[BC] Summer Warning - Lyme

[Len Watson]

A totally non-tech piece of information.

Apparently the tick population has increased significantly in 2014.  Lyme disease is right there with it.  No fun.  The treatment is Doxycycline for 2-3 weeks and it drags you down for the entire time you're taking it and makes you extremely sensitive to sunlight.  But like they say about old age, it beats the alternative.

I'm betting that anyone on this list knows the symptoms but just in case, http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/ 

General advice:  spray up.  As a client told me (southern drawl), "You get in the bathroom, you take off your clothes, you spray everything.  And I mean everything. Then spray your clothes and use clips or rubber bands on jeans and shirt sleeves.  Spray your shoes and socks and don't forget your head."  Also, when you come in, take care that ticks don't jump from clothes to someplace where they can get to you later...chair, car seat, etc. after you've showered off the repellant.  And do a complete inspection.  They're hard to see before they've attached themselves.

There is a blood test if you think you may have contracted it - either recently or in the past.  Apparently effective if long term symptoms are starting to surface.  If you had the disease earlier and think you have it again, a test for antigens won't work second time since the antigens from the first encounter are still there.

If you find a tick and remove it, save it.  If you have the symptoms take yourself and the tick to a clinic. 

Len Watson
Scope+Focus, Inc.