4 ms·

I was pretty nervous about Lyme Disease a couple of years ago after there was a lot of publicity about it. Now I feel like it's all a bit overblown. I come from

I was pretty nervous about Lyme Disease a couple of years ago after there was a lot of publicity about it. Now I feel like it's all a bit overblown. I come from a family that's worked in dairy farming for generations on both sides. People who've worked in hay meadows and silage fields all their lives and there's no history at all of Lyme disease that I know of. It seems to be towns' people who occasionally visit the country side that are overwhelmingly get struck down with this which sounds to me like there's an element of hysteria about the whole thing, not least because of the number of cases where testing has proven inconclusive.

devwastaken 4y ago
If it can be isolated and observed, it's not hysteria. Difficulty in testing and effects of the disease are not indicative of non existence.
- stormdennis 4y ago
  I'm not saying it doesn't exist. I know it does, it's more that it is maybe not as serious a public health issue than the coverage of it would suggest.
radlad 4y ago
From what I understand, both tick populations and Lyme disease cases are increasing. However, Lyme disease horror stories seem to be from people who had undiagnosed Lyme disease. My partner is currently going through medical school (M4) and believes that we are far better at detecting it today than we used to be (and she is not one to trust the medical system overall.) Of course, this is all anecdotal.
v-erne 4y ago
It depnends on the country I suppose. Here on Poland the problem is real . I personally know two persons (my father and my cousin) who were affected by it. My father had to go to early retirement and stop being a laywer beause lyme destoyed his nervous system and he could not read longer texts anymore. My cousin almost got thrown from medical university (he could not keep up after the symptoms kicked in). Both of them did not even noticed when the tick bitten them and got through quite a long period of no symptoms. After this events I am seriously afraid of lyme - as a knowledge worker this is like a death sentence.
- throwaway2037 4y ago
  Nice anecdata to share from Poland! I did not know that Lyme disease also exists in Europe. Related: Does Poland vaccinate for TCE (tick-borne encephalitis)?
  - v-erne 4y ago
    >> Related: Does Poland vaccinate for TCE (tick-borne encephalitis)? I would say yes, but only on case by case basis - it's recommended for people who work around and in forests (forest rangers, holiday camp caretakers etc.). I believe TCE is far more rare so the vaccine is not so important for regular people as vaccine for lyme would be (if I read stats correctly there is two orders of magnitude difference between them - 200 cases per year for TCE versus 20000 for lyme)
    - MichaelZuo 4y ago
      Wow 20 000 per year for lyme is a lot. Are these ticks everywhere in Poland?
      - v-erne 4y ago
        The rule is if you are anywhere near high grass you can bet you can find ticks there. My parents have a quite large garden with private forest (2,5 acres or 1 hectare of fenced terrain) and there is no week in summer where cat would not come back with big tick attached to it. There were two separate occasions where one of their dogs almost died from fewer after tick bite (and we are talking about dog that have every conceivable tick preventive measure applied)
        MichaelZuo 4y ago
        At that point I’m surprised people want to walk around at all. I would only venture into such areas without any exposed skin and with a bug net on a wide brimmed hat.
  - cromka 4y ago
vegardx 4y ago
Lyme disease is one of those silent diseases. You don't see or hear that much about it because it's so debilitating that those who suffer from it are effectively removed from society. To put it in perspective, a lot of people that suffer from ALS hope that they have Lyme disease, since you might get better with time, but the symptoms are quite similar.

devwastaken 4y ago

If it can be isolated and observed, it's not hysteria. Difficulty in testing and effects of the disease are not indicative of non existence.

stormdennis 4y ago
I'm not saying it doesn't exist. I know it does, it's more that it is maybe not as serious a public health issue than the coverage of it would suggest.

radlad 4y ago

From what I understand, both tick populations and Lyme disease cases are increasing. However, Lyme disease horror stories seem to be from people who had undiagnosed Lyme disease. My partner is currently going through medical school (M4) and believes that we are far better at detecting it today than we used to be (and she is not one to trust the medical system overall.) Of course, this is all anecdotal.

v-erne 4y ago

It depnends on the country I suppose. Here on Poland the problem is real . I personally know two persons (my father and my cousin) who were affected by it. My father had to go to early retirement and stop being a laywer beause lyme destoyed his nervous system and he could not read longer texts anymore. My cousin almost got thrown from medical university (he could not keep up after the symptoms kicked in). Both of them did not even noticed when the tick bitten them and got through quite a long period of no symptoms. After this events I am seriously afraid of lyme - as a knowledge worker this is like a death sentence.

throwaway2037 4y ago
Nice anecdata to share from Poland! I did not know that Lyme disease also exists in Europe. Related: Does Poland vaccinate for TCE (tick-borne encephalitis)?
- v-erne 4y ago
  >> Related: Does Poland vaccinate for TCE (tick-borne encephalitis)? I would say yes, but only on case by case basis - it's recommended for people who work around and in forests (forest rangers, holiday camp caretakers etc.). I believe TCE is far more rare so the vaccine is not so important for regular people as vaccine for lyme would be (if I read stats correctly there is two orders of magnitude difference between them - 200 cases per year for TCE versus 20000 for lyme)
  - MichaelZuo 4y ago
    Wow 20 000 per year for lyme is a lot. Are these ticks everywhere in Poland?
    - v-erne 4y ago
      The rule is if you are anywhere near high grass you can bet you can find ticks there. My parents have a quite large garden with private forest (2,5 acres or 1 hectare of fenced terrain) and there is no week in summer where cat would not come back with big tick attached to it. There were two separate occasions where one of their dogs almost died from fewer after tick bite (and we are talking about dog that have every conceivable tick preventive measure applied)
      - MichaelZuo 4y ago
        At that point I’m surprised people want to walk around at all. I would only venture into such areas without any exposed skin and with a bug net on a wide brimmed hat.
- cromka 4y ago

vegardx 4y ago

Lyme disease is one of those silent diseases. You don't see or hear that much about it because it's so debilitating that those who suffer from it are effectively removed from society. To put it in perspective, a lot of people that suffer from ALS hope that they have Lyme disease, since you might get better with time, but the symptoms are quite similar.