Wednesday, November 5, 2014

How To Treat Lyme Disease

By Etta Bowen


The best way to treat lyme disease is to use antibiotics as early as possible. The symptoms can be seen within weeks or a month of the bite. These signs include a small bump that is characteristic of a rash around where the tick bit. The rush may spread to other areas on your skin. The rash is characterized by a bulls eye appearance with a clear red ring surrounding it. Flu like symptoms like headache and body aches, chills, fatigue and fever will be experienced as well.

Advanced stages come with own symptoms. The bacteria are progressive in severity. Experts who understand how to treat lyme disease suggest that the symptoms will become more clear as days or weeks progress. In some cases, it takes up to a month.

When tests confirm that the bacteria are present, antibiotics are used in treatment. The best way is to seek treatment at the earliest opportunity. This will hasten recovery. At the earliest stages, antibiotics are administered orally.

Adults and children over 8 years are given as dose of doxycycline or amoxicillin. Cefuroxime is the best option if children are below 8 years. Pregnant and breast feeding mothers are also treated using cefuroxime. The duration of treatment ranges between 14 and 21 days though there are cases where 10 to 14 days of antibiotic administration have proven effective.

The use of intravenous antibiotic injection is only necessary when the nervous system is affected. The injection will be administered over a period of 14 to 28 days. An infection that has spread or affected the nervous system takes longer to eliminate. Expected side effects include reduced white blood cells count, colonization by organisms that are resistant to antibiotics and severe to mild diarrhea.

After being treated, some patients will still display symptoms such as fatigue and muscle aches. The symptoms do not go away despite continue antibiotic use. This is attributed, to some extent, to the development of autoimmune response by the body. Studies are on going to unravel the mystery.

The use of Bismacine is yet to receive full approval from Food and Drugs Administration. This is a common prescription by alternative practitioners. Its high concentration of bismuth metal is the main cause. It may lead to poisoning or predispose the patient to conditions such as kidney failure and heart diseases.

Measures that can be implemented to prevent attack include avoiding infested areas. These are areas with long grass, thick wood and bushes. When walking or working around such areas, use long sleeved pants and shirts to prevent bites on arms and legs.

There are insect repellants that can be used to reduce exposure. The most effective repellants have higher DEET concentration. Guardians must avoid the mouth, hands and eyes when applying such repellants on children. Permethrin may be applied on cloths or pretreated clothes obtained for farm use.

Regularly disinfected yards are considered safer and effective in keeping ticks off your skin. Other measures include clearing bushing and storing woodpiles in the sun. Pets must be disinfected on regular basis and living areas maintained in a very clean state. Tweezers should be used to remove the ticks when it bites your and antiseptic applied on the wound.




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