Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire LYME DISEASE...IT CAN KILL YOU

No change. If he continues in his present state after one more week (total of 21 days), the condition will be legally and ethically considered "permanent" and his Living Will will kick in as he was emphatic he did not want this quality of life. Rough times for the wife and family.

Sorry to hear this, I hope he pulls through.

We have a family vacation house on Cape Cod where Lyme and other tick born diseases are prevalent. About 15 years ago when my father was about 80, he was up there in May and got bit and knew it. Never had the bullseye. After returning home down here, he got sick and was getting worse. The doctors tested multiple times for Lyme with negative results. Another disease that's prevalent is Babesiosis. He told them to test for it, but the doctors here weren't familiar with it at the time and they told him he was crazy. He pushed hard for the test and finally they did it with positive results. However, they didn't know how to treat it. They put him on some sort of antibiotics but wasn't helping and he continued to get worse. When we returned to Massachusetts in July, he went to a friends doctor up there and they completely changed the meds and he got better.

My doctor told me this year that it's becoming more prevalent here in the Mid Atlantic region now. This is bad schit and I'm sure the doctors have checked your FIL for this, but maybe not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babesiosis

I got bit last Spring and had a large zit that itched and I went on 10 days of Doxy. I never got the bullseye but it took a couple of months for the bite area to go away. My doctor told me that you don't always get the bullseye.

Dox is indeed the preferred treatment for Lyme. But...an awful lot of people are allergic to Doxycycline as we found out after 9/11 in the anthrax scare. With the other ricketsials being as common as they are now, particularly, erlichiosis, dox is much to be preferred since it is highly effective against them. The ticks that carry Lyme can very easily carryerlichia. A suspicion for one should be for the other as well and tested for both since the bacteria are different and may have different resistance to antibiotics. Lyme can be treated effectively by most antibiotics that are effective against gram negative bacteria in it's early stages before it has entered CNS. The erlichia species are less susceptible to other than Dox.

Once you are infected by either lyme or erlichia you can be cured 100% by antibiotics provided treatment occurs very shortly after infection. I have been bitten by a lot of deer ticks since the first one in 1972. East central Minnesota has a huge population of them. I have seen dogs come out of the woods with hundreds of them after a day of bird hunting. Over those years when switching doctors, one of the first questions I ask is always "do you have a problem prescribing an antibiotic when I get bitten by a deer tick?" I run a couple days of high dosage every time I get bit by them. When I have had a lymes titer run I always show up positive because of the frequent exposure. I have never become symptomatic so far, so it seems to be working well. I have had bullseye rashes of varying size a number of times. I treat every time the tick makes it past the dead outer skin. When I can easily remove the tick and no mouth parts remain embedded I do not treat. I ignore the conventional wisdom that a tick must remain attached for some period of time before it can infect you in favor of that criteria of depth of embedding.

I also buy PYRETHRIN based insecticide in case lots. Permethrin and deet are effective against the ticks, but they are less effective against the ticks and much more toxic to dogs, cats and humans. Pyrethrin is much safer to mammals. The last time I looked, pyrethrin had an LD-50 that looked like you could drink the bottle and it wouldn't do much to you. Pyrethrin is so effective against insects that I have used it maany times against paper wasps and yellow jacket wasps simply by walking up to the nest and spraying away with the mist. It knocks them right out of the air.

Lyme disease damages because your immune system has cells and antibodies that it uses to try to combat the borrelia. The macrophages in particular and in spaces like the pericardium and joint capsules where the borrelia like to accumulate are just doing their job. The antibodies attach to the bacteria. The macrophages (big eaters) arecalled chemically by the antibodies after attachment. The macrophages then envelop the bacteria and in the process some of the lysing enzyme (what breaks down the protein membrane of the bacteria) is released to also damage the surrounding tissue. This produces the inflammation that causes the symptoms of the disease. The sheer numbers of the bacteria along with a lot of protein lysed from the adjacent tissue can produce an overload on the kidneys plugging the filter. This is how we discovered lyme disease was killing dogs when the ticks first showed up in East Central Minnesota. Bird dogs were showing up with kidney failure and on deaths door at vet practices. Enough had joint problems just prior that joint examination began to show both the remodeling and borrelia that the connection was made.

Immunotherapy will not remove the bacteria causing Lyme disease. I can reduce the damage done and maybe the immune system will help out..

Sorry to hear of this turn.

Hope for strength and healing for the days ahead.

Prayers sent.

jorgeI , sorry to hear. Been dealing with Lyme and Bartonella since '14. They were what caused Hashimotos to kick in.

In a situation where things look like alls lost, theres one man to call. Isnt cheap, at all, but he is the best. Jemsek in DC. Trust me on this! God bless, prayers sent.

Dont spread BS. I went through 2 clinical trials, 1st for LDN , 2nd for LDI. There is no cure for Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia, Anaplasma, Mycoplasma, Rickettsia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Powassan, etc etc etc......... tick borne illness, regardless of type, cannot be cured right now. Folks like Jemsek or Horowitz can get you in remission, but thats it.

Jorge , hope and pray he pulls through. I had a cousin that passed from complications at 40 years of age, unfortunately when he contracted it the Dr's did not diagnose it , and he was having crippling pain throughout his body. He finally found a doctor who diagnosed it after more then a year of that BS.

I am not sure if it was an isolated incident or not but every darn deer I killed in PA was covered with ticks, every last one.

Jorge, my prayers and thoughts go out to you, your wife, and her family. Hoping for the best.

Actually I have had bullseyes from regular ticks also.

Very sorry to hear Jorge, please give my best to your wife.

I have a couple friends who have Lyme, it is scary stuff. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. 2 of my 3 dogs have it. I had the vaccine years ago and I have no idea what protection it may still provide if any. I had asked Dr if I needed a booster several years ago and was advised the vaccine was taken off the market. Ticks are unbelievable here now, literally can't go into the woods without ending up with several on you. Serious medical issue that needs some attention. Prayers to your family Jorge.

Wow this Lyme disease is nasty chit

Prayers for those affected

I'm sorry to hear this, Jorge. Lyme is bad stuff for sure.