Which Is the Superior Approach To Treating Lyme Disease?

Although there are some differences between strains of Lyme disease in Europe and North America, the sooner Lyme disease is treated, the less medication is necessary. When Lyme disease is treated right away, the best results are obtained from two weeks on intravenous Rocephin and then no antibiotic treatment at all. Antibiotics that don't have to be administered never cause side effects. But how can you recognize the symptoms of Lyme disease right away so you get treatment right away?

Lyme disease always follows a tick bite. If you have never, ever been bitten by a tick, you won't get Lyme disease. However, it's easy to pick up ticks without noticing them. Any time you go out for a walk in a location that has dry grass or brush, even in winter, you can brush against a plant from which a tick will jump off. The tick will then look for skin, preferably thin, moist, warm skin around your pubes, under your arms, or on your neck. The problem in detecting ticks is that they are extremely small, about the size of the head of a poppyseed, and their bites don't always hurt. If you don't do visual inspection of your feet and legs as soon as you come in from outdoors, then the tick has greater opportunity to climb up to a part of your body you cannot easily see. 

Even when a tick attaches itself to your body, you have about 24 hours to remove it before it can transmit disease. The way you remove the tick makes a huge difference in whether or not it can pass an infection. The bacteria that cause Lyme disease live in the tick's gut, its hind end. The tick bites through your skin to feed on your blood through its front end. If you mash the backside of the tick, you are basically giving yourself an injection of germs. You need to remove the tick with tweezers, grabbing it by its head, which is attached to your skin. Remove the tick by its front end, not its hind end. It is best to use tweezers to remove ticks; Vaseline, dish soap, and hot match tips don't work as well.

READ Ticks: What You Should Know About Lyme Disease

Even better, use tick spray (permethrin) before you go outdoors, or wear tick-resistant clothing that has been treated with permethrin. The chemical lasts for about 70 washing. Be sure that there is no path a tick can take through your clothes to your skin. Wear long pants and stuff the pants into your socks.

What is the one thing to remember about seeing your doctor for Lyme disease?

If you come down with flu-like symptoms when it isn't flu season, and after you have been time outdoors, see your doctor right away. If you notice a rash that looks like someone painted a target on your body, then it is particularly urgent to see a doctor for early treatment. Blood testing for Lyme disease is notoriously unreliable, but an experienced doctor can tell you whether you need to start short-term antibiotics right away and maybe you can avoid long-term treatment.