I'm vegan. I was vegetarian and pescetarian before. Now that you've come out about your veganism, get ready to get bashed and have all sorts of unverified statistics and personal anecdotes thrown your way.
I hear about that in regards to eating most things. If you stay away from things for a month or two your taste buds and cravings change and your want for the food dissipates. I did that with soda, two years ago in June after my birthday I gave soda up after drinking 4-5 cans a day, everyday. It was a pain for a few weeks, but by the end of the summer my want for sodas completely stopped and now I don't think twice about drinking any. I haven't tried that with any kinds of food, yet, but I think i'd follow the same route.
I had the exact same experience with sugary sodas. I grew up pounding Dr. Pepper all day long but in the same month I went vegetarian (I was 18 - it was 30 years ago this year) for whatever reason I thought I'd see what it was like to cut out soda too. I only meant to do it for a brief time as an experiment but I NEVER went back to it. Having a month away from it made it seem sickly sweet and syrupy. About once every 5-8 years I get a soda craving and buy one to try it again and I never get past my first sip. I spit it out immediately and have to eat something else to get the taste out of my mouth. Further proof dietary changes are not so hard if one is committed to them. And it gets easier with time as these things enter into a personal category of "not food." The chronic Lyme that is only one of my serious and chronic conditions means no sugar anyway so I'm glad I managed to get off soda way back when. It made the transition to zero sugar so much easier.
If you want protein, red meat, fowl, seafood, etc...there are many ways to do that, wild, sustainable, free-range, frankly good-for-the-land-type-stuff, at the very least population control is a necessary thing (thinking deer and pigs and dove)
I still find it wild (and not in a good way) that you have chronic Lyme disease, Batman. No permanent cure has arisen? All likely thanks to the bite of a tick somewhere. What are the odds?
No remedy, that's nasty, nasty ****, the host ticks are confined to the North East though. On a semi-related note, the reason tick populations in Central Texas are cratering is because fire ants eat the hell out of them. So that's a fringe benefit. When I was a kid summering in Blanco county, we'd do a tick-check every night, and usually find something on the dogs or horses or people. I haven't seen more than 6 or so in the past 10 years now. The one thing I worry about is brucellosis from pigs.
When I grew up, we went barefoot all summer. School let out at the end of May and didn't start again until after Labor Day. No fire ants. You could find horny toads outside of town, if you knew where to look. It's remarkable how those damned ants have changed lifestyles in Texas, as well as the environment. Sort of like how the rise of Lyme disease has made people far more aware of checking for ticks after they've gone for a walk in the woods or some fields in the country. Spoiler I miss not having the existence of cell phones, as well as not having to deal with fire ants, and the ticks around were a nuisance, not possibly a major threat to one's health. Regarding those phones (a little off topic)? I've come to view cellphones as being just as much a millstone around your neck as they are a convenience. You are never truly free, not any longer. I could drive off in my old Mercury and no one knew where I was, where I was going, and when they might see me again. They only knew what I told them, if anything, unless I made an effort to call. Those days have largely disappeared.[/i]
You're right it's nasty, nasty **** Buck, but the bit about host ticks being confined to the NE is a roundly debunked fallacy. It's been in nearly all 50 states going back to the 1970s at least. I contracted it in Houston in the mid-70s and all LLMD's (Lyme literate MD's) agree now that white footed mice have been carrying the bacteria from NE deer to deer across the country going back to the early 70s at least. If you ever encounter a doctor that still believes that Lyme is confined to only certain US states, you are not talking to a LLMD. And only LLMD's are caught up on the facts of the disease. To answer Deckard's post, here's something the American CDC won't tell you and therefore most doctors (again, non-LLMD's) won't tell you... If you've had Lyme disease for more than one year, undiagnosed so untreated, there is no known cure though recent studies say Stevia extract may be one because it destroys the biofilms that make the bacteria (already spirochetes, making them very difficult to kill) impossible to kill. Conventional antibiotics actually strengthen the biofilms and the bacteria can't be killed without destroying the biofilms. But the latest science on the disease is at odds with the American CDC's oft-repeated statement that ALL Lyme can be cured with 3 weeks of doxycycline, no matter how long one has had it, and that only 10-20% continue to be symptomatic after one round of conventional antibiotics. No other country agrees with the American CDC which makes perfect sense because America is the only Western country where health care is still a for-profit industry. But that statement, which is in virtually every article about Lyme, is patently false and is based only on the resistance of acknowledging an epidemic that has more new cases each year than breast cancer and HIV combined because to acknowledge it would be to cover radically expensive treatment. The latest science has said and still says that for EVERY SINGLE PERSON that has had it untreated for a year or more Lyme disease is incurable and can only be managed. 100% not 10%. That 10-20% of people that have what the CDC calls "post-Lyme disease syndrome" is just a lie motivated my money. Every single person that's had it more than a year untreated will demonstrate active Lyme bacteria on autopsy. There is nothing but proof on the side of LLMD's and nothing but lies from the CDC who doesn't want there to be a new and enormous epidemic because it's expensive to treat. A person that has had it for more than a year before diagnosis and treatment (I had it almost 40 years before diagnosis or treatment) can only hope to manage it into remission. But it never goes away and it can always come back if one isn't utterly vigilant in avoiding all sugar and alcohol, avoiding stress (the most difficult part for me because my job is highly stressful), and living a very healthy lifestyle. The whole thing has made me, a former lover of nature, terrified of ever going into the woods again because one can contract it over and over again.
I hope you'e well, brother, but all I know is where I live. And it's not an issue here, thanks to our recently imported friends, the fire ant. Fire ants also decimate the populations of quail, rabbit, horned toad, lizard...basically anything that nests on the ground. But they do eat ticks, so there's that. Oh, and there's this:
LD in Europe has an additional distinctive chronicle skin manifestation ,however treatment beyond the initial antibiotic period had no advantage even in EU studies
A world of information about Lyme disease, Batman, and scary as hell. It is clear that information about Lyme has not had the dissemination among the general population, as well as among their MD's, that is obviously needed. Is it "catching" between people or by other means, or only from ticks?
It's been proven now that it can be transmitted by semen or saliva, though it's not common. That's just one more thing the CDC still denies but all Lyme experts agree on.
There's no known cure. Doctors use conventional antibiotics because they help to manage symptoms not because they've been proven to be a reliable cure. The distinctive skin manifestation you speak of is the bull's eye rash. It occurs in America and overseas but in both places less than 50% of those that contract Lyme will be "lucky" enough to get the distinctive rash. I don't know if I had it or not because a tick was stuck to my head, under my full head of hair (I was 7 or 8 and still had hair), and any rash would have been hidden by my hair. A lot of uninformed doctors would say that if you didn't have the rash you never contracted Lyme. The facts are that less than 50% of those that contract it will have the rash. Just more misinformation about this disease about which most doctors are woefully misinformed.
It does, yeah. Thank you. I should mention that though I had a bad flareup recently, in my fourth year of constant treatment, my numbers are headed in the right direction and I'm on the verge of remission now. When I'm able to manage the disease into remission I experience normal energy, the sort you all take for granted, and to me it feels like superpowers, like I could run marathons and punch through brick walls, because since childhood I have never had normal energy. When people say "you're lucky you still have your health," hear that. I never did before I knew I was ill and I always found it an irritating thing to hear when I had some other struggle but one cannot overemphasize the power of "still having your health." As Joni Mitchell sang, "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."
Sorry again to hear about your recent re-aggravation with it. I can't imagine, I'll consider myself lucky that all I have is a chronic knee issue. Well, a "bad knee" and a "worse knee" to be precise. Truly hope all else is well with you, amigo.
must be frustrating to go through this undiagnosed ,i can't imagine how much of a torment that can be, and being in 3rd stage nothing much can be done aside from managing syndromes this is the acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA) , much more painful and persistent than NA skin manifestation (chronic= last more than 6 weeks ) Spoiler: ACA the good news , this type is limited in US/Canada to a few cases per year within European immigrants . there're 8 tick species that spreads a variety of Borrelia and cause lyme,loneStar ticks, STARI disease in 3 years of internal medicine in S.Ontario i had encountered 5 cases of infections by lyme ticks . 2 cases patients brought with them the insect in plastic bag , 2 cases found/removed a tick by searching each inch" of their body (usually found in the groin area ) , i'm aware that there are much more cases goes unreported or that most people don't carry infections the 1st line of treatment ( after being ticked should be dipping yourself in a bathtub with a lot of salt and warm water for about 15 minutes ( ppl amazed how their skin would start to foil - its not a part of medical guidelines, just personal-opinion) , then taking the insect with them to the hospital which would eliminates a lot of guessing speaking of risks , eating pork specially when its BBQ-ed pause a greater risk of having mysterious /hard to diagnose with clusters of other disease like manifestation than going to walk in nature
@Batman Jones , I just want to say I've been following along as you've described your illness, I haven't really known what to say other than I'm sorry this happened to you. I work with a number of people who have Lyme disease, and it is a scary, scary prospect (a lot of us work outdoors a good part of the year). Anyway, I appreciate your sharing your experiences and thoughts on it all. Not sure I'd have as good an attitude as you if it were me. so, thanks.
Thanks, pal. It's the worst of my conditions but hardly the end of them. Also Epstein-Barr virus (AKA chronic fatigue syndrome/recurring mono), gastroparesis (partly paralyzed stomach which means I can't digest food properly), wasting away syndrome (went from 215 to 150 in two years from not being able to eat), an inoperable tear in my thoracic region which with Lyme and other conditions has me on max dose of opioid painkillers, small fiber neuropathy (which means my brain sends double pain signals to my body), and my old 'friend,' type 1 bipolar disorder or manic depression. That's not even all of them. I can never remember all of them. Oh yeah, fibromyalgia too though there's a pretty sound theory that all fibromyalgia is just misdiagnosed Lyme. I'm like the Schleprock of chronic illness.
Thanks, friend. It's easy to have a good attitude about it while posting about it. That doesn't mean my attitude is always as good about it IRL though I think it's probably about as good as one can expect from any atheist ("prayer warriors" often have better attitudes because they believe God has a plan for them - I envy them and would never want to take that away from them). One great thing came from it though and that's that I had no choice but to stop drinking and I was a very bad alcoholic as evidenced by my many ban-worthy posts here in past years that rightfully led to temporary bans. The way I used to behave, I'm lucky Clutch lets me post here at all. Chronic illness is humbling though if one decides to fight through it. I mean rather than checking out in a permanent way. I always thought I would if my quality of life worsened but my quality of life did worsen, a lot, and I learned that I was far less suicidal than I'd previously believed because I'm in year four of this **** and I'm still fighting it. My prognosis is good though. I've been in one great remission (which I blew by binging on candy - the dumbest thing I could have done) and in two 'soft' remissions (I'm in one now that seems to be headed toward a great and reliable remission) and my doctor and I both believe I will be in a reliable remission before too terribly long. And hopefully without any more antibiotics other than nature's antibiotics: colloidal silver, cat's claw, and stevia extract which may prove to be an actual cure for the disease - the research is promising. I'm touched by the sympathetic and encouraging posts. This is a great community and people here have always looked after their own. I'm proud to be a member.
