Summer is a Coming and So is Tick Season

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
Nice overview I thought of the dangers from ticks.

I was encouraged that most Lyme cases are reported in 14 states. I once pulled 60 ticks out of my socks during a survey of a grassland in central california. The weird thing was that I surveyed many grasslands - it was the only one I found in ticks in!

Specifically, Lyme disease bacteria are only transmitted in the US by blacklegged ticks, also known as deer ticks. Ticks are not born carrying Lyme disease pathogens and will only acquire the infection after feeding on an infected animal - typically a mouse. For this reason, larval deer ticks will not transmit these pathogens.

tick-warning-sign-in-a-meadow.jpg
Blacklegged ticks are only located in specific areas of the country. The CDC report that most Lyme disease infections are found in these endemic locations:
  • North-central states, mainly Wisconsin and Minnesota
  • Northeast and mid-Atlantic areas, from northeastern Virginia to Maine
  • The West Coast, particularly northern California.
In 2013, 95% of confirmed Lyme disease cases in the US were reported in just 14 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Only blacklegged ticks carry Lyme and they need to be attached for 36-48 hours to transmit it.

Being bitten by a blacklegged tick in one of these states still does not guarantee the transmission of Lyme disease. A tick carrying the Lyme disease pathogens needs to be attached for at least 36-48 hours before the bacteria are transmitted. Removing a tick promptly after being bitten greatly reduces the risk of acquiring the disease.
 

Folk

Well-Known Member
I always wondered about two things. How the fuck wouldn't someone notice a thick for 36 hours? I know every single pimple I have.

And other... Is the difference between being diagnosed with Lyme and CFS/ME just the kind of speciallist you went first? :)
 

Cort

Founder of Health Rising and Phoenix Rising
Staff member
I always wondered about two things. How the fuck wouldn't someone notice a thick for 36 hours? I know every single pimple I have.

And other... Is the difference between being diagnosed with Lyme and CFS/ME just the kind of speciallist you went first? :)
I think it depends on how small they are. I had one in the middle of my back for a couple of days. That one I could feel but couldn't see it - it was in just the wrong place

My guess is very much Yes to the second question.
 

Folk

Well-Known Member
I think it depends on how small they are. I had one in the middle of my back for a couple of days. That one I could feel but couldn't see it - it was in just the wrong place

My guess is very much Yes to the second question.
But wouldn't they come out in the bath, or lying down?
 

Issie

Well-Known Member
But wouldn't they come out in the bath, or lying down?
Nope, they bury their head under the surface and feed on you and transmit pathogens. There are more things than Lyme. There are confections too. And now the Protozoa that can be gotten with not only ticks but mosquitoes FL1953 or Myprotomyzoa Rheumaticia. Which is supposed to be bigger and badder and can (so far) not be eliminated. There are test for any of these things. But there are a lot of false negatives. If you get a positive, from what I've read, it's pretty certain you have it.
 

Who Me?

Well-Known Member
Let me so that I don't have lymes that I know of.

When I was little, every summer we would go to a petting zoo and deer farm.

It was entirely possible to get one on my scalp and never know.

image.jpg
J
 

Lissa

Well-Known Member
I think it depends on how small they are. I had one in the middle of my back for a couple of days. That one I could feel but couldn't see it - it was in just the wrong place

My guess is very much Yes to the second question.

3 years after getting full blown ME/CFS, I was bitten in the back where I couldn't see it. Got a giant bulls-eye rash from it, indicating YES, it is indeed, the dreaded Lyme. However I never once tested positive, even after repeated attempts at timely intervals! Thankfully the rash proved it and I got a successful course of antibiotics as well as taking several month's worth of herbal anti-cootie supplements.

Two things of note:

#1: I believe the Lyme I got was carried by a deer fly because I was bitten by one in that same spot. It was super itchy but kept getting atypically worse and by the time I asked my husband to look at it, there was the huge bulls-eye with a dark, infected looking center. No sign of a tick. I hadn't been in the woods, I had only been in our garden which was all mowed around the edges, no tall grasses or trees etc. Just a swarm of deer flies pestering every living thing.

#2: Having had ME/CFS first, and then getting Lyme "on top", I found them to be very distinctly different. Let's surmise we all know the classic ME/CFS exhaustion, flu-like aches, PEM, etc. In my case, "acute Lyme" was different in that I got a high fever, the aches escalated to being nearly intolerable, plus it suddenly involved my joints too. The pain would be sharp and shooting, and my knee would give out. Then it would move suddenly to another spot - other knee, or elbow, or hands, or wherever. I needed assistance to walk, the spot on my back hurt so badly I couldn't roll over on my own. I wound up in the ER because I was so sick.

I think already having ME/CFS made the episode of Lyme much worse. Evidently my immune system went nutty going after the Lyme. But once the Lyme was knocked out with antibiotics, I felt a lot better, but only got back to my old yucky baseline. (Who knew THAT could actually feel good?! Hah!) I still have ME/CFS. Battling one did not cure the other. I really don't think ME/CFS and Lyme are "the same thing", a "misdiagnosis", or a mistaken case of chronic Lyme, as a lot of Lymies seem to want to pontificate on. Certainly there are profound similarities... but that doesn't make them the same beast.
 

Issie

Well-Known Member
The Protozoa that Dr Fry has discovered is with us for life. So far, they can't find any way to totally eliminate it. It's a life long struggle to just keep it under control. It is much bigger and badder than Lyme. And if you have Lyme and co infections that go along with it, then you have double and triple whammys.
 

Get Our Free ME/CFS and FM Blog!



Forum Tips

Support Our Work

DO IT MONTHLY

HEALTH RISING IS NOT A 501 (c) 3 NON-PROFIT

Shopping on Amazon.com For HR

Latest Resources

Top