Just thought I'd pass this info on. I am currently fostering a 73 lb dog for a local shelter that has Lyme disease. The vet states that he is to get 400mg of doxy twice a day for 4-6 weeks!! I can hardly believe it. My pcp doc wouldn't give me more than 100mg 2x a day for 21 days.
Could it really be true that vets know more about lyme than human docs? And what about the Lyme test they give dogs. Is it any more sensitive than human western blots? I guess the test is done in 5 mins and detects anaplasma, heartworm, lyme and erlichia.
What's stopping us from going to the vet for our treatment and testing LOL!? Anyway, thought this was REAL interesting.
-------------------- Country Mouse
6/2011 IgX: IGG: 31 IND, 41+++, 45+, 58+ IGM: 31+, 39 IND, 41 IND, 83-93 IND Band 31 confirmed to be Lyme epitope by Igenex 7/2011
8/2011 IgX: POSITIVE IGG: 31+, 34 IND, 39 IND, 41++, 45+, 58+ IGM: 31+, 34 IND, 39 IND, 41++, 83-93+ Posts: 169 | From Western Mass | Registered: May 2011
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Jamers
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 28016
posted
I just had my dog tested for the same test you mentioned. Its amazing how accurate they are. He was also on Doxy as a precaution. But it took a whole year for me to get diagnosed. I believe vets understand these illness more also.
-------------------- Diagnosed Pos. Lyme Nov. 17, 2010, Igx. Pos. Babesia Duncani March 2011, Igx. Clinical diagnosis for Bartonella Posts: 1127 | From North Carolina | Registered: Sep 2010
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Tincup
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5829
posted
Most vets know a zillion times more than the infectious disease ducks responsible for treating humans for Lyme. It has been this way for many years.
Even their counts of reported cases are better. See really good map of where cases are in dogs at this site. Look for the section marked- Dog & Tick Information and Map of Reported Cases.
-------------------- Let us not become weary in doing good,for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. -- Posts: 247 | From HOME | Registered: Oct 2011
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posted
I'm not a Dr. so here's a stupid question (also very drain bread right now), why can't we use the "dog" Lyme test on us?
CrackerJack, very funny! Took me a minute, okay 2 or 3, to figure it out...
-------------------- Down on her knees, she wept on the floor. This hopeless life, she wanted no more. Dead in the mind and cold to the bone, She opened her eyes and saw she was alone. ~Seether Posts: 427 | From Rhode Island | Registered: May 2011
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Kudzuslipper
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Member # 31915
posted
I believe vets testing is better. But on dosing, dogs metabolize a lot faster than humans so generally take higher doses per weight. My 15 lb dog takes the same tramadol dose as me.
Posts: 1728 | From USA | Registered: May 2011
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17hens
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 23747
posted
slightly off subject...
My vet told me about a day in the middle of Feb. 2003, when he was woken up by a night time caller who was freaking out about her very ill dog.
The dog ended up dying from lyme.
The vet said since that first day, he has had a minimum of 3 dogs test positive for lyme every single day in his office.
Our vets KNOW what is going on. (He also told me he's had quite a few doctors contact him asking how to help their wife or family member who has lyme.)
-------------------- "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalms 73:26
bit 4/09, diagnosed 1/10 Posts: 3043 | From PA | Registered: Dec 2009
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
when i took my baby to the vet, he took one look at me and said "how long have you had lyme?" i said "i don't have lyme" and he said "oh yes you do".....this was years before i got diagnosed.
wish i could have gone to him.
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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jackie51
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posted
randi--I wonder how that vet knew you had lyme. Posts: 1374 | From Crazy Town | Registered: Dec 2007
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Very good of you to take in the dog and help it. Thanks for doing that. Thanks very much!
Thanks! We've been donating to 3 local shelters for years but this is our first foster dog. They could not find anyone who would foster him because he had both Lyme and heartworm and needed treatment. Luckily we had just been approved as a foster family. My daughter and I knew we had to take him. It was just too ironic after all my Lyme problems, to care for a Lyme pup!
-------------------- Country Mouse
6/2011 IgX: IGG: 31 IND, 41+++, 45+, 58+ IGM: 31+, 39 IND, 41 IND, 83-93 IND Band 31 confirmed to be Lyme epitope by Igenex 7/2011
8/2011 IgX: POSITIVE IGG: 31+, 34 IND, 39 IND, 41++, 45+, 58+ IGM: 31+, 34 IND, 39 IND, 41++, 83-93+ Posts: 169 | From Western Mass | Registered: May 2011
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posted
Yes I wonder too if humans can use the dog test? I mean how hard would it be to order a mess of them. My hubby is in the health field and could draw my blood...I wonder...?
-------------------- Country Mouse
6/2011 IgX: IGG: 31 IND, 41+++, 45+, 58+ IGM: 31+, 39 IND, 41 IND, 83-93 IND Band 31 confirmed to be Lyme epitope by Igenex 7/2011
8/2011 IgX: POSITIVE IGG: 31+, 34 IND, 39 IND, 41++, 45+, 58+ IGM: 31+, 34 IND, 39 IND, 41++, 83-93+ Posts: 169 | From Western Mass | Registered: May 2011
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nefferdun
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 20157
posted
That is very intriguing about the test. I bet it is a heck of a lot cheaper too.
Another thing I have read in vet sites is that Ehrlichia goes into the spleen and can activate later. When animals are not treated in the acute stage it can require lifetime abx to control and it becomes so serious the animal can die from it. Why would it be different in humans? We are all mammals.
The disease most dismissed, even by LLMDs, is Ehrlichia, yet the vet research agrees it is a killer.
The vets here are completely unaware of lyme disease. When I tell them I was infected here they don't believe me. I know of one vet that was bitten by a tick crawling off a horse. When he finally found out what was wrong (after heart block), he treated himself.
When I asked what happened to the horse, he just shrugged. Poor horse! I tell all the doctors, in 2003 the state collected 345 ticks that had bitten people and 6 of those people got the EM rash.
As the rash is conclusive of lyme disease and the CDC agrees only 50% of those people infected get the rash, the statistics of ticks transfering lyme would be less than one in 30.
Yet every single doctor and vet has dismissed this information. I have told 7 vets and 2 doctors. Not one is looking for the disease. My GP says I am the only person he has ever seen with it. He has 4000 marijuana patients and I would bet at least one tenth of those that are really sick have lyme.
I am CDC positive but this state still believes the strain that is here is not really lyme - just lyme like. There are people literally dying. It is awful.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
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merrygirl
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Member # 12041
posted
was a vet tech 12 years..
dog meds go by weight.
we cant yse their tests because the test is looking for caninbe antibodies. they look different than ours.
Posts: 3905 | From USA | Registered: May 2007
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
must have been the red dots, droopy eyelids and all. I told him some of my symptoms after he said that and he sad oh yeah lyme
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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Rivendell
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19922
posted
In the book, Cure Unknown, Pamela Weintraub, who is a science journalist talked with a vet who said that their research showed that you can treat a dog and watch it get well, only to have the disease return weeks or months later.
So, yes, the research vets have known all about Lyme for years.
Posts: 1358 | From Midwest | Registered: Apr 2009
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