffer from early stages of MS and testing for Lymes disease was THE very first test they did.
I assume it's a very simple test as my local hospital did it (together with a load of other tests) and it was not until I had a MRI scan at the "big" hospital that I was diagnosed.
So I would say that anyone showing symptoms of MS, alzheimers or parkinsons would immediately be tested for Lymes.

Sorry to hear about your cousin though, it's always a thousand times worse when something like that happens to one so young.

[wolfsong]

Lyme's is a disease with little mobility between regions and therefore in America it is linked to the north-west (mainly).
However in Europe it is said to be under control, although there still are areas which are flagged... looking quickly at the inter-web it seems that the main problem is lack of information... I have found no continental maps with risk areas, rather than hundreds for the US
I think the best thing is, if you're out in long grass alot, check every night for ticks, especially... parts... which are perfect for ticks.
But if you do think you could have lymes, then go to a doctor, within the first month you get specific symptoms, then incubation for a month... these are the periods it can be hit by medication.
This is what i remember, but there are a few ressources on the web, check them out...

[caithnesscrofter]

indeed, my cousin has had both negative and positive lyme tests! They find now that lyme disease cannot be ruled out on blood tests alone... For many reasons... Is the patient on steroids or other medications, have they recently been taking antibiotics including garlic! Have they had lyme so long the the antibodies are bound to the bacteria and several other reasons.

[Ellendra]

But if you do think you could have lymes, then go to a doctor, within the first month you get specific symptoms, then incubation for a month... these are the periods it can be hit by medication.

Within the first month, SOME of the people with Lyme's will develop specific symptoms. Not all, and there's debate about the percentage.

What's more, there are several tests for Lyme's, none of them are very accurate, and some only detect it during certain stages.

I've said this elsewhere, but if you're bitten by a tick, write it down. If, 2 days to 10 years later you develop problems, keep in mind that it could still be Lyme's. The symptoms will not be the same for everyone, in fact they seldom are the same for any two people.

I've had a little too much personal experience in this.

[wolfsong]

aye, that sounds the best idea... but there is a lack of awareness in Europe...