Ticks have been mentioned in another thread which got me to thinking that here in the UK, tick transmitted Lyme Disease is on the increase and I'm sure I've read about a connection with this and the same symptoms as arthropathies.
I'm interested in knowing some more about this if anyone has anything to share.
I live in New York, so when I went in complaining of joint pain, fatigue, swelling, part of my panel of blood work included being tested for Lyme disease. But I was also told to make an appt with a rheumy, as what I came in with looked an awful lot like an autoimmune disease. I tested negative for Lyme disease, with two different tests run, as there are some inaccuracies with the test.
My son did once get the rash, so he was treated, and never tested. It can take time for it to show up in the blood work, so if you have the bullseye rash, it's better to just treat.
To the best of my knowledge I've never been tested. No-one has ever even mentioned it. Likewise I'm not aware of ever having had a tick bite ..... but I have five cats who get the odd tick (even with preventative treatments) and so I couldn't say for certain I might never have been bitten.
Interesting subject. Look forward to seeing what else gets added to this topic.
FWIW the major research facility in the world for Lyme Disease and for that matter Tick Borne disease in general is Called Rocky Mountain laboratories. Its an NIH level 4 facility in Hamilton Montana. Anyway here is a couple of pieces from them written by a very bright Montana fellow:
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/lymedisease/understanding/Pages/chronic.aspx
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/lymedisease/understanding/pages/intro.aspx
There is a whole sub culture of folk who believe that Reactive Arthritis becomes PsA, RA etc etc and can be cured. They also believe chronic lymes disease.............
Lyme disease can be very serious. A man in our neighborhood had doctored for arthritic pain and inflammation for months before it was diagnosed as Lyme disease. He was put on strong antibiotics long term and supposedly was recovering. He ended up dying during that time and it was said that the complications of Lyme disease killed him. I was bit once before, about 15 years ago. That time I had a very definite bullseye area on my leg and was put on amoxicilin. Its too risky for people like us not to take antibiotics if we get bit. Lyme disease is just one of many diseases ticks carry. And, being the symptoms resemble PsA symptoms, we would be diagnosed as having a PsA flare instead of being properly treated for tick bite reaction. Also, both times I've been bit by the little critters, I discovered it because the bite hurt, and both times the head was embedded under my skin and the body broke off when we tried to remove it. Ordinary ticks have been easier to remove-sometimes they take a chunk of skin, but it's possible to get them off, head and all!
tntlamb said:
FWIW the major research facility in the world for Lyme Disease and for that matter Tick Borne disease in general is Called Rocky Mountain laboratories. Its an NIH level 4 facility in Hamilton Montana. Anyway here is a couple of pieces from them written by a very bright Montana fellow:
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/lymedisease/understanding/Pages/chr...
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/lymedisease/understanding/pages/int...
There is a whole sub culture of folk who believe that Reactive Arthritis becomes PsA, RA etc etc and can be cured. They also believe chronic lymes disease.............
Its more likley that he died from the therapy than from the Lymes heres a pretty good explanation of what happens:'
http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/31/4/1107.long
There is no such thing as chronic lymes disease. There are a few quacks pushing it telling patients they have persistent infection. Not much different than the "Way Back" There is a recognized condition called PTLDS ("Post-treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome") No one know the cause (we are working on it) What they do know is that it is not infection, it is believed that the lingering symptoms are the result of residual damage to tissues and the immune system that occurred during the infection. Similar complications and "auto–immune" responses are known to occur following other infections, including Campylobacter (Guillain-Barre syndrome), Chlamydia (Reiter's syndrome), and Strep throat (rheumatic heart disease). BUTpatients with PTLDS almost always get better with time; the bad news is that it can take months to feel completely well. The docs often treat patients in ways similar to patients who have fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome. This does not mean that your doctor is dismissing the pain or saying they have these conditions. It simply means that the doctor is trying to help them as best he can.
Here's a quicky by the same Montana guy who wrote the first two: http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/postLDS/
Very interesting, tnt. So do you think it's not necessary for me to take the antibiotic?
Tntlamb already posted this link, but it answers that question sort of. Think the efficacy of antibiotic therapy has to do with whether a person's been infected or not and whether they still are.
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/lymedisease/understanding/Pages/chronic.aspx
I dunno. Depends on where you live and how long that bugger was hanging on. Thats why we pay the docs big bucks......
Grandma J said:
Very interesting, tnt. So do you think it's not necessary for me to take the antibiotic?
Thanks for checking this out and letting me know. Something else to add to my list of doctor discussions. Very good point that excluding possibilities is reassuring when things aren't adding up.
I would find it very surprising if you had not been tested already, but just didn’t know. Most docs worth their salt would do so early on…you just might not know it. If the test is negative, you never hear about it. When I was running through the different diagnostics with my doc, he had done a VERY thorough job. Everything that I had found as a possibility, he had already run.
It doesn’t hurt to ask. I have been bitten quite a bit, being from Arkansas and being quite the outdoor adventurer.
Grandma J said:
Very interesting, tnt. So do you think it’s not necessary for me to take the antibiotic?
Nifty little article on tick borne illness: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/lyme-disease-myths-facts_n_3287872.html
Written in lay terms!
Eleven years ago, I found a tick on the inside of my left knee. A few days later I had the classic bulls eye rash, erythema migrans. My husband and I knew nothing about Lyme disease, so I did not go to the Dr. until I got sick with what I thought was the flu. My Dr. at that time was sure that I had Lyme, but the tests came back negative. She did more than one test. That is when my downward spiral began. I took doxycycline for 3 months. During that 3 months I gained 60 pounds! My SED rate shot up to over 200 and the flu feeling never went away. To shorten this long story, I changed GP's, he told me that he didn't know what it was either, that we were now in wait and see mode. That is when I began visiting him every 3 months. The fingernail changes and the early spine degeneration were the clues he had been looking for. I told my rheumatologist this story on my initial visit. He said that the powers that be tell him that there is no Lyme in Georgia, but he doesn't believe it.
Anyway, I could go on and on. Thanks for listening, y'all. Thanks for the article, too, GrumpyCat.