Is it an incurable death sentence or not a big deal? I got bit by a tick a month ago, got a rash last week and got put on antibiotics, doctor thinks its limes.
Theres some horror stories out there on the net, so before i totally freak out, give it to me straight.
Lyme disease is curable, despite what the Internet says.
It really screws with your spelling and capitalization.
Lyme (not Lime) disease is readily treatable with a lengthy course of antibiotics. Assuming you are diagnosed before it eats your brain.
You should be fine with rapid treatment. Don’t forget to follow up and get retested.
Is it one of those buggies that’s starting to get wise to all known antibiotics?
I think lime disease doesn’t kill you, it just maims you by putting your puss into a permanent pucker.
BTW: I believe OJ suffered from Lyme disease and killed Nicole and Ron in a rage induced by the disease. He was frequently in Connecticut at the Victoronix offices where he could easily have been bitten, and the reports of his rheumatoid arthritis seemed more consistent with Lyme than the actual condition.
Lime disease? Is that when you garnish a Martini?
Haha ahh lymes my apologies thanks for the swift response i was worried.
Several years ago, I heard a ‘discourse’ on the evils of Lyme disease at my local plant swap. Afterwards, my brother and I decided we’d had Lyme disease since about the age of ten—with no lingeringly bad effects.
People who live in remote, rural areas and spend a lot of time outdoors GET BITTEN BY TICKS. OFTEN.
“Lime disease” is scurvy. It was prevented by distributing limes in the British navy, leading to the slang term for the Brits “Limey”.
While hardly a death sentence, it is also nothing to be dismissive of or too casual about. It is easily enough treated if caught early. If it is left untreated long enough it can cause debilitating side effects. Better safe than sorry.
Yes, people get bitten by ticks all the time. But NOT ALL TICKS CARRY LYME DISEASE ;). Nor is transmission usually quick. Be careful about looking for and removing ticks promptly after you were in an area where you might pick up a few and you’ll probably be just fine. In my neck of the woods only one species of tick carries the spirochaete with any frequency, said frequency is low due to the nymphal feeding habits of said tick and the little fuckers of that particular species hurt when they latch onto you ( unlike some other common species that are practically painless ). Unless it is a tiny one, you’ll likely feel it before it has a chance to infect you thoroughly.
In other areas like parts of the northeast the situation is a little more severe. But yes, it is nothing to panic over. But neither is it something to blithely dismiss. There should be a middle ground between hysterical and totally blasé.
I had Lyme several years back. I got better. No realli! --Okay, enough with the Python references. It was caught early–thank you, bulls-eye rash–and I took a course of antibiotic, and it cleared up and hasn’t bothered me since then. It helped that 1) I did get the rash (a lot of people don’t); and 2) that I live in an area where Lyme is extremely common, so doctors know to look for it.
Just to reinforce–I have been bitten by ticks many more times than just once, but most of them evidently were not carriers. Also, it is not true that you have to be out in the woods a lot in order to get it. The ticks live on nicely manicured suburban lawns where deer come to munch the shrubbery (aargh–there I go again), and even in urban playgrounds. You probably increase your chances of catching Lyme by exchanging the pavement for the forest, but it isn’t by as much as people sometimes think. I’ve known several confirmed urbanites who do nothing more nature-ous than dig briefly in gardens, if that, who have had Lyme.
And one more “agree with Tamerlane”–though my case was caught early, not all are, and I’ve known people for whom it’s been a pretty serious chronic problem over the years.
Though here (the Northeast) you don’t notice when the ticks bite. You really have to look for them. Unfortunately.