Lyme disease-- Problem in the Okanagan?

[Fancy]

I know this thread is older now but TreeGuy if you don't mind sharing how did you eventually get diagnosed? I skimmed through and may have missed it in the thread but not sure how you finally got diagnosed.

Read his first post on page 3 - sums it up.
And this on page 4:

Just an update to this thread, not that it has gained much interest, however if it helps someone else then it is worth it. Through testing done in the USA I have been diagnosed with Lyme disease.

[TreeGuy]

Surprise, surprise, surprise! The more people I talk to about Lyme the more I hear from people who have it or have had it. I am out of pocket a good sum of money for the treatment I sought through Naturopathic Dr.'s, hopefully others in the future won't have to go through the same ordeal.

http://www.castanet.net/edition/news-story-165866-4-.htm#165866

I know this thread is older now but TreeGuy if you don't mind sharing how did you eventually get diagnosed? I skimmed through and may have missed it in the thread but not sure how you finally got diagnosed.

I saw Dr. Chan, a naturopathic Dr in Richmond. He did some in clinic testing and sent my blood down to the USA. It is a quantitative test and the numbers showed it was likely that I had Lyme, so I went on two different antibiotics.

After that I saw Dr Pagdin as I had adrenal fatigue. Now often major trauma can bring Lyme symptoms back. I don’t think breaking my neck will do that as I was on intravenous antibiotics in the hospital.

PM me if you would like to discuss it more.

[Temet Nosce]

Sorry to hear your struggle and hope you are starting to feel better. Adrenal fatigue--not good. I am sure they must have also checked you for Addison's Disease after everything you've been through. Thank you for sharing and the info I appreciate that and to your recovery.

[Glacier]

This was found in Vanderhoof last weekend. The poor moose that was here has been ravaged by ticks. They are bad this year, so please be aware and check yourself and pets regularly if you are out and about. Lyme disease is not fun to deal with as deer ticks are also being found.

[TreeGuy]

This was found in Vanderhoof last weekend. The poor moose that was here has been ravaged by ticks. They are bad this year, so please be aware and check yourself and pets regularly if you are out and about. Lyme disease is not fun to deal with as deer ticks are also being found.

ticks1.jpg

ticks2.jpg

ticks3.jpg

I can testify to that!

Some believe mosquitos also carry lyme bacteria.

[Catsumi]

For those who are concerned about Lyme disease (we all should be aware) or who are so unfortunate as to actually have it,this is for you.

An excellent, clearly stated and easy to understand 20 min interview on CBC radio on The Sunday Edition, today.

The segment is titled "Lyme disease, the first epidemic of climate change"

The interviewee has just published a book with the same title. Hope this is of some help to those afflicted.

[Glacier]

Is Lyme disease a feminist issue? It may sound ludicrous to ask this of a tick-borne infection that can usually be dispatched with a course of antibiotics. Yet its name commemorates the two women living in the town of Lyme, Connecticut, who, in the mid-seventies, fought the medical establishment to have the disease acknowledged and treated. “You know,” a doctor informed one of them after failing to find the source of her symptoms, “sometimes people subconsciously want to be sick.” It’s tempting to think of this reflexive, paternalistic skepticism directed at female patients as a remnant of a bygone era. And yet there’s a class of illnesses—multi-symptomatic, chronic, hard to diagnose—that remain associated with suffering women and disbelieving experts. Lyme disease, symptoms of which can afflict patients years after the initial tick bite, appears to be one.

“I don’t care if people don’t think feminism is important, because I know it is,” the musician and early Riot Grrrl Kathleen Hanna says toward the end of “The Punk Singer,” Sini Anderson’s 2013 documentary about her. “And I don’t care if people don’t think late-stage Lyme disease exists, because I have it and other people have it. . . . If they don’t want to believe in it or they don’t want to care about it, that’s totally fine, but they should have to stay out of my way.” She describes an experience common to many sufferers from chronic illness—that of being dismissed as an unreliable witness to what is happening inside her. Since no single medical condition, a doctor once told her, could plausibly affect so many different systems—neurological, respiratory, gastrointestinal—she must be having a panic attack.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018 ... -disbelief

[Glacier]

FYI, ticks are out already. A lady found one behind my house.

[Fancy]

Thanks for the heads up. I have found ticks behind dogs' ears so really good advice to check pets after a walk.

[Brushy Bill]

prevention is best
permethrin works well

[pureblissyoga]

I am just wondering if anyone has any information on Lyme Disease. It is caused by wood ticks and i know many people who are having a very difficult time getting treatment. I understand that the government and mainstream science do not recognize this disease in Canada. I also have a friend in Germany who is fighting this disease and in Germany there is much more information.
Anybody with info to share?

I'd like to contribute. I was bit on the head by a tick at age 7 (1987), this was hiking in the hills around Kelowna. Years of odd symptoms passed undiagnosed. All of my symptoms were passed off as other common ailments. Bless my parents, they watched for Rocky mountain spotted fever but Lyme? Didn't exist there. Fast forward 25 years, I was lucky enough to be put in touch with an open minded doctor in Calgary where I now live, and thank goodness he was aware of Lyme. I tested positive through IGeneX in California which is thought to be the most reliable. They don't just test for antibodies but for the bacterial DNA itself. For the record I tested negative twice in Canada through the federal lab. After 4 months of strong antibiotics my brain is starting to clear, but the instant fatigue and joint pains remain prominent. The problem with Lyme is that the treatment causes a surge in symptoms and can make the person worse. I know I am improving but that it took 25 years to get this sick then it will take awhile to get better.

I went through many doctors in both Kelowna and Calgary, and was prescribed pills for depression and anxiety for my severe mood swings, was told my muscle pains were growing pains, was told my joint pain was caused by depression, was told my migraines were normal, that my muscle cramps were normal, my stinging nerves were normal, my excessive sweating was normal, my quick exhaustion normal, my dizziness normal, my slurred speech, gastro-intestinal problems, attention difficulty, bladder problems, back pain, ear aches, sore throats, low blood pressure, high blood pressure, eye floaters, blurry vision, tinnitis, photosensitivity, tremors, numbness in limbs... then they're thinking I'm a hypochondriac and they are upset that I'm I'm refusing psychiatric drugs. No offense but they didn't work the first 10 times. Now here I find myself struggling to get better, thousands out pocket for a disease they have a vaccine for in Europe. My own family doctor refused to assist in my treatment because after consulting with an infectious disease Doctor here he was told the treatment I was on was not authorized, aka antibiotics longer than 2 weeks for an infection I've had for 25 years. Because of this I had to travel much farther to get treatment several times a week for 3 months, not to mention losing faith in my family doctor. Did I mention my sister also has Lyme? Lucky for her she lives in the eastern US where she was diagnosed. She too has been sick for many years since before she left Kelowna.

Health Canada can take their guidelines and wipe their *bleep* with it for all the good it's done me. Not to mention it's based on biased information from the CDC and IDSA (look up: Lyme related patent holders and their affiliates). Why do we, as Canadians with a public health care system continue to rely on information from a for profit health care system (USA) that's designed to keep people sick! In Germany they rule out Lyme before diagnosing MS, that's how similar they are, some researchers are convinced that they are the same disease (also ALS, Parkinsons, Fibromyalgia, and Alzheimers). Lyme has been around for thousands of years (see: Otezi the iceman), and is on all continents but Antarctica. It is spread by black legged ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, biting flies, sex and in utero. Yup, you can pass it to your kids.

The best place to start educating yourself is either the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) or Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation (CanLyme) which just happens to be in Westbank (coincidence?!?). If you think you or someone you know has Lyme (or a coinfection), be your own advocate and educate yourself because you'll be educating a lot of closed minded people along the way.

I ripped a bug imbedded into the top of my daughters head 4 years ago when she was 6 years old! It was a super engorged disgusting tic of course I never knew anything about them until then. I went to the doctor and ya he said he can't do anything without the tic for testing then proceeded to consult google just like I already did then sent us away no treatment no testing no follow up, nothing! Since then there have been all sorts of skin issues diagnosis of dyslexia and ADHD. Can I stay in touch with you to hear more about your story? I can't believe how similar our stories are!

[perspicacious]

I was bit 31 years ago by a tick while vacationing in Europe. I didn't know it then as I was just a teenager, but I had the standard bullseye symptom. I recall getting a lot of needles in some doctors office but now I wonder if that was sufficient? Over the years I've suffered re-occuring issues in joint pains, etc. There should be a standard testing and treatment for this like there is in the USA. To this day I am not sure what I got as my parents didn't speak very good english

[Glacier]

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/kris ... tlaw-at-80