Lyme

[PhillyPA]

.

Edited October 28, 2010 by PhillyPA

[Chemar]

How many DONT have Lyme?

 

Please chime in!

 

one more time

 

I really think it would be best to take other discussion onto a separate thread so that this one can remain "on topic" to just that single question initially asked. When someone is trying to get a clear answer on something, it really becomes confusing when the topic goes at a tangent. I know it is all related, but the original poster was not asking who should be tested or why, only asking who does **not** have Lyme.

 

thanks

[thereishope]

No Lyme here. We do not live in an area with "high incident of Lyme" either.

Edited October 28, 2010 by Vickie

[P_Mom]

Chemar..........agree!!! THANKS!! It can get so incredibly exhausting!!

Edited October 28, 2010 by P.Mom

[EAMom]

We've never tested.

 

Nobody in the family has ever had a tick (even the dogs/cats) that we know of. We have also never lived in (or visited in the appropriate season) a Lyme endemic area.

[sf_mom]

Lyme Endemic Areas - CDC information.

 

LD has been reported primarily from states in the three recognized endemic areas: the coastal areas of the Northeast (Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island); in the Midwest (Minnesota, Wisconsin); and in the West (California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah)

 

 

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000338.htm

 

 

The attached map shows by county from 2006 statistics for CA

 

 

http://www.ajtmh.org/content/vol75/issue4/images/large/669fig3.jpeg

 

 

Unfortunately, Marin County being one of the more Lyme intense areas in Northern CA.

 

-Wendy

Edited October 28, 2010 by SF Mom

[matis_mom]

How many DONT have Lyme?

 

Please chime in!

 

one more time

 

I really think it would be best to take other discussion onto a separate thread so that this one can remain "on topic" to just that single question initially asked. When someone is trying to get a clear answer on something, it really becomes confusing when the topic goes at a tangent. I know it is all related, but the original poster was not asking who should be tested or why, only asking who does **not** have Lyme.

 

thanks

Sorry! Couldn't help myself... I'll try harder next time

[EAMom]

(I apologize in advance for getting off topic of the poll.)

We're in the suburbs, South Bay Area...not by the coast or Marin. Plus, scant history of camping and NO history of tick bites. Surely, if we were in such an endemic area at least someone, somewhere in our family (even a cat or dog?), would have had a bite ? (It seems like most of the Lyme afflicted in Cure Unknown dealt with ticks on a known and regular basis.)

 

Not to say we've never been to cities in the listed states (Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle etc.), but as far as living/vacationing in a tick-y/woodsy area within the those states, not to mention actually experiencing a bite, or even having someone in our family/travel group get a bite...no. Plus I'm born/raised in Hawaii. No Lyme there (and no ticks in our family growing up either).

 

A friend in the North East (who's whole family has had been diagnosed with Lyme, and the husband with Babesia as well) sent me a bottle of herbal "tick repellent" (maybe thinking b/c we have pets?) and wanted to know if it worked. Dh and I cracked up, and we had to explain to her that we would never know if it worked since we've never seen a tick here to begin with. Interestingly, this family got Lyme and Babesia while living in Norway (at least that's what they think).

Edited October 29, 2010 by EAMom

[Chemar]

thanks for the advance apology EAMom I realize you were replying to a specific post

 

and lol mati's mom...you're hired

 

now

 

back to your regularly scheduled programming

 

Johnsmom, on 27 October 2010 - 10:10 PM, said:

 

How many DONT have Lyme?

 

Please chime in!

[peglem]

I just don't know how anybody can know if they "don't have lyme". The tests are notorious for false negatives and the symptoms are so broad and general... I see how people can know if they do have lyme. That being said, we've never tested, so I guess my answer is I don't know. (see? right on topic.

[sf_mom]

Sorry for being slightly off topic too.

 

Honestly, I've only seen one American Dog tic while living here and I had no idea Northern CA was considered endemic until we unraveled this for our family. I believe I got Lyme while growing up in MN and spending my summer up north camping. AND my response, really wasn't intended specifically for you but more for others reading to understand that CA definitely has concerns of Lyme.

 

Anyway, if you do venture into Marin hopefully you'll put the herbal tick repellent to good use.

Edited October 29, 2010 by SF Mom

[EAMom]

I just don't know how anybody can know if they "don't have lyme". The tests are notorious for false negatives and the symptoms are so broad and general... I see how people can know if they do have lyme. That being said, we've never tested, so I guess my answer is I don't know. (see? right on topic.

 

Unless you believe that some of the Lyme tests also have false positives....and then there could be some saying they do have lyme when they actually don't.

[EAMom]

 

Anyway, if you do venture into Marin hopefully you'll put the herbal tick repellent to good use.

 

Nah...I'd go straight for the DEET.

[P_Mom]

Yes, EA Mom...there are many false positives as well as negatives. The Elisa and the IGM western blot produce many false positives. I have read the PCR test is also not a very good test....it is very insensitive and easily contaminated.