Posted on 06/15/2015 4:37:59 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The only person I ever knew who had it, died from it.
i thought it was curable with antibiotics.
Later
Doctors know how to keep dead people alive.
Anything after that, question what they're doing.
If you catch it in time, yes. The guy in the above article had his heart torn to shreds by it.
They don’t work for everyone.
The mortality rate seems to be between three and five percent.
I’ve read that many people carry Lyme for years before symptoms set in — up to 15 years is some cases. And living in the NE, I knew people who had Lyme and was treated myself more than once. In some cases Lyme can be quite bad, even fatal, and supposedly the number of very bad reactions is increasing, but by and large it’s not the next Black Death as the author would have you believe. And furthermore, every time I went to the doc and had had a tick on me, even for less than 24 hours, they preemptively treated me for Lyme, so the medical people are definitely aware of Lyme and take it seriously.
If you catch it early, antibiotics will get clear it up. But if you don’t realize you have it for months on end, it festers to the point that antibiotics may not help.
I had that angry bulls-eye rash years ago in Taxachussetts.
Worked at an observatory in western part of the state.
Thought it was from a black chick I had sex with some time earlier.
Rash went away. No problem.
(I hope)
A friend in CT had Lyme disease. He suffered many problems, including arthritis, and neurological symptoms for several years. Finally his insurance said that they do not consider it to be a real disease, and quit paying for his treatment. He ended up paying out of pocket for several months of IV antibiotics, a few bags per day. He had to travel hundreds of miles to visit his doctor, who was being persecuted by the (medical, insurance, feds, I don’t know).
My son has Lyme’s and has myriad side effects from the disease. He is a pharmacist and does medical research as a hobby. He uses natural(herbs, roots, etc.), as medicines from around the world, to treat the joint pain and other effects. He is 46 and has had this for about 5 years.
He went to a specialist in Mobile, AL, and after a couple of rounds of antibiotics, his insurance company balked at another. He produced the evidence that he needed more and they fought him and the doctor. Finally,the AMA pressured the doctor to not prescribe the drugs again, even though other drugs weren’t effective. That happens more offen than not.
He is doing well but Lyme’s Disease never goes away completely and requires lifelong treatment. Most people don’t know that and wind up with Lupus, fibromyalgia, and other auto-immune diseases.
Ten days ( 10 !! ) in the hospital, followed by six weeks of intravenous antibiotics, followed by 6 months of a blur. I woke up almost 7 months after going into the ER and sai, “ahhh...this is what it feels like to live again.”
I kid you not.
And, I was lucky. Only 5% get meningitis symptoms along with everyone else, and it tips them off to check. Others get gradual neurological symptoms and may never recover if caught too late.
bfl
If you had the bullseye rash and you were not treated with antibiotics then you probably have Lyme. There are a couple of blood tests (Western Blot is one) that are not 100% reliable, but I recommend getting them. Sometimes Lyme is dormant for awhile then breaks out and can be very bad. When I was in NC (1985) I had the rash, went to the Dr., but he said “we don’t have Lyme in North Carolina.” I took in a color picture of the rash from a magazine and said “look at the picture, now look at the rash,” he gave me antibiotics and haven’t had any symptoms since.
Well, actually, they know how to keep alive people from being dead. Otherwise, they're zombie masters! ;-)
Anything other than that, ask lots of questions.
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