Pennsylvania SB 1199 regarding Lyme Disease

There is a bill in the Pennsylvania Senate addressing Lyme Disease

The bill is controversial in that it endorses long term antibiotic treatment. In addition it establishes a task force for education and prevention. 

More information...

Aches and pains and fish oil

When Lyme was really flaring up on me, I was experiencing a lot of muscle-joint aches.

This summer, I have been playing on a new Waverunner and body surfing in the ocean... not bad for a 51 year old. However, I was experiencing a lot of aches and pains. I took a fish oil capsule expecting that it would take a couple of days of taking them to see any effect. A couple of hours later, the aches were gone.

As with any situation with medicine or supplements, you need to check with your doctor. In my case, I found that the fish oil supplements seemed to give immediate, positive, relief

This blog has moved

This blog is now located at http://lymeblog.lymediseasepa.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://lymeblog.lymediseasepa.com/feeds/posts/default.

Plain sheets vs Patterns

Every little thing you do to prevent Lyme disease can help.

My wife has been buying solid light colored sheets for our bed. A big advantage of that is that you can more easily see if there are any ticks crawling on the sheets. That sounds a little crazy but I was thinking about how many ticks we have caught that way. We almost never get into bed without having taken a shower if we were previously outdoors. Even so, we still find an occasional tick.

Mouse Killer

Spring is coming fast and with it, Lyme disease season.

One of the key factors in the Lyme disease cycle is mice. We regularly put mouse bait stations out with mice killer. Be careful with this if you have cats in the area and be sure to follow directions and your local and state laws.

We put the stations around the outside of the house at about 15 foot intervals and in the flower beds near the house. A couple more go under the shed.

The idea is to get rid of the mice and break at least part of the cycle.

You start off with an appropriate number of bait stations similar to the following






You will need the mouse baits to fill the stations similar to the following:








Be very careful with the mouse baits. You need to be absolutely sure that children and pets cannot get to it. In some locations, only licenced exterminators can deploy the baits. We make sure to wear disposable gloves and a mask when handling the stations and the bait. (the mask might be a little overboard but it's better to be safe)

Note that there is a possibility that your local mouse population could become resistant to one type of poison.

Pet areas at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs

We just spent a couple of Days at the Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Va.

We were on the second floor of the Garden Wing (South Wing). I was working in the sitting area in the Garden Wing and noticed a number of people walking through with dogs. I had thought that they had a no pets policy and that these were animals coming back from the kennels.

After returning home I happened to check out their website and found that they offer "Pet Friendly Rooms. (Homestead pet rooms). I called the front desk and found that the first floor of the Garden Wings contained the "Pet Friendly" rooms.

I found this to be deeply disturbing. My wife and I are continually battling Lyme disease. We spent over $50,000 out of pocket and spent 2 years receiving high doses of antibiotics. We tend to avoid homes with pets when possible.

If I recall correctly, I did see people bringing pets through the Great Hall and the areas near the restaurants (Not in the restaurants).

The pet friendly policy bothers me on a number of levels.

1. The area around the homestead is full of deer. Dogs visiting there are likely to pick up ticks. Once these ticks are picked up, they can and will drop off in the building. Using the public areas can expose you to ticks.
2. I am not comfortable with the fact that housekeeping may be coming from rooms with animals before they visit our rooms, again increasing our exposure to possible tick bites.
3. As this policy progresses, I would think that an increasing number of people will be bringing their pets to the Hotel. The problem is that visitors may not be aware of the fact and may not be as alert as they should be for ticks. Keep in mind the miniscule nature of the deer tick and deer tick Nymph.

We really enjoyed our stay but unfortunately that will probably be our last visit unless this policy is reversed. If you are paying several hundred dollars a night to stay there, you don't expect to be staying in a kennel and exposing your family to ticks and Lyme.

Chimpanzee with Lyme goes on a rampage

Feb 2009

There is a tragic story from Connecticut. A chimpanzee that was being treated for Lyme disease went on a rampage severly mauling a woman and injuring several others. Police officers shot the animal to death.

The Chimp was remarkably intelligent. It could log onto the computer, bathe itself and brush it's teeth and dress itself. Connecticut is well know as a Lyme disease hotspot. As many of us who are familiar with Lyme know, it can affect the nervous system. Apparently this animal was affected and the owner was trying to treat it with Xanax for it's mood swings.

The government, insurance companies, and some in the medical community insist that a 30 day treatment is all that is required. They ignore the long term effects of the disease.

It is sad that such a tiny organism inside such a tiny insect can cause so much grief.

While I realize that the Chimpanzee was a dear friend of it's owner, I am hoping that the medical community can gain some insights from it into how Lyme disease affects the nervous system. Supposedly Chimpanzees share something like 98% of their DNA with Humans.

Here are a few links to articles about this incident:

• Times Online
• Associated Press
• MSNBC