This is one of those articles that necessitates a warning label, a \u201cDon\u2019t try this at home kids\u201d kind of thing. Be warned \u2013 the following is not a vetted scientific thesis; it\u2019s the rambling, semi-informed opinion of an old coot. (Now my lawyer can breathe a sigh of relief)<\/p>\n
So, you found a tick on your leg. Panic sets in. LYME DISEASE! We all know, or have heard of someone who has been stricken by this mysterious disease, first identified in Lyme, Connecticut (thus the name) when a cluster of young kids came down with arthritis in 1975. Not all tick bites get you the bobby prize; it\u2019s a lottery. Maybe it will; maybe it won\u2019t. The first time you find a tick on yourself you rush to the doctor or a walk-in clinic, \u201cI found a tick on my leg!\u201d <\/p>\n
This is where you have to be prepared. TO LIE! Because, the first thing the doctor will ask is, \u201cHow long was the tick on you?\u201d If you give any indication that is was attached for less than 24 hours, you\u2019re going to be sent off with a recommendation to come back for a dose of antibiotics if you develop a bull\u2019s eye rash or experience flu symptoms. Unfortunately, those two indicators don\u2019t always show up, yet you still get the disease. <\/p>\n
If you are a dog with a tick bite, you get the antibiotic treatment right away. So I hear. A dog can\u2019t answer the, \u201cHow long was it there,\u201d question; it just wags its tail. The dog doctor mentality is along the lines of, \u201cWhat can it hurt; why take a chance? Give the pup the antibiotic.\u201d Not so, for humans; the protocol is just the opposite. \u201cLet\u2019s take a chance; we don\u2019t want to overprescribe antibiotics. Studies show that most of the time it takes 24 hours for a tick bite to result in Lyme disease.\u201d MOST OF THE TIME! Ask any person suffering the long-term debilitating effects of Lyme disease what they think of a protocol that plays the odds and takes a chance with your wellbeing. They will say, \u201cI\u2019d rather be treated like a dog!\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh, by the way, if you are a dog, you can get a Lyme disease vaccination. It\u2019s not perfect, only 80 percent effective, and it requires a few booster shots. But, if you can\u2019t bark; you can\u2019t get it. (I\u2019m practicing my dog imitation). The only pharmaceutical company that sold the vaccine pulled it off the market in 2002. Another company was about to offer it, but decided not to, because the Lyme vaccine got caught up in the wave of anti-vaccinations that was churning through society at the time and didn\u2019t want to get entangled in class action lawsuits. It would cause problems for a pharmaceutical company today if they offered it. <\/p>\n
Us humans are left wishing we could lead a dog\u2019s life. We don\u2019t get the medical protocol we deserve; we get prevention advice: wear long pants and tuck them in your socks, put on long-sleeved shirts, wear gloves and a hat, spray yourself with bug spray containing DEET and check yourself for ticks whenever you come in from outdoors. Old coots like me, get a real chuckle about this advice. It sounds as complicated and as uncomfortable as getting prepared to enter a bio-hazardous area. Check for ticks the size of a poppy seed? And, do it every time you come in from outdoors? We can\u2019t bend and stretch or see well enough to do that. And, it\u2019s impossible to hire someone who can. There\u2019s not a single listing in the yellow pages for tick checkers. <\/p>\n
We\u2019ve created bureaucracies in our modern society to protect us from ourselves, but they don\u2019t always operate with common sense. It will be years, if ever, before a Lyme disease vaccine is offered again. If they\u2019d only ask an old coot, any old coot, he\u2019d bark and then tell them what to do. <\/p>\n