A recent article published in Newsweek, stated that one in 10 patients treated for Lyme disease continued to have symptoms for months — even years — after treatment. These symptoms can be extremely debilitating because the disease, which is transmitted by ticks from the white-tailed deer and other mammals into the human bloodstream, attacks the heart and the nervous system.
The latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predict there will be 329,000 reported new cases of Lyme disease this year, making it one of the fastest growing infectious diseases in the United States and Western Europe.
Typical signs of early Lyme disease include the erythema migrans (EM) rash which can have a "bull's-eye" appearance, fever, chills, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes, according to the CDC. As the disease develops more severe symptoms can occur including severe headaches and neck stiffness, arthritis, heart palpitations, inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, and even problems with short-term memory, among others.
Dr. Bill Rawls, M.D. a leading expert in Lyme disease and author of "Unlocking Lyme" tells Newsmax that prevention is crucial. Rawls suffered a personal battle with Lyme struggling for years until he found a natural way to treat the disease, which he outlines on his website https://rawlsmd.com/.
His methods for avoiding Lyme disease in the first place include:
- Steer clear of ticks' favorite dwellings. "These include wooded areas, tall or unkempt grass, areas covered in brush and piles of leaf litter. You do not have to avoid outdoor activities, but it is wise to stay in well-maintained areas and stay on pathways," he says.
- Use tick repellents. These include products containing DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, oil of eucalyptus, and methane-diol (PMD) that have been approved by the EPA. "Don't use any insect repellents on babies two months of age or younger and check with your doctor about safer options for children," he warns.
- "When you return indoors, take a shower, which was shown to reduce the risk of Lyme disease by 58% in a Yale study. "Showering helps you wash off any unattached ticks, and it gives you a chance to do a thorough check for ticks in their favorite hiding spots including the scalp, along the hairline and around the ears, armpits, belly buttons, groin region, waistband, and behind the kneecaps."
If you do find a tick attached to your body, here is how to remove it safely:
"Ignore any advice that involves burning the tick, using essential oils on it, slathering with Vaseline or tapping it with a cotton ball saturated with vinegar," Rawls said. "None of these methods work, and in fact, they can agitate the tick causing it to regurgitate its contents into your bloodstream."
To properly remove a tick, follow these steps:
- Use a pair of fine-pointed tweezers and place them as close to the skin as possible to grasp the tick's mouth.
- FIRMLY pull the tick straight out of the skin.
- Wash the bite with soap and water.
Rawls says the best way to dispose of the tick is flushing it down the toilet.
"However, if you want to test your tick for possible pathogens, you can mail to a lab like IGeneX to see if it carries harmful microbes," Rawls said.