Hey Guys;
Many areas in Canada, like Ontario, are endemic for ticks and Lyme Disease. About 1/3 of ticks carry it. Here's the link to the Ontario Lyme Risk Map 2020, and keep in mind that ticks can be anywhere because ticks are transported by migratory birds.
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/l/2020/lyme-disease-risk-area-map-2020.pdf
With tick bites, most never know they were bit. A tick that fits inside the zero on one of our dimes can transmit Lyme Disease and other bacterial co-infections.
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Don't let anyone tell you that the tick has to be attached a certain amount of time, that's simply not true, a bite IS A BITE!!! It's also important to know that not everyone develops the bullseye rash.
If you have flu like symptoms, chronic fatigue, malaise, muscle/joint pain, memory fog, cognitive issues etc., get to the Doctor for antibiotics and don't let them dismiss you because you didn't see a tick bite OR get the rash. Health Canada and Public Health Ontario agree, Lyme disease is mainly diagnosed through clinical symptoms and a history of exposure to ticks.
Here are links those documents:
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/h...s/pdf/medeff/bulletin/carn-bcei_v22n4-eng.pdf
https://www.publichealthontario.ca/...6/lyme-disease-prevention-technical.pdf?la=en
Early on, Lyme Disease can be treated with antibiotics. Left undiagnosed, Lyme Disease will attack the heart, brain, joints, connective tissue, muscles, digestive system, skin, eyesight, hearing etc and because it mimics other diseases, prolonged misdiagnosis by Canada's Lyme-Illiterate Doctors is extremely common.
Chronic Lyme, which is defined as 5 weeks post infection, is another story. That outcome depends on how long you had it, and how your body reacts to long term antibiotic treatment. Furthermore, Chronic Lyme Disease can permanently disable and worse, it can kill. See the story about Gabe Magnotta, co-founder of Magnotta Winery and a hunting & hunting dog enthusiast who died after a 7 year battle with it.
Here's that link:
https://www.gmagnottafoundation.com/about
Now, back to 'getting to the doctor'. They will run what is called an Elisa C6 test that is so unreliable and riddled with false negatives, most patients are misdiagnosed for months or years and bounced from 'specialist' to 'specialist'. But, 'if' the Elisa C6 happens to come back positive, they will then run a Western Blot, and 'if' all the markers are hit in the Western Blot, they will diagnose you with Lyme Disease and treat.
Here's a copy of a peer reviewed document showing that the Elisa C6 test is only 48.6% sensitive, meaning 51.4% of Lyme positive cases are missed.
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Now, if you've stuck with me this far, and you and hopefully your Doctor still suspect Lyme Disease, just pay out of pocket and GET TESTED by either Igenex in California OR Armin Labs in Germany. Both are CLIA accredited labs, they have to be as they are handling human samples/testing, and equivalent to our Canadian labs.
One note on Specialist(s). If your Doctor says that Lyme Disease is beyond the scope of their practise, warning bells should be going off in your head! This tells you that it is no longer about you, your Doctor is legally trying to meet their 'standard of care' by referring you on to a 'specialist'. You must then demand that the specialist they refer you to is both Lyme Literate AND ILADS trained. Do NOT accept anything else as most Canadian doctors, specialists included, are Lyme-Illiterate. Most will look at your negative C6 Elisa, glance at your positive serology from either Igenex or Armin, say that they don't recognize laboratory results from outside our jurisdiction AND send you on your way saying your symptoms could be anything.
I believe a monumental change is coming wrt acceptable testing and Lyme Disease because of a court case currently underway in the USA, "Torrey VS IDSA". ***Note: Private insurance companies have already settled out of court... That tells you something!
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Private CLIA accredited labs like Igenex and Armin are leading the way with tests that are much more sensitive than the antiquated and inaccurate Elisa C6 which Canadian Dr's point to in order to dismiss Lyme Disease as the cause for a patients suite of symptoms. Once Torrey VS IDSA is settled, testing standards will be updated in both the USA and Canada. Only then will doctors who dismissed their patients symptoms of Lyme Disease, realize their standard of care was lacking for patients.
In the meantime, tick awareness and prevention is key. Use permethrin and ensure that your dog is on something like NexGard Spectra that kills ticks.
Cheers
Jay
P.S. Anyone that knows they've been bit by a tick should demand a course of antibiotics. Why? Because the same flawed methodology used to diagnose Lyme Disease in Canada, is what they use to test the tick... And the majority of ticks tested will come back with a false negative. Just GET the antibiotics!
Now here's a test to see if you are paying attention. The patient below is presenting with Lyme symptoms, and the Doctor is saying let's run an Elisa C6 test... What's wrong with this scenario? (Answers below picture.)
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First, the Doctor should be diagnosing clinically as per Health Canada AND Public Health Ontario recommendations.
Second, the C6 Elisa test is known to be tremendously flawed and its poor sensitivity means most cases of Lyme are missed.
Third, any patient suspecting they have lyme needs to be aware that it is no longer about you when their primary care physician says lyme disease is beyond the scope of their practice &/or they are referring you on to another MD. This is about their legal obligations wrt standard of care, and they are covering their a$$. You must then demand that whoever they send you to be both Lyme Literate & ILADS trained to prevent being ping-ponged from specialist to specialist.
. I'm only half joking.
