lpkayak
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5230
posted
i'm having a bad day-wicked herx...couldn't get the trash to the curb so i am stuck with it for another week.
the first email i opened is below.
gee...200,000 of us just "floating around", huh? sounds kinda peaceful-not like the pain i am feeling now.
i'm really glad to know "it's rarely, if ever, fatal. " i'll get to feel this pain to the end
and then this little tidbit, "if you have a tick bite it may be smaller than the size of a period."---i guess it's good the ticks themselves are not that small!
but my favorite bit of info is:
"If you do(my words: suspect you have lyme) and that ends up being true, there's a blood test you can actually get first of all to confirm, in fact, that you have this bacteria, the burelea burdoferi (ph)"
i am sooooo happy to know there is a "test to confirm..."
oh man......the info that is out there...it makes me sick-but then , i am having a bad day.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: During the summer, health officials routinely warn about the risk posed by deer tick bites. But lyme disease is still something of a mystery and often hard to diagnose. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the CNN Center this morning to tell us how to protect ourselves.
Hi, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi.
Burelea burdoferi (ph) -- that's the name of the bacteria that causes lyme disease, one of my favorite bacteria from medical school, incidentally, but it is the most common tick-borne infectious disease in the United States. That's the name of the bacteria. The good news is that it's rarely, if ever, fatal. That's an important point to point out right at the top here. But it has been reported in every state, except Montana, around the country, so it's certainly a very prevalent thing.
It's a little bit controversial as well, because lyme disease, the number of cases back in 2001 was around 17,000. In 2002, the number increased to 20,000, and the numbers may even be higher now.
But the interesting thing is that they think lyme disease is dramatically underreported by about 10 times, so, in fact, there might be about 200,000 cases of lyme disease floating around.
This year because of all the weather Chad's been talking about, because of the rain followed by extreme heat, they think that the number of tick bites has actually gone down, so some important information there. As far as symptoms go, there are some classic symptoms of lyme disease, although they are somewhat vague, as well. Take a look at the list of the various symptoms, a bullseye rash -- we're going to talk about that in a second here -- fever, malaise, fatigue, that just means being tired, having headaches, muscle aches or joint aches.
People put a lot of faith in this particular bullseye rash, the bullseye point, and then the rash that associated with it, but, in fact, according to the CDC, less than 50 percent, less than half the patients, actually have any sort of rash at all. You can take a look at some of the pictures there as well.
So that rash -- and sometimes if you have a tick bite it may be smaller than the size of a period on a typewritten page, so very, very small. Sometimes a rash won't be there. You've really got to look for those symptoms and be suspicious if you're someone who's at risk -- someone who's been out in fields, someone who's subjected to possible tick bites. And then there's all sorts of treatments available, as well.
COLLINS: What about those treatments? What can be done now?
GUPTA: Well, first of all you have to have the suspicion, again that you, in fact, have the tick bite and have subsequent lyme disease. If you do and that ends up being true, there's a blood test you can actually get first of all to confirm, in fact, that you have this bacteria, the burelea burdoferi (ph), and if you have that bacteria, you're going to go ahead and start on antibiotics. Typically, it gets a little controversial here, because the CDC will recommend about 10 days of oral antibiotics. But other organizations focused on lyme disease say the treatment needs to be much longer in order to prevent the disease from coming back. It gets a little bit controversial. But again, the CDC guidelines about 10 days.
And I should mention, as well, Heidi that part of the confusion is lyme disease really mimics a lot of other diseases. There are a lot of diseases that will look the same as lyme disease. Take a look at the list here of all those various diseases, including diseases like MS, ALS, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, Gulf War Syndrome, that's something we've been talking a lot about, ADHD even, hypochondrias (ph), fibromyalgia (ph), all those sorts of diseases. Sometimes lyme disease, if untreated, can cause neurological problems. Those bacteria actually get into areas of the brain. They can cause problems with memory, problems with hallucination. So it can be very severe if not treated long-term -- Heidi.
COLLINS: Wow. And hard to figure out it sounds like if you have it in the first place.
Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much this morning for talking to us about Burelea burdoferi (ph).
GUPTA: That's very good.
COLLINS: Thank you.
GUPTA: My favorite bacteria.
COLLINS: All right, we'll talk again soon. Thanks, Sanjay.
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-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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massman
Unregistered
posted
And this one should be our surgeon general ?
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
oh yeah, right. we're going to get "real" treatment and recognition from this guy...
he's already a real piece of work in my unlearned opinion....
at least bush had it and it got some sort of publicity....i can't wait to see what they say about treatment....especially since they want to treat all of us the same...
uh huh....
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7347
posted
quote: Sometimes lyme disease, if untreated, can cause neurological problems. Those bacteria actually get into areas of the brain. They can cause problems with memory, problems with hallucination. So it can be very severe if not treated long-term -- Heidi.
That part is at least a tiny glimmer that he may understand the need for long-term treatment.
At least he acknowledged that there is a controversy, rather than only citing what he called "CDC" guidelines.
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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adamm
Unregistered
posted
Stuff like that is the reason he's getting picked for the job.
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lpkayak
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5230
posted
i know there was some good stuff in the piece.
i was really seeing everything negative this morning
i'm pretty discouraged about how obama is going about health care so far tho. the records on computers is a real joke i think. it hurts not helps.
they said they wanted to do it so noone is given a repeat test by accident?
i think good docs are going to have it harder and harder...
when ever i get copies of my records thaty are full of mistakes anyway.
guess i'm still kinda negative
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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