Posted on 09/18/2007 3:05:38 PM PDT by neverdem
In Warren Township, fearless deer stride across front lawns to nibble on grass and shrubs. They waltz up to front porches of million-dollar homes to sample the potted plants. Sometimes only repeated blasts of the car horn will clear the driveway.
Along with these four-legged symbols of bucolic suburban life comes a dreaded illness: Lyme disease. In some cases, entire families are being diagnosed with tick-borne ailments, and residents are demanding that their towns and counties do something. In many towns, Lyme disease is becoming not just a medical issue but a potent political one.
About 20 neighbors in a section of Warren near Route 78 joined together to pressure local officials at a recent town council meeting. They called for the town to reduce the deer population -- since ticks feast on the large mammals -- and to protect children who play on tick-infested town parks or school fields. They want the state and county to step in, too.
"Lyme disease is one of the biggest diseases in suburbia," said Brian Oakes, a financial trader who is one of the Warren neighbors. "But there is no focus on this on the state or county level. They don't even test the soccer fields where our kids play. Are our children at risk playing soccer?"
Lyme activism is not new. But the latest burst is coming on the municipal level as some neighborhoods discover the prevalence of the disease and people complain of joint pain, debilitating fatigue and mental confusion associated with it.
In Warren, the buzz started at bus stops, nursery schools, neighborhood functions, even bar mitzvahs.
"You find out that people aren't feeling well, especially some of the young mothers," said Debbie Floyd, a homemaker in Warren with two children. "They have odd symptoms, like fibromyalgia," a poorly understood...
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Your posts are a perfect illustration of the dangers of getting medical information from strangers on the internet.
No substance.
That could be true of certain cases, but they do not represent a normal reaction. According to diagnostic Microbiology, Koneman, Allen, Janda, Schreckenberger, and Winn, 93% of NJ's patients presented with the classic erythymia chronicum migrans-the bulleye lesion. Lymphadenopathy was also noted. That "statistic" of 1/2, represents cases with very little info-guesswork. IOWs, they missed the tick bite and most likely the entire primary stage of the infection. In other cases, the penicillin may have been given just on the basis of the bite alone. Most docs in the more populated areas wait for the results of a lyme titer though and that risks secondary lyme and the accompanying development of arthritis.
"I’ve contracted Lyme 4 years ago and had no indication of a tick bite. I live in an area where Lyme disease is native, we are due west of Old Lyme, Connecticut, with almost exactly the same deer habitat, but much greater deer density."
That area is just where the disease was first noticed and characterized. Also, deer are not necessary to support the tick. Any animal will do, that includes mice. I can imagine some folks might have a bite then knock the tick's body off. ...could be on the head. The tick's head though is left in, more, or less deep and the spirochete still gets in. The lesion may not be noticed, maybe there's just an itch, or another problem that masks the feeling.
"You are incorrect. Check any online or offline medical source you want,"
I'm a primary source. Deer ticks cause pain when they attach and after they're attached. They can feel like one was hit by a splintered 2x4, or a generalized bruise and accompanying burning sensation that might lead one to believe there's been a scrape in the area. The feeling is not accompanied by any marks, or signs one would expect from the magnitude and quality of the pain. Since they're often <1/2 mm, they are never noticed by those unfamiliar with the bugs. The person could think they just bumped into something, stretched a muscle, ect... and can't remember what it might have been.
I posted this note, so that anyone who cares to listen, will check for ticks, when they have that kind of feeling in the spring and early summer. It may require the assistance of someone else, and an optical aid. If you miss the initial tick bite and lesion, febrile illness and lymphadenopathy, one risks developing the complications of secondary lyme that include arthritis. THe same risk applies to those whose doc holds off on the antibiotics, until some lyme titer result comes in.
Ugggh, what a coincidence....I live in missouri, and was recently attacked by the tiniest tick I’ve ever seen. I saved it in a baggie with alcohol just in case..... ya just never know.
I didn't know they did that...I had an allergic reaction. It itched severely.
The same risk applies to those whose doc holds off on the antibiotics, until some lyme titer result comes in.
So True!
I had a daughter in law that was bitten by a tick in her early twenties.
She had a variety of symptoms, breathing, heart, eye sight, pain in the muscles and more.
She was run though days of testing at Mayo Clinic, Baptist Regional Hospital in Memphis and local doctors, none of them could find the cause.
She suffered for over twenty years until she died 2 years ago at age 43.
Sorry to hear about your daughter-in-law. That’s sad. The 2nd stage is hard to treat and the damage is already being done, as you noted. In the 3rd atage, the damage is extensive and very difficult to treat.
My dog got lyme disease. Pisses me off because she was on front line.
peta is organizing a protest on your lawn as I type LOLOLOL...
I am so sorry to hear about your daughter-n-law... It’s really hard to understand the medical community sometimes. They think they are doing the right thing by eliminating simple “possible causes” of “certain symptoms”..in the meantime, the patient suffers. I understand the long term frustration of waiting for a correct diagnosis...first hand. We have to be our own advocates... and that’s stressful in and of itself—let along wondering which disease (if any) could be causing horrible symptoms.
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